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Watching a life unravel on television should be a soul-searching and painful experience, even if we've never met those whose fates are suddenly spiraling toward a bitter and pitiful end.

Though entertaining and somewhat well-meaning, the danger of a show like VH-1's "Celebrity Rehab" is our familiarity with the addicts. We've grown to identify with many of these faces as actors - men and women who live to play a role, to be someone else. There's the risk we'll see it as just another character.

But Jeff Conaway snuffs that risk right off the bat. Conaway, best known for his roles in TV's "Taxi" and the movie "Grease," is not a talented enough actor to generate the absolute pity viewers feel while watching his plight. While other addicts in the cast show flashes of their less flattering addict moments, Conaway is drowning in misery and a drug-induced, almost vegitative state at times.

Moaning, writhing, lying unresponsive in a hospital bed - then later seething, shouting at castmate Daniel Baldwin about his accusations and telling Dr. Drew that he wants to shatter the mirror and slit his own throat. This is not acting.

VH-1's "Celebrity Rehab" is a surprisingly gritty and honest show compared to the set-up-a-celebrity shows, where the drama is clearly semi-staged by execs. It features former MTV advice guru Dr. Drew, who has taken in a handful of celebrity addicts to chronicle their journeys out of addiction and into recovery.

Baldwin (of the Baldwin brothers), Jamiee Foxworthy (Family Matters), Conaway (Grease), porn star and former California gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey, Crazytown singer Seth Binzer and American Idol contestant Jessica Sierra join VH-1 reality vets Brigitte Neilson and Joanie Laurer (Chyna Doll) as the unfortunate subjects of Dr. Drew Pinsky's experiment.

But Pinsky handles the heavy load of egos and delusions with aplomb. The celebrities interact well with him, sharing stories of what led to the addictions that never were a part of their childhood dreams of celebrity. American Idol castoff Jessica Sierra shares a tragic story of her mother's lifestyle of prostitution and addiction.

Although she grew up hating drugs and the lifestyle of an addict, the death of her mother as a result of her addiction sunk Sierra in a sea of unresolved and conflicted grief. Her source of comfort was the same as the cause for her pain - drugs.

Many will argue that such shows are candy coating the problem of drug addiction or are exploiting already-overexposed celebrities. But a few minutes of Conaway hanging on to life as his body is overcome by chemicals will remove any worry about ignoring the tragic qualities of addiction. And perhaps a few people hearing the fallen Idol Sierra's path to addiction will steel the wills of children of addicts against following the same path.

Learn more about this author, Todd Christian.
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