Celebrity Rehab proves strangely addictive

Rodney King and Gary Busey walk into a bar… Actually, they don’t walk into a bar because they’re both patients on VH1’s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

Yes, this new season brings us another cadre of dysfunctional celebrities trying to get sober, or rather, to get more screen time. The patient list includes Busey, King, model/actress Amber Smith, former American Idol contestant Nicki McKibbin, celeb spawn Sean Stewart, former hood ornament Tawny Kitaen, drummer Steven Adler and even an encore performance from everyone’s favorite bumbling train wreck, Jeff Conaway.

Clearly, the term “celebrity” is being used so loosely on tv these days that it might as well mean, “someone who may or may not have done something on tv once in the past 50 years.” Case in point, Conaway’s bizarro girlfriend is trying to suck the last milliseconds out of her 15 minutes of “fame” by resurfacing to beg Dr. Drew to allow her to get treated on the show. She is beyond a lowlife, the kind of person who wants to be on tv so badly that she gets hooked on drugs just so she can go on a rehab show.

Even the cast seemed confused by just exactly who King was. While he’s listed on VH1’s website as a “historical figure” the gang speculated that he was a basketball player, actor, and even a hockey star. Were they alive in the 1990s when you couldn’t turn on the tv without hearing someone referencing King’s infamous “can’t we all just get along” quote about the LA riots?

Still, freaky non-celebs aside, the most entertaining part of the show has to be Busey. He seems to be under the impression that he is a doctor at the facility and keeps saying he is here to help administer treatment and “spiritual motivation” to the other patients. I can only assume that his agent was too afraid to tell him he was being shipped off to a rehab show and just told him he was there to make a guest appearance as a counselor at the facility. I’m staying tuned just to witness his reaction when they break the news to him that he is actually there as a patient, not a “participant” in the recovery process.

With so many “celebreality” shows to fill up your DVR with these days, it’s hard to get enthusiastic about just one. Still, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew has always be strangely addictive. While every reality show star plays it up for the camera, you can’t help but notice the little glimpses of actual behavior as people hit rock bottom and try to claw themselves back up.