I’ve only been watching this show for a couple of weeks, but man it sucks you in. There’s so much drama, all the time. And chicks with scary surgically altered lips.
Sober House, on VH1, is a spinoff of Dr. Drew Pinsky’s Celebrity Rehab, which I never watched. It’s in its second season. I love Dr. Drew. His voice and demeanor is so calm and comforting- I could listen to him forever. The woman that owns the house and runs it is an ex-model/addict, Jennifer Gimenez. She used to look normal, quite attractive even, but then she went and did that collagen thing to her lips and now looks frightening. Perhaps not quite as frightening as Heidi Fleiss, though, who is constantly fighting with Tom Sizemore, who is constantly leaving or threatening to leave. Some of these people walk out and come back seemingly every day.
Most of them are somewhat sympathetic, even though they can be extremely cranky and selfish. Except Kari Ann Peniche, who I find* extremely *unlikable, and I was glad when she finally left for the last time.
VH-1 reality shows are my junk food TV. Love 'em. (Well, most of them.) I’ve watched every season of Celebrity Rehab and Sober House, and just watched the most recent episode tonight. If you think Kari Ann was unwatchable this season, well, she’s by far the MOST likeable she’s ever been on any of these. She was a fucking nightmare when she went in for sex rehab, although it turns out that’s partially because she was on meth. It’s also partially because she’s a narcissistic, emotionally stunted, perpetually pubescent brat who throws tantrums my four year old would look at and say, “Dude, really?!” It seems she’s realizing that when she SUCKS, people don’t like her. I honestly wonder if she isn’t mentally ill.
Seth Binzer is looking good, but I’m concerned. It’s his third (fourth?) go, and he’s fucked up in spectacular fashion in every previous season. He has a little boy (Halo) that adores him and breaks my heart. My son is just a little younger. Halo so obviously adores and idolizes his father, but his mother is understandably worried and circumspect, seeking to protect her son. When Halo galloped into Seth’s arms in his first season on CR, and was so excited saying, “Mommy, Daddy’s going to stop doing bad things!”–oof, it melted the heart. And when Seth relapsed twice, it made me want to punch him over and over again in the face on behalf of his son.
Fascinating cast this season. Heidi…ooof. Apparently her money went to drugs and bad plastic surgery. Her upper lip is immobile, man.
Oh yes, Seth. I’m not really familiar with him, but I could tell right away that he is a cutie and a charmer. Seriously, when he turns that smile on, I can see giving him almost anything he asked for. Woow, that boy is dangerous- a badboy cutie.
I see that Kari Ann’s Wiki page notes that she seems to have a pathological thing going on about juice. I have adopted this in my own life- when I get stressed out or just want to be a princess, I will ask for juice. Nobody gets it for me, either.
Yes. The definition of car crash TV. And Kari Ann needs to get smacked around with great regularity, she is the most horrible little insecure hateful child I have ever in my life been exposed to and I would delight in seeing her get smacked around.
I think they’re all drama queens for the most part, but yes, Jennifer does seem to kind of enjoy clashing with people and chasing after them when they’re upset. OTOH, what’s she supposed to do when they break the rules, like coming home late? There has to be some consequences, something some of these people have never had to face.
One thing I didn’t quiet understand is when some people came back late, she still punished everybody. So, if the point of punishing a rule breaker is to stop them from breaking the rules again, then the point of punishing a rule follower is to…get them to break the rules?
I’ve never really seen Sober House members stop each other from doing stupid things. Usually they’ll either ignore the stupid actions, or just make comments about them, or they join in. Not completely, but in in some ways I kind of agree with Dennis Rodman when he said that Jennifer didn’t know what she was doing.
Only watched bits and pieces of Sober House after watching quite a bit more of Celebrity Rehab in previous years.
The one thing that gets me now is how clearly aggresive the damned camera men are - to the point of regularly provoking confrontations with the people in the house. This can’t be good for your rehab process - even if they can convince themselves that these people need to learn to deal with cameras because they’ll need to learn to deal with paparazzi. It’s just needlessly foolish and offensive on the part of the Producers and camera people.
Like seriously, when the guy is stalking around in a rage in one episode of one of those shows, because the camera men won’t get out of his face, and all these sick bastards keep doing is walking up to get in his face again! It made me seriously wonder why Dr. Drew (who I otherwise respect) wasn’t coming out there and telling them to GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY PATIENT’S FACE.
Dr. Drew is profiting from the show. This is how he wants things. The camera men just say “Hey man, I’m just doing my job.” So they don’t give a crap how their presence effects the patients.
Celebrity Rehab was another in a long line of suggested recordings that my TiVo discovered for me. Watched its latest season and followed it to Sober House.
Some thoughts:
[ul]
[li]Its hard watching Sizemore be a pathetic drug addict thinking how he was literally an A-List, leading man, Oscar caliber movie star.[/li]
[li]Although I’ve always thought of Rodman as just another stupid b-ball idiot turned D-List actor turned tabloid wife beater, on this show he’s about the most sensible and down to Earth and together member of the cast. I like how he knows that only being a drunk he is not nearly as bad as the rest of them. And that he finds it very unlikely that he’ll ever really quit drinking.[/li]
[li]Mike Starr is neither good nor bad. Since he’s trying to kick heroin and not just coke or meth like the others I respect that he’s dealing with a lot more than they are. But he totally got himself into this mess.[/li]
[li]Kendra Jade is just a spoiled, clueless, shallow, stuck-up, stupid drama-queen who’s never done anything in her life except suck dick for a living. And I don’t see her ever being able to do much else.[/li]
[li]Jennifer hasn’t said or done much but she seems kind of sweet and unselfish so I both think and hope she’ll stay clean.[/li]
[li]Similar to Dennis Rodman, I sort of respect Heidi Fleiss’ honesty about her situation. She’s been there & done that several times in her life and so has to laugh at others’ naivety. [/li]
[li]I wasn’t at first aware of what Kari Ann went through early in life (she says she was raped at 12 and again at 15) but even or because of it, she is a lost cause. She has no character, integrity, depth or even a soul. She is incapable of feeling or caring about anyone but herself and, more importantly, she is incapable of seeing that as being wrong. She will either OD or get raped & murdered by some druggie or wind up in prison. And it will be a net gain for the world either way. She is a truly evil and worthless person.[/ul][/li]And Dr Drew is the man. He never even for a second feels like a TV show host or a celebrity or a phony, but always like a real physician. He’s the reason to watch these shows.
Considering that he’s on staff, teaching at USC, I expect he’s well respected in field by his peers. He’s been graduated as a doctor for 26 years, so he should be well in practice in giving real advice and not just mugging for the cameras.
I don’t know about “her situation” but I know that she is a self-deluding bitch. The way she was all over Sizemore when he first showed up, then, when it was apparent that he wasn’t going to cure her loneliness, she dumps on him repeatedly and pulls the “he beats women” shit as her excuse just makes me want to puke. Get some self-awareness, sweetheart. That shit isn’t flying with ANYONE.
