Okay. I've previously outed myself as a big fan of VH1's Celebrity Rehab. It may be the best reality show since season one of Temptation Island (remember when they showed Billy the video of Mandy doing body shots off that guy and licking his nipple? Good times.)
But nothing prepared me for the bombshell that was this week's episode. For those of you not following this as closely as I am--well, you are missing probably the most compelling hour on TV right now, but okay, Mr. High and Mighty, I'll catch you up.
Six "celebrities" you've never heard of, plus Brigitte Nielsen, a Baldwin brother (Daniel) and Jeff Conaway of Taxi and Grease fame check into a rehab center in Pasadena run by Dr. Drew Pinsky, who I guess has a radio show, but I'd never heard of him. (except on his all too brief appearance on Celebrity Fit Club, when he kicked Jeff off the show and told him he needed to get to rehab or die.)
So you get to watch them puke as they go through withdrawal, eavesdrop on the most interesting parts of their group therapy sessions, and perhaps develop a crush on Shelly, the bespectacled cutie/hardass recovering addict staff member who takes no shit from anybody. Well, maybe that last part is just me. (though I don't think so. Shifty definitely has a crush on her too. )
O, how do I love this show--it's impossible to count the ways. It's amazing to see how completely full of shit addicts are, how diligently they can lie to themselves and others. It is actually very sad and moving to hear about the horrors most of these people went through. And then there's Daniel Baldwin, the charismatic loudmouth who affects a father figure pose and inexplicably got all huffy and said wet t-shirts were not conducive to his sobriety when two young women jumped in the pool. Oh, he got all high and mighty about how he has to respect his wife, and then, it was revealed after he left, he'd been sending dirty text messages and "pictures of himself" to the porn star! Ecch, what a sleazebag!
I know at least three of the patients have relapsed since the show was taped, which I suppose isn't that big of a surprise, statistically speaking. I know I should be feeling guilty about how much I like this show, but I totally don't. And I can't wait for the next episode to see how all the fallout from Daniel Baldwin's douchebaggery plays out.
