rant about dr. drew on teen mom

Okay, so I realize I'm a little behind, but the reality TV show "Teen Mom" is on Netflix and last week I started watching it.

... I'm already through the first season.

Spare me your lectures about how it's a bad show! I enjoy turning my brain off when I get home from student teaching, especially over March Break, and Teen Mom does that for me. Quite well, actually.

The first season ends with a "check-in" interview with Dr. Drew. I've never seen this Dr. Drew before, but apparently he's on a million other reality TV shows. I don't know this Dr. Drew, but I already can't stand him.

Teen Mom Season 1 Episode 9 was the single worst interview I've ever watched. Here are some reasons why:



1. It was shameless propaganda. Yes, MTV, I get that you should tell your viewers that being a teen mom is not ideal. I get that you should talk about prevention. But really, Dr. Drew? Every other minute awkwardly inserting a fact or statistic you "just read" ... reminding viewers several times that they can visit the MTV website to find out about safe sex ... blahblahblah.

In his efforts to discourage viewers from deciding to have babies, Dr. Drew sacrificed the people he was interviewing -- the girls from the show. At one point he had all four of them up there with their babies (all of them around one year old). Of course, the kids were squirming and touching things. For a few minutes Dr. Drew awkwardly faked being interested in the kids, who he gushed "are amazing." Then he turned to the camera and actually said:

"For all the potential teen moms in our audience... you can see how difficult it is for us to even carry on a three minute conversation. If you are deluding yourself into thinking that you can have a baby, keep going to school, get your GED or have a career ... It's impossible."

Didn't it occur to him that the girls he was interviewing were all trying to do those things? Yes, babies are difficult and teenage viewers need to understand that. But it is not impossible to get your life together after you have an unexpected pregnancy. It's harder, and life will change, but it's not down the drain!

2. Dr. Drew's questions sucked. Did he even prepare for this? He asked vague questions. He asked questions that could be answered with one word. He tried to milk any sentimentality or stir up any drama that he could, and for the most part failed miserably. He constantly stated the obvious. He would have awkward pauses after watching clips from the season: "So, what do you think of that? Any thoughts?" No guidance. Awwwkward. Zero substance.The questions from the audience were much better -- questions like, "What is the greatest sacrifice you have made to be a mother?"

3. Dr. Drew is arrogant and condescending. When the girls were talking amongst themselves and asking questions (one of the best parts) he would interrupt with tagalong comments like, "That's right." As if saying, "Remember! I'm still here! The one trying to be a doctor and claiming to be an expert!" As if because they're teen moms he can put the stamp of approval on comments he deems "right." Rubbed me the wrong way ...

4. Dr. Drew gave horrible relationship advice. First of all, the point of the interview is not for us to watch Dr. Drew solve everything and benefit us all with his nuggets of wisdom. Secondly, the advice itself was bad (besides obvious things like: domestic violence is not good). He totally let Ryan off the hook! This made me so mad. I found it so offensive that he would put the blame on Maci and say things like, "It's different to be a father. It's easier for men to leave their children." As a woman this made me mad, but as a man I'd be mad, too. Men don't love their children? Ryan can be lazy, not care about his kid's first birthday, ignore his son and girlfriend, leave his family to go out drinking and dancing ... because he's a man? Even other fathers on the show prove this theory wrong; Gary and Tyler show way more interest in their children than Ryan does. He then urged the couple to patch things together "for Bentley's sake" -- ouch! Maci has been the only one trying to compromise and then he makes a shot at something she's been so sensitive to the entire season -- trying to make it work for Bentley. So right after Ryan says he doesn't care, he's not sorry for anything, and if Maci wasn't Bentley's mother he'd never even look at her again -- relationship guru Dr. Drew turns to Maci and basically says: "Try harder."

(Oh man ... I'm an official Teen Mom fan ... I can't help it!)

5. Endless recaps of the season. We... know.... We're not watching this for you, Dr. Drew. Give me my moms!

6. Endless comments about "how much we need to cover", "so many things to cover" and "we'll get back to that later." Waste. of. time.

I'm glad I got that off my chest. I admit I wasted the past hour of my life watching that finale, and I also admit that I am going to waste several more hours on the next season of Teen Mom :)