It just struck me as rather… juxtaposed… that I’m sitting here right now, doing some research for this post on none other than Dr. Drew of MTV fame while simultaneously listening to one of the best records ever recorded, Abbey Road by the Beatles.
I suppose that one could be doing a lot of silly things while listening to such an album, and the listening experience would still be quite pleasant, if not fantastic. It was just a thought though.
Something about Dr. Drew very much rubs me the wrong way. I was convinced for so long that there was no way he was an actual doctor. Sadly, wikipedia proved me wrong. Anyway, I’ve become quite interested in how therapy is represented in the media (in fact, I realized after it was too late that it would be an interesting thesis topic… oh well). Dr. Drew seems to be the exact opposite of what used to be therapy’s most popular television icon…
Despite the obvious visual improvements and lack of funny accent with Dr. Drew, I can’t help but think that we’ve gone from one extreme of terribleness to the other. Dr. Phil, as we all know, began his TV career with the help of Oprah, meaning that his target audience was probably middle class females between the ages of… I dunno… 30 to 50.
Dr. Drew, on the other hand, seems the epitome of cool. Dr. Phil was on Oprah, Dr. Drew is on MTV. Dr. Phil got a daytime talk show, Dr. Drew got shows on everything from Discovery Health to radio to shows like “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew,” “Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew,” and “Sober House.” His target audience is clearly young, attractive, upper class yuppies. I’m pretty sure Dr. Phil had some kind of terrible divorce or something. Dr. Drew has three kids (triplets), probably a hot younger wife, and apparently he’s some kind of opera singer. That’s one fail at life for Dr. Phil to at least three wins at life for Dr. Drew.
Irrevocably cooler, yes. But an improvement? I’m not so sure. I mean, I’ve never watched a full episode of any one of Dr. Drew’s shows (I either get too angry or too saddened to watch), but his carefully groomed, perfectly plucked, and youthful image just somehow seems wrong to me. Does this man look 51 years old? Does he? Dammit man, does he!? It’s not right!
Am I jealous? Is this some kind of twisted man-crush? Why… the cruelty!
I started this post with the full intention of making him out to sound like a quack, and look at what’s happened.
Okay – all I ask is that we stop naming these TV “doctors” by their first names. It’s not right. Dr. Phil. Dr. Drew. We have to stop this pattern before it gets out of hand.
Dr. Dave. Hmm…
Lindskoog Counselling Services 