It's Been A Good Run, Dr. Drew...

I am officially breaking up with Dr. Drew. Sigh… it’s been a good run. I remember falling for him in the Loveline days. It seemed like he really cared, probably because Corolla came off as such an asshole, but nevertheless, there was something about the combination of empathy and smarts that was incredibly attractive. It carried right through the first few seasons of Celebrity Rehab. Something about the way he tipped his head and made a sad face really made me want Brigitte Neilsen to get sober. Do it for your kids, you crazy bitch! He made me get past some of my dry drunk judgment and be thankful that things didn’t have to get all Jeff Conaway in my life. I wanted to slap that beauty queen princess for calling him a fake tv doctor who didn’t really care about his patients. But sadly, she may have been on to something.

Yes, I am guilty of watching way too much reality programming with Dr. Drew. I have no issue in admitting it. But the guilty pleasures of 16 & Pregnant and Teen Mom have finally pushed me over the edge. I say guilty pleasures as there is a part of me that can’t help but watch the train wreck. The most fascinating part is the follow-up shows. This one kid, Aubrey, was knocked up at 16, had a quicky marriage, and is already getting divorced a couple years later. And now she’s doing the pseudo-lesbian thing, partying, and saying things like, “Maybe I would strip to support my son. It’s good money,” and making allusions that someday her son would be proud if she stripped because it would prove she was a MILF. And so it goes…

Let’s reward this bullshit behavior with a television show and a large sum of money. Just more appealing to the lowest common denominator, I guess. Everybody’s capable when we set the bar low enough. Don’t get me wrong, some of these kids get it. Some of them make sacrifices, work hard, finish school, and learn to parent. There are parts of these series that need to be aired. There is one where a girl chose to have an abortion and others who chose adoption. It’s not sugar-coated. There are the fights, the problems with the daddies, and issues with custody and child support. And of course they pick some of the most messed-up situations one can imagine, like girls who had absent fathers or the boy whose mom was a drug addict. I know they want drama to get viewers to sell ad time. I guess I just feel bad for the babies and the fucked up video diaries that are left behind. The moms are in People and US Weekly magazines and gossip websites. It’s an extension of the Paris Hilton and Kardashian model of fame, these girls get famous for doing nothing. Or I should say famous for getting knocked up.

I work with a girl who is 20 and almost all of her friends have babies or have been pregnant. I’m 33 and have never been pregnant. I guess it just always seemed pretty easy to not get pregnant. Lots of friends my age don’t have children or are just starting families. So I look at these 20 year olds and have to think that growing up in a state with no comprehensive sex education sure did them a lot of fucking good. Yes, I blame the abstinence-based and abstinence only bullshit of the Bush years. And yes, I know teenagers are gonna get pregnant regardless of the political situation. It just seems to be a bit of an epidemic right now, or at least it seems that way when I see really young moms pushing their kids around the downtown area, usually after I get off work at night.

So I have decided that as long as Dr. Drew supports and profits from this he will no longer be my mature boyfriend. I hope on some level, kids watch the show and realize that being a parent is the hardest job in the world. My fear is that some kids watch the show and think it’s a great way to get famous and make money. Want money? Work. Wanna be famous? Do something worth fame. Create something. Play something. Solve a problem. Lots of us want fame and money when we are young. But if you grow up a bit, you realize who you want to be and for nearly all of us, that has nothing to do with how many people recognize us or know our names. It’s about connecting with other people and having the love of family and friends in your life. And for some people, part of that is creating another life when they feel more capable.