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The Dr. Death Side of Dr. Drew
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Feb 28, 2013, 9:46:39 PM2/28/13
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By Daniel J. Flynn on 2.22.13 @ 6:09AM
His celebrity proved no cure for Mindy McCready.
Country singer Mindy McCready�s life caught up with her career earlier
this week. �I�m saddened to hear of her passing, but I�m not surprised,�
former fianc� Dean Cain told People. �All her troubles were
self-inflicted.� This includes her final trouble, which leaves two boys
motherless.
If Superman couldn�t put McCready back together, why did Dr. Drew assume
that he could?
McCready becomes the fifth patient of Dr. Drew�s Celebrity Rehab to
transcend addiction through bodily transcendence. Unwitting riot
catalyst Rodney King, Alice in Chains� bassist Mike Starr, Taxi and
Grease actor Jeff Conaway, and Real World resident Joey Kovar all passed
shortly after Dr. Drew treated them. The smiling doc may not look like
the grim reaper. But many of his patients behave as though they have
seen him.
Death wasn�t the addiction cure they sought. But like so many before
them, death was the addiction cure they got.
Physicians do wonders with broken legs. Their success rate on broken
hearts ranks somewhere below Mario Mendoza�s success with curveballs.
Rehab-style treatment works for doctors. Patients? Not so much. Rehab
can serve as a chemical respite. But with addiction it�s the patient
rather than the doctor who holds the cure. Doctors can perform many
miracles. Living our lives for us isn�t one of them.
Dr. Drew, like Mindy McCready�s friends and loved ones, wielded little
power over her decisions. She attempted suicide numerous times, went
Murphy Brown with two children, starred in the obligatory celebrity
pornographic video, lost custody of her offspring, and got arrested for
OxyContin possession. Her earlier bad decisions made her final bad
decision for her.
Rehab, which rarely succeeds away from the cameras, seems a riskier
proposition in front of them. Surely McCready�s CV of stupidity made her
a not-ready-for-primetime player. Perversely, in the perverse world we
inhabit, that made her a suitable candidate for a starring role on the
small screen, which strives to earn that diminutive description. Her
downfall was our entertainment. Who�s sick?
Never trust a doctor who follows an initialized professional credential
with a first name. It�s manipulation, as Dr. Ruth and Dr. Laura
understood before Dr. Drew did. Like blue jeans and a tie, or a dress
and sneakers, the title prefacing the first name sends a mixed message.
It announces detached authority while inviting warm familiarity. Even a
medical aficionado as esteemed as Dr. Demento subscribes to formal
conventions regarding title and surname (as well as in dress).
We first met Dr. Drew as a Loveline cohost giving advice to call-in
teenagers about love and lust. He shifted to chemical dependency of
another sort on Celebrity Rehab, where he encountered McCready and other
basket cases trying to right their lives on television, and then shifted
back to his initial broadcast passion through Sex Rehab. He similarly
counsels and consoles the schoolgirl mothers on MTV�s Teen Mom. Like
many seedy adults, Dr. Drew hangs around with teenage girls, narcotics
users, and sex perverts all too much.
What Dr. Drew does is creepy. How he acts isn�t. He seems knowledgeable,
caring, and, on occasion, willing to issue tough love. A few of his
patients � Mackenzie Phillips and Tom Sizemore come to mind � emerged
from his care better than they entered it. Dr. Drew�s real talent is in
how he makes his viewers rather than his patients feel. His success in
relieving us of the need for a post-program shower may stem from his
success as a performer. Dr. Drew, television talk show host, veteran
voice of advice radio, friend to teen moms, reality-television star, and
physician to addicts of all sorts, also acts in scripted shows and
movies.
Ultimately, he understands his patients because he shares their primary
addiction. Dr. Drew, as much Mindy McCready or Jeff Conaway once did,
joneses for the limelight. As demonstrated by his patients� Sunset Blvd.
moments � broadcast to the world on VH1 rather than suffered privately
in a darkened room � celebrity is a hard drug to kick.
