Sober House: Discuss.
Submitted by Sarah D. Bunting on February 25, 2009 – 12:01 PM15 Comments
I’ve got a Vine and a Crushed Film Festival entry in progress, but while you wait for those, you can discuss the latest Sober House-nanigans here. Linda and I have had a brief IM -versation about Jen’s continuing failure to exert any authority or even consistency into the recovery environment, but we’re clearly not the only ones who think that 1) Shifty needed from the get-go to go back to proper, full-on-lockdown residential rehab and stay there for at least 60 days, and 2) Jen is more interested in the very melodramatics that people new to recovery should probably avoid than in doing…whatever her job is. Not wearing enough clothing, I guess.
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Tags: curmudgeoning Jennifer Gimenez please look into proper foundation garments Shifty Sober House TV
“please look into proper foundation garments” as a tag. SNORK!!!
I love “Celebrity Rehab” because it seems so positive. It really seems that the clients are gradually opening up and have the potential to recover.
“Sober House” sucks the joy out of my life each and every episode. Seems like if you wanted to make a big relapse stew it would look just like this show. Take several insecure and fragile personalities, give them 20(?) days of sobriety (although I have read gossip that says all but Rodney relapsed in that brief period between the two shows), and put them all together in a house without any real rules or limits. I just want to slap everybody involved with this one, except for that David guy who I slap twice, and Dr. Drew who I’d slap and then give a big sexy kiss.
I loved the group session with Dr. Drew where he called them all out on loving the drama, but in a “let’s get you back focused” kind of way. “He may die. Nothing we can do about it.” All that drama keeps them from focusing on their own issues, and they all have plenty of those.
I think Jen’s gained weight and doesn’t know yet how to dress her size. There was one dress she wore where I was POSITIVE I was going to see her stuff. I think Jen THINKS she’s helping because she thinks being there means being … physically present for every person, but the best response would have been to turn off the computer and send them all to bed, rather than playing Find Shifty. And in the morning, she should have enforced their daily schedule (which is … what? Weren’t they supposed to have chores and get jobs?) rather than going to Mary’s porn friend’s house to see if Seth had been there. That scene really skeeved me out.
On a happier note, Rodney King looks much better than he did on Celebrity Rehab and he seems like such a wonderful person. I wish him the best.
Jen did gain some weight (and has lost it since taping), so I agree that the minidresses may be a result of ignorance about how to dress her larger frame. Mary and Nikki are also running around in clothes that are way too tight and short, and lacking support in the boob region. Step 3 of recovery must be to learn how to dress appropriately in public. They just haven’t gotten there yet.
It was odd that Jen put her foot down the night Seth disappeared, by not letting the housemates out to track him down, but then totally went for it the next day. They all see her as a peer, not a leader, because that’s how she acts.
I’m guessing she allowed the Shifty Search Party to go out the following day b/c it was no longer a curfew violation? But Jen’s joyriding around town with Seth’s buddies, and the descending en masse on Jessica Jaymes’ place (which, eek! why didn’t someone throw her over their shoulder and toss her into the van for a trip to the nearest treatment center; god that was depressing), etc. seemed like maybe not the best approach to the whole thing on the part of the group’s mentor. I’m feeling more and more like the sober house just isn’t providing the structure it needs to for those that are past needing full-on lockdown but not really ready to hack it free and clear yet (no, Seth and Steven, you are not among this particular population).
I think the whole concept of the Sober House is being undermined by the fact that they’re doing it as part of a reality show. It just feels completely weird and wrong, and watching it – not that I’m judging anyone for watching it, I watch it at the gym when nothing else is on – is like watching the same beat-up cars crash over and over again.
I honestly would like to see these people succeed at staying clean and doing things with their lives that make them genuinely happy; I just don’t think that being part of a reality show while doing it is going to reinforce those positive changes. What happens when the show ends?
I’m sorry for all of them & wish them the best – particularly Amber and Rodney, Amber because she comes across as genuinely caring about the others, and Rodney because he seems to be making genuine progress in spite of the fact that he’s clearly not comfortable in the whole “on camera” situation (I’m assuming he did this thing because they must pay for everything if you agree to do the show).
Also seems to me like Jen wanting to go with Shifty’s friend (and thus bring the cameras with her) was poor judgement. Let somebody who cares about him know that he’s in trouble, and then take a step back and focus on those you CAN save. But she’s thriving on the drama along with the rest of them.
Especially after watching Intervention, where they send people out of town for 90 days residential treatments, and then they generally don’t move back to the same state, it is clear that 21 days in rehab and then hanging out with your same friends is not going to cut it for most people with serious drug problems.
About the “on camera” issue, in some interview about Celeb Rehab, Dr. Drew said something about it being possibly motivating to these folks who are used to doing everything with people watching, and that seems lik e it could possibly have some merit, except some of them are just too sick for anything. Ugh. I do think Seth Binzer will die of an overdose eventually.
Please tell me the previews did not just show me Jen looking at Stephen Adler’s pee test in the MIDDLE of the house with SHIFTY WATCHING. What is this, a yearbook meeting?
And what was with Jen absolutely freaking out at paintball? “YOU SHOT ME!” It’s paintball, lady, Jesus Christ. I loved how the paintball instructor had no idea what her problem was.
Dude, that paintball scene was… illuminating. Whoa, Jen. I think I was wrong to give her the benefit of the doubt – particularly in light of that pee test scene from next week.
I don’t think Seth should have returned to the Sober House – he should have stayed in treatment, probably somewhere other than PRC, for longer than a few weeks. He’s definitely not ready for sobriety yet.
I think that people fresh out of rehab should be relocated to a region where they don’t know their way around, and don’t have “contacts” simply a phone call away. Seth even mentioned to Dr. Drew that PRC was in an area where he is used to partying and has people he knows who can get stuff for him. WHADDUP?
Jen is a retard.
Seth still had his sock on his barrel!
He couldn’t shoot her with anything except the compressed air…
Jen should be fired. She is not mature or capable of handling that position. Her behavior has been very immature. She needs TO GET A LIFE!!!!
Are they even working a 12 step program because I don’t see it and thats why Dr Drew’s patients all fail. I am sick and tired of Seth’s attention seeking behavior and he should be banned from that facility as he is a detriment to all patients recovery.
The only person that’s worth saving is Stephen. If he had 12 step to cling to he could make it – he needs to get away from those flakes and the head flake Jen.
i cant beleve they have such a nasty woman running the sober house. she gossips more than an eighth grader and loves to stir up drama….pls dr. drew FIRE HER FAT ASS and find someone who knows what their doing and has at least an ounce of compassion