Celebrity Rehab Season 5 Under Scrutiny After Jeff Conaway Death

Celebrity Rehab Season 5 is hardly short of famous addicts. The latest C-listers include Amy Fisher, Michael Lohan, Sean Young, Dwight Gooden and former patient Steven Adler. But as Season 5 begins, fingers are crossed that none of these celebrities will completely bottom out, at least not to the extent of Jeff Conaway.

Conaway booked himself on Celebrity Rehab in 2008, but it only provided a short-term help for his problem. With his death last month, many were quick to blame the VH1 show for his relapse, even though Conaway died three years after being on the show.

Although the main attraction of the program is to see washed up celebrities wrestle with addictions, it is often the guiltiest of all pleasures. After all, these former stars have real substance abuse problems; if they break down, it has more lasting consequences than being a watercooler TV moment. Conaway's death proved to be a tragic example, triggering a long debate on the show and others like it.

Dr. Drew Pinsky insisted that his show and methods didn't trigger Conaway's death, telling Fox News that he likely died from complications of prescription drugs, not an overdose. Yet this sort of thing isn't an isolated incident, as another former celebrity patient, Mike Starr, also died earlier this year from drug complications. In addition, Leif Garrett even claimed that producers made him relapse for "dramatic purposes."

As such, Season 5 is under a greater microscope, as are Pinsky's latest famous patients. With the likes of Fisher, Lohan, Gooden and Young in this group, there is great potential for relapses and made-for-TV fireworks. But given how volatile these ex-stars have been, they could go further down the point of no return should Pinsky fail them -- if they aren't that far gone already.

The death of one or two former patients could still be excused; therapy groups that aren't on television often lose a lot more people. But should this trend continue after future seasons, Pinsky and VH1 may have no choice but to turn the cameras off.

Many of these celebrities became addicted in the first place because the cameras were always on and there was no other way for them to cope. Perhaps some of them can withstand the cameras and spotlight and find a way to get clean anyway. But because of the deaths, relapses and controversy from those who can't cope, it hardly seems like the positive benefits are worth it in the long run.

Time will tell if audiences and VH1 will enable the show for much longer, and whether Season 5's patients will avoid becoming the latest tragic statistics. But many will tune into VH1 to find out every Sunday night.

Sources

Hartford Courant- "A Relapse in Watching Celebrity Rehab"

Fox News- "Jeff Conaway Tragedy: Does Dr. Drew Pinsky's Celebrity Rehab Help or Hurt?"