--
"Re-electing Obama is like backing The Titanic up and hitting the
iceberg a second time."
His celebrity proved no cure for Mindy McCready.
Country singer Mindy McCready�s life caught up with her career earlier
this week. �I�m saddened to hear of her passing, but I�m not surprised,�
former fianc� Dean Cain told People. �All her troubles were
self-inflicted.� This includes her final trouble, which leaves two boys
motherless.
If Superman couldn�t put McCready back together, why did Dr. Drew assume
that he could?
McCready becomes the fifth patient of Dr. Drew�s Celebrity Rehab to
transcend addiction through bodily transcendence. Unwitting riot
catalyst Rodney King, Alice in Chains� bassist Mike Starr, Taxi and
Grease actor Jeff Conaway, and Real World resident Joey Kovar all passed
shortly after Dr. Drew treated them. The smiling doc may not look like
the grim reaper. But many of his patients behave as though they have
seen him.
Death wasn�t the addiction cure they sought. But like so many before
them, death was the addiction cure they got.
Physicians do wonders with broken legs. Their success rate on broken
hearts ranks somewhere below Mario Mendoza�s success with curveballs.
Rehab-style treatment works for doctors. Patients? Not so much. Rehab
can serve as a chemical respite. But with addiction it�s the patient
rather than the doctor who holds the cure. Doctors can perform many
miracles. Living our lives for us isn�t one of them.
Dr. Drew, like Mindy McCready�s friends and loved ones, wielded little
power over her decisions. She attempted suicide numerous times, went
Murphy Brown with two children, starred in the obligatory celebrity
pornographic video, lost custody of her offspring, and got arrested for
OxyContin possession. Her earlier bad decisions made her final bad
decision for her.
Rehab, which rarely succeeds away from the cameras, seems a riskier
proposition in front of them. Surely McCready�s CV of stupidity made her
a not-ready-for-primetime player. Perversely, in the perverse world we
inhabit, that made her a suitable candidate for a starring role on the
small screen, which strives to earn that diminutive description. Her
downfall was our entertainment. Who�s sick?
Never trust a doctor who follows an initialized professional credential
with a first name. It�s manipulation, as Dr. Ruth and Dr. Laura
understood before Dr. Drew did. Like blue jeans and a tie, or a dress
and sneakers, the title prefacing the first name sends a mixed message.
It announces detached authority while inviting warm familiarity. Even a
medical aficionado as esteemed as Dr. Demento subscribes to formal
conventions regarding title and surname (as well as in dress).
We first met Dr. Drew as a Loveline cohost giving advice to call-in
teenagers about love and lust. He shifted to chemical dependency of
another sort on Celebrity Rehab, where he encountered McCready and other
basket cases trying to right their lives on television, and then shifted
back to his initial broadcast passion through Sex Rehab. He similarly
counsels and consoles the schoolgirl mothers on MTV�s Teen Mom. Like
many seedy adults, Dr. Drew hangs around with teenage girls, narcotics
users, and sex perverts all too much.
What Dr. Drew does is creepy. How he acts isn�t. He seems knowledgeable,
caring, and, on occasion, willing to issue tough love. A few of his
patients � Mackenzie Phillips and Tom Sizemore come to mind � emerged
from his care better than they entered it. Dr. Drew�s real talent is in
how he makes his viewers rather than his patients feel. His success in
relieving us of the need for a post-program shower may stem from his
success as a performer. Dr. Drew, television talk show host, veteran
voice of advice radio, friend to teen moms, reality-television star, and
physician to addicts of all sorts, also acts in scripted shows and
movies.
Ultimately, he understands his patients because he shares their primary
addiction. Dr. Drew, as much Mindy McCready or Jeff Conaway once did,
joneses for the limelight. As demonstrated by his patients� Sunset Blvd.
moments � broadcast to the world on VH1 rather than suffered privately
in a darkened room � celebrity is a hard drug to kick.
--
"Re-electing Obama is like backing The Titanic up and hitting the
iceberg a second time."
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