PeterDavid.net

I never really had strong feelings for or against McGraw until now. To me, he was just another celebrity character, and I pretty much ignored him, since I was never a regular watcher of Oprah, and have never seen his show.

I think the one time I saw an episode of Oprah with him, it featured a married couple in which the wife was a controlling, domineering woman who controlled everything from how many sodas the husband was allowed to have each day, to how he held his fork, to how he parted his hair, and even complained when he sweated while he slept. That said, it wasn't hard to side with McGraw when he offered advice that was critical of here. Aside from this and appearances in things like Scary Movie, in which he basically lampooned himself (being able to make fun of yourself will always get you points with me), I didn't think much of him.

Now, however, I think I've seen his true colors. It wasn't enough that he attached himself to Spears' coattails. No, he had to make her leave the hospital early, and exploit her for ratings.

He and Spears' parents deserve one another. The only one missing from this orgy of depravity are Lindsay Lohan's and Paris Hilton's parents.

Thank you for this, Peter. I'll avoid Dr. Phil more studiously from now on; he's always rubbed me the wrong way, too.

For the record, here's a YouTube copy of Ferguson's 13-minute monologue about why he wouldn't make fun of Britney:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bbaRyDLMvA

If Britney and her parents are too focused on keeping her in the public light, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave the broadcast special idea to Phil. There's no risk on their part, whereas he will adopt some culpability if she descends further. His only sincere option may be to tell her what seems to be the truth, which is she should walk away from show business and make her personal life and her children her highest priority.

The reason "hitting bottom" is crucial for reform is because privilege shelters and enables dysfunction. Interventions are meant to demonstrate to the addict that he has hit a low his loved ones emphasize he should avoid sinking further from. If the public nature of the to-be-televised Dr Phil intervention does this, he will have earned his accolades for healing Britney. Or the whole thing could result in nothing, like Geraldo opening Al Capone's vault.

You know, it took the WGA deal for me to even watch Craig Ferguson, and now I'm hooked. I can't help but like the guy. I see what Letterman sees in even hiring him.

Now I have even more respect for him, knowing his position on this.

Right now, both Spears sisters are easy targets. One didn't do anything all that wrong (i.e. she's having a kid underage), and the other has been having severe problems. These problems I relate to since I've watched someone very close to me go through the exact same thing, and nothing changed for her until she sought help, and honestly wanted to stop. Spears is almost there. She's at a point where she has every reason to stop, but her addiction is still saying "use me, use me, use me." She has the money and means so there's nothing keeping her from doing so, except, I don't know, the hospital she was staying in.

McGraw should know all this, being a licensed professional. Though, it may blow up in his face.

There's a reason why programs like AA have a public relations policy of having no public relations policy (basically, protect the identity of their members, and members are encouraged to not identify themselves unless they are helping someone new). Humans are human, and alcoholics and addicts have a terrible disease that's looked at from the outside as moral depravity. If a public figure represents such a program, and that disease, publicly - they are still likely to relapse, as many have - like anyone who identifies themselves with such a disease.

From what I'm seeing, Spears is serving the public as the "town drunk", and entertaining everyone so. She's being pointed to as someone to lord over, someone to be morally superior to. She provides the same service as, say, someone on Springer (who claims he began his show to genuinely help people). And right now, that's something called "good copy".

If Dr. Phil's trademark advice doesn't (and it's likely not going to) help Britney Spears, it will probably make his quick fix, no nonsense advisor image look like a failure. There is no quick fix, and addicts tend to say to that person what they want to hear, so they can go on to do what they're going to do.

"I'm going to make a real change."

"Trust me."

"I don't want to keep doing this."

The truth of the matter is that the addict usually means all of what they say, but the disease kicks in, and suddenly they don't know why they're knocking on their dealers door. It is not a moral issue (though, under the influence, morality becomes a very flexible thing), it's an illness. No one tells a cancer patient "why don't they just stop having cancer."

If Phil's special actually provides a service and makes people aware of this fact, then some good might come out of this. If Phil's special becomes an episode of "Intervention" with little follow-up and no long term plan for Spears to actually want to stop, then it's simply exploitive and a way for advertisers to exploit housewives and househusbands.

Again, Phil can possibly redeem himself if it helps make the public aware of addiction as an illness. Still, this would make Spears the public face of addiction and recovery under the MacGraw plan. And if she relapses, which is a strong possibility, well there goes that.

This is probably the most I'll ever write about Britney Spears in my lifetime, not to mention Dr. Phil.

For several years MTV hosted Loveline with Adam Carola and Dr. Drew, which is what introduced me to both of them. Lately Dr. Drew (Dr. Drew Pinsky, actually) has started to fall into the Dr. Joyce Brothers role. He appears on TV whenever they need a medical expert to comment on something.

However, there are things that make me respect Dr. Drew. For one, his advice has always seemed pretty straightforward. It's not insulting like Dr. Phil, he actually talks about medical causes for things and seems to know what he's talking about in a way that Dr. Phil doesn't.

