Customer Reviews

Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, The Complete First Season

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have been an alcohol and drug counselor assisting adults and adolescents for years into entering recovery. So I was very excited to hear that "rehab" had gone mainstream with the idea and creation of this series. I will describe the basics that happen in each episode without giving plot spoilers, and tell you my overall opinion of the series and the DVD set at the end.

Disc 1

Intake is the first episode of the series. We meet the cast of celebrity rehab, which includes Brigette Nielson, Jessica Sierra, Daniel Baldwin, Jaimee Foxworth, Chyna, Seth Binger, Mary Carey, and Jeff Conaway.

Detox is the second episode, and is primarily about this process of detoxifiying from alcohol and drugs.

New Arrival is the third episode, and adds Ricky Rodriquez to the bunch. Issues with rebelliousness and how that relates to recovery are discussed in the episode.

Disc 2

Sex and Trauma, episode 4, is discussed as a reason for using drugs and alcohol abusively. One celebrity leaves rehab.

Episode 5 is "Bye Bye Baldwin." One celebrity is confronted about the use of anabolic steroids outside of treatment, another clebrity's signifigant other brings alcohol into the unit during family visitation. Sober activities are introduced and focused on.

Episode 6 is entitled "Friends and Family," and emphasizes the need of family members to attend counseling with the addicted clients. Addiction as a family disease is discussed, and how someone who does not have family involvement is likely to relapse.

Disc 3

Episode 7 is entitled "Retreat" and focuses on clean and sober recreation. Rebelliousness and inappropriate behavior is discussed and observed on the program.

Episode 8 is Graduation. It is observed that some clients are in "relapse mode," and seem to be reverting to old behaviors, and devaluing treatment because in actuality they don't want to leave treatment. A choice is given to the clients-each person can stay in sober living for up to three months, all expenses paid, and they must give their answer to this at the graduation ceremony.

Disc 4

Episode 9 "Graduation II" Everyone says their goodbyes, and various celebrities decide upon or decline to stay in the sober living environment.

Episode 10
Boy, how I wish I could give a review of this complete episode. A reunion is held of the Celebrity Rehab clients, after a complete profile of what happened to Mary Carey the DVD cut off and went back to the menu page during the segment of what happened to Ricky Rodriguez. Very disappointing. So I have no idea what happened to the majority of people who completed celebrity rehab or who stayed sober.

Overall, the content of this DVD was exactly what you would see at a non-celebrity rehab center. The group counseling segments and the recreation segments are done in normal inpatient treatment centers. The celebrity clients acted as regular addicted clients do of other inpatient treatment centers, with their sexual acting out, and immature behavior. Addiction and Alcoholism is not immune to one's class status or wealth.

However, I am puzzled by few mentions of the Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups. Both of these groups have helped millions of people to recover from addiction. Yet they are only mentioned in passing during graduation in the "Graduation II" episode. I feel a brief introduction on the importance of these groups, having a sponsor, and working the 12 steps would have been beneficial in one of the episodes of this program.

Also, the DVD set was poorly put together. "Intake" is the first episode, and is listed as the first episode on the back of the DVD. Yet, it is number three, the last episode, on the DVD. The last episode of the series, "Reunion," only plays for 14 minutes before it cuts off and goes back to the menu. I returned one set of DVDS thinking that this problem with the last episode was an isolated incident, however, that is not the case. The new one I just got from Amazon.com has the same flaw, and another reviewer mentioned the fact that he could not get this episode to play either.

Also, I would have liked the outtakes and deleted scenes available on this disc as well.

I ordered this set and there are so many errors on it, I'm missing the intake, mine just starts at the first session, and like many others on here, mine ends early before the episode is actually over. I am very disappointed in the company that produced these!!! Another problem is that they didn't even take the time to edit out the segueways to commercials...you spend alot of time fast forwarding thru the recaps!! Just so disappointing that it is so poorly put together. The show was great, the discs are horrible. Of course I can't return mine because it's been too long so I'm just stuck with it the way that it is...looks like others have the same issues!!!

I was very disappointed with this product. The episodes on the first disc were mixed up but the others seemed fine so I ignored it. Weeks later I was almost done watching all the episodes so I threw away my receipt. A few days later I was watching the final episode and found out the disc ends after 14 minutes and does not have the remaining 45 minutes.

As a mental health professional and medical educator, I purchased this DVD to show students and psychiatry residents what goes on in a rehab program following didactic lectures on the topic. Having worked in this type of setting in the past, I am familiar with treatment programs for addictions. Dr. Drew Pinsky is board certified in Internal Medicine and fellowship trained/boarded in Addiction Medicine. He is a professional and clearly shows compassion for his patients who struggle with addictions. He also sets limits and maintains boundaries. However, the people who made the DVD created a hodgepodge of segments that jump around, repeat and it is difficult to show the continuity of care and progress that some of the people make during treatment. I would not purchase this DVD until the producers find a way to make it less chaotic.Perhaps Season II will be better?

ok as long as you are a fan of the celebrity rehab shows (and sober house) you will love this dvd. i purchased season 1 for myself and a second one for a close friend as a gift.we are constantly in contact with each other discussing the shows when they are on. it kicks out all the comercials and you just flow with the show. i am a big fan of dr drew and the intensity of his show seems a bit deeper on the dvd.either there are scenes i missed on or they added for the dvd. the only thing i do notice is that what is bleeped out on the televised show is still bleeped out in the dvd. i would think the bleeping would have been eliminated, oh well, that is the only reason i give it 4 stars.i did try to do 4 1/2 but it wouldn't let me do it. but it is still worth investing in. 1) if you are a big fan and 2) if you are in school studying addictions (yes, for me it does help a bit in some of my psyche classes).
i should be buying season 2 shortly. and don't fortget some of the patients are definatly interesting and do pull at your hearts.

I loved this show on TV and wanted to share it with a friend who I thought could benefit from it. The show was great, but the DVD was the most low budget package I have ever seen. There are no explanations anywhere on the DVD, the episodes were not set up cohesively (at least on the DVD's I got), the listing of the shows were not accurate and there was NO close captioning.

I only hope when the next season is released they will put a little more thought into it. It seems like whoever put this together could use a little rehab of their own.

it was a show i seen on pay so i got season one to watch it from start to finish it is a bit funny at times but if you know sum one with a drug or drink problem it would be worth watching so you had a bit of a insight into what goes threw their mind and the fight we have to stay sober.

This DVD is horribly made. I was let down to find out this dvd is still censored. The menu screens are cheaply made, and the episodes button on the main menu screen is called chapters. The "play all" function on the first disc plays the episodes out of order. The discs appear to be dvd-r's.

just when you think they cannot stoop any lower with a reality show, they came up with this sickening money making spectacle show based on a so called "rehab". this is nothing but a three ring circus , which sole purpose is to exploit rather than rehabilitate people with serious addictions. this "dr". drew is nothing but an opertunist and a disgrace to the medical and psychological profession . he should be ashamed of himself.(son of a b!@$h) what has this world come to when people would choose to profit from other people's missery?. have we as a sociaty become so callous and desperate for entertainment ,that we would relish the delibrate exploitation of fellow human beings missery for personal profit?.

this is great television 30 bucks not bad i cud watch it over and over its priceless especially due to the fact they dont run it on vh1 anymore