VH1's Shooting Sizemore Should Never Be Forgotten

Watching the new VH1 reality series "Shooting Sizemore" starring the subject of the series himself, actor Tom Sizemore, seems more like a retread of "Breaking Bonaduce,"except for one thing-the subject of this series already lost everything.

By everything that means his house, his family and his career-all because of a terrifying addiction to crystal methamphetamine and heroin. Crystal meth is now one of the most popular drugs in the United States, primarily due to its easy accessibility (all you need is several tabs of Sudafed and some cutting agents like ammonia to make a cheap version, for example) and quick high. It has had sweeping affects across the U.S. in the past decade-and Hollywood is not immune.

Though Danny Bonaduce has his family, his home and his life-the former "Partridge Family" child star seems to be turning the corner. Not so for Sizemore. And to make matters worse, Sizemore can't get any work because of his behavior, so he is doing the filming on a handheld camera.

The series focuses on Sizemore's battle to stay clean, resurrect his career and basically stay alive. Unlike "Breaking," it teeters on the brink of insanity. For one it's grainy and despicably real. Sizemore's ability to stay clean-and he'll be the first to tell you this-is dependent on his network of assistants and friends. They range from a loud, type-A woman in her forties-his assistant Luree who hauls Sizemore around in her pickup truck. "He may look like a tough guy, but he's a softie," she says in her almost-masculine voice. Sizemore also must check in with authorities on a daily basis and he's in the midst of a horrible legal battle with his ex-girlfriend-and the one he says first gave him meth-Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. Fleiss is accusing him of battery. If convicted, Sizemore could be facing years in prison.

Instead of living in a nice big house like Bonaduce he stays in a Santa Monica safe house with a male "sober companion."

But the strangeness of the series-and Sizemore, particularly-come through when you see him receiving collagen injections to his cheekbones before going to Canada to shoot a movie. The sadness of the series comes when you see Sizemore later in that same office receiving kudos from two fellow actors in the waiting room, one of whom is Kevin Sorbo, also known as "Hercules"-and then having to stay silent when the two, not Sizemore, discuss how expensive real estate is in Tinseltown. The kicker comes when one asks Sizemore if he already purchased a house there, to which Sizemore nods his head in shame (he lost his house two years ago when he filed for bankruptcy). Then there is Sizemore with his young family of three, uprooted from that $5 million mansion in the Hollywood Hills in part to Sizemore's drug use and extramarital affairs-along with the fact he went bankrupt. Sizemore discusses every chance he gets, how he would someday like to be back with his family-though he admits that day may never come. The terms of his situation are simple-he must stay clean and sober, for even one slipup will result in his going back to prison. He already served 18 months for drug possession and battery--and he claims he doesn't want to return.

He is hooked on meth-and he's the first to tell you he's in love with the drug-and he's addicted to sex. In addition to his well-publicized relationship with Fleiss, he had a strange incident involving a fake penis in 2005, for example.

But the problem with the show is that though you get a chance to see Sizemore go through his difficulties, there is blankness to it, as though some of this may be choreographed. Also that Sizemore has been involved in many jobs in the past several years makes one a bit leery of his sincerity.

When you hear his assistants discuss Sizemore during the show they talk in very careful wording and walk on eggshells around the actor. It's almost as if they are protecting more than what they're saying. And perhaps they have to once the cameras leave. It's a dangerous-and almost cruel-intrusion into the life of a man whose life was and is in ruins. In a way it's not fair for us to have this type of look into the life of a fallen human being, however, this is the way Sizemore wanted it-and for that reason it comes off as more than a little narcissistic.

For proof of the level of sadness, just listen to Sizemore as he discusses the reservations of having another person-in this case, his "sober companion"-staying in his room. "I'm a grown man," he says. "I shouldn't have to have another grown man in my room."

So if you're into babysitting and watching a grown man devolve into the lowest common denominator, then feel free to watch what may be a catastrophe.

But I hope-and I'm sure all of us hope-that "Shooting Sizemore" turns out, that is, the subject of the series gets out of the series alive. That does seem to be his hope.

Watch "Shooting Sizemore" Sundays on VH1.