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'Celebrity Rehab' is as addictive as ever

By Lisa Bornstein, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 3, 2008 at 1:50 p.m.

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Checking in for a second season of "Celebrity Rehab" are, from left, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Rodney King, Steven Adler and Jeff Conaway.

Photo by VH1

Checking in for a second season of "Celebrity Rehab" are, from left, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Rodney King, Steven Adler and Jeff Conaway.

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Celebrity Rehab 2 With Dr. Drew

* 9 p.m. Thursdays on VH1

The snark was brewing in my brain as Celebrity Rehab returned for another hit off the pipe: seven quasi-celebrities, picked to live in a rehab center and find out what it's like when they kick drugs - in front of television cameras.

It's a conflict that undermines the entire premise of the show: How authentic is the therapeutic process when there are TV cameras on? Why are these people participating in this instead of getting anonymous help? Is anonymity the worst withdrawal of all?

And yet . . . this show sets me up every time like a dealer on the corner with a taste of the good stuff. I don't necessarily want to, but I'm gonna come back.

Disappointingly, Celebrity Rehab 2 jumps in with nary an update on the first season's participants. They left in varying degrees of stability, and it put a little realism on the recidivism of addicts to see them again.

One, of course, is back: Jeff Conaway, star of Grease and Taxi (which makes him the biggest star ever on this show). He left the first show early for back surgery and quickly returned to drugs. He's still with his frighteningly codependent and abetting partner, Vikki, who in the midst of a cocaine binge kicked him five times in the back.

Conaway is 57, but he looks closer to 70, caked in makeup, his top half parallel to the floor as he walks with a cane. Most disturbing: Vikki shows up crying, begging Dr. Drew (who hasn't worn his black T-shirt in the first two episodes, which is just mean) to admit her. Of course, she can't be in rehab with her lover, so he puts her in the next-door wing of the hospital.

How is this ethical? They end up moaning at each other and touching fingertips through a glass door. "That's love," says fellow patient Steven Adler. No, it's not. That's sickness.

Conaway, however, won't get to own the mantle of Scariest Guy on the Show this season. That will clearly go to Gary Busey, who says he's been clean for 13 years (since a cocaine-induced coma) but still smokes pot for his asthma. Busey's biggest problem may come from his 1988 motorcycle crash, though, which seems to have left his brain creatively assembled.

He shows up with a suitcase filled with pennies and highlighters and another with his dirty laundry. When tough-but-cool tech Shelly suggests they go see Dr. Drew, he says, "Dr. who?"

At this point, I typed in all caps: WHY ARE YOU HERE? DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?

He thinks he's there as a "participant," not a patient, to offer the others the wisdom of his experiences. To a one, they're terrified of him - and these are people who have seen scary stuff. Me, I can't wait until Conaway and Busey square off for crazy-old-man status.

For every moment of smug amazement, though, there are plenty of genuine empathy. Model Amber Smith suffers through hideous opiate withdrawal. Rodney King, who recognizes that his celebrity is of an uncomfortable variety, sticks to himself and plays pool, both dignified and a little mysterious. Tawny Kitaen is terrified of being afflicted with insomnia if she quits drugs, and anyone who's suffered sleepless nights knows how disturbing that is. Adler, the Guns N' Roses drummer fired for his drug use, says, "I'm serious about this because I want my best friend back." His speech is garbled, he's a terrifying mess and yet he seems like a sweetheart. And bringing it all home in this cockeyed world of fame is the idea that as he stars on a VH1 show about what a mess his life is, his former band gets ready to bring out Chinese Democracy.

Comments

  • November 7, 2008

    12:54 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    annette writes:

    I,just wanted to say the people,you have on the show are great to admit they have a problem. I lost someone to crack. I only wish he could have got help before it was to late.