Second, for much of the time that he's been a TV personality, if not all of it, Dr. Drew has maintained a private practice and continued seeing patients. It's not part of a show, the patients are regular patients, and it's a real part of his life. Even with all the acting stuff he's done on the side, Dr. Drew has continued being a real doctor.

Then there's Dr. Phil. According to wikipedia, he got out of seeing patients pretty quick, and never really liked working one-on-one with patients from the start. The stuff I've read about Dr. Phil makes it seem more and more like being a doctor is just a means to being a celebrity for him.

Dr. Phil IS scum, of course. But this really made me look at Brittany's parents as being the bigger scum bags. It's obvious this girl doesn't just have addictive problems, she has mental problems, severe ones. Do her parents find the best help for her? No, they get her some high profile TV hack.

the worst part is, this slightly talented girl is going to go the way of Anna Nichole Smith if someone doesn't try to legitimately help her real soon.

I always wondered if people who did reality shows really knew what they were getting into. If somebody signed up for something like that I would want it to be their decision, without anybody associated with the show encouraging them to do something that they might regret.

So apparently we have McGraw now trying to convince somebody that it would be good to humiliate herself further by having her seemingly neverending train wreck of a life televised.

Yeah, I agree. He is scum.

There's no such thing as bad publicity.
Britney would've been forgotten by now if it weren't for a series of public misadventures. It all serves to keep her celebrity status. Pathetic.
Yes, Dr Phil is a creep for exploiting the whole situation, but so are the folks E!, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition and a whole slew of others. Moreso, It aggravates me to no end when CNN and other "news" outlets cover this silliness as though it were a real story

It turns out Britney didn't want anything to do with him and his report that Dr. Phil spent an hour with her is erroneous. She blasted him and demanded he leave.

The man is self-seeking, not altruistic. Britney needs help, and needs to do it on her terms, without the world watching her every move.

The question is, will we/the media let her?

Yes, Dr Phil is a creep for exploiting the whole situation, but so are the folks E!, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition and a whole slew of others.

Yeah, well, y'know what? Nobody on E!, Entertainment Tonight, Inside edition or the rest of the slew practices a profession that abides by the Latin precept "Primum non nocere"--"First, do no harm." He's supposedly a damned doctor, and I have to think that elevating ratings above the welfare of a troubled young girl qualifies as doing harm.

I strongly suggest anyone who hasn't go check out the Ferguson monologue on "Youtube." Just search under "Craig Ferguson" and "Britney Spears" and it'll come right up.

PAD

Paul: If you're right about that being the only thing that matters here...then I fear for this woman.

If I ever need help, I'll seek out Quick Draw McGraw. :)

I strongly suggest anyone who hasn't go check out the Ferguson monologue on "Youtube."

It's a good monologue, but the fact that he starts out basically saying "you know, what I say does affect the individuals I make fun of" just kind of loses its meaning a bit if he goes on making fun of individuals anyways, even if they aren't Britney Spears because he believes he's gone through what she's going through now.

But, as Ferguson points out, Spears needs to help herself. And until she does so, all the Dr. Phil's in the world won't make a difference. She's obviously not serious about rehab (for whatever it is she needs rehab for, drugs, alcohol, whatever), she doesn't seem to be able to make the best decisions for either herself or her children, and I'm getting the impression that her family isn't helping the situation

Thanks PAD, I just watched it on youtube. The was very interesting.

Once upon a time, before he was the lovable Dr. Phil, friend to Oprah, defender of the downtrodden, and fattest man ever to write a diet book, he was Phil McGraw, jury consultant.

So there wasn't a lot of integrity to lose, if you know what I'm saying.

Everybody knows how this is likely to end. As long as her family--the people most of us would have around us trying to do the right thing in a situation like this--are instead encouraging her to hit ever greater depths, it's hard to see how this doesn't become another Hollywood suicide story.

I'm not sure that her behavior is so much that of an addict as it is serious bipoloar disorder. In which case I'll be amazed if being shamed on national TV will do anything more than send her into a greater spiral.

It's obvious this girl doesn't just have addictive problems, she has mental problems, severe ones.
Yep. I see a lot of people still talking in terms of addiction, but it's becoming increasingly likely that addiction isn't the issue here. Given her age, and onset of erratic behaviour, it seems pretty likely that post-partum depression and/or psychosis has triggered a full mental collapse (or precipitated/pushed an early bipolar break).

She definitely needs help, but I don't think rehab is where she's going to find it.

Found the Ferguson video - and it's certainly interesting. Unlike Craig, though, I don't see anything negative with what Ferguson said. He said, basically, that he was sheltered with what effect his comedy was having on his targets until he met Costner, and then saw Spears beginning to break down, and realized that even if you can find the inherent funny in a situation like the female astronaut's mental break, you shouldn't necessarily pursue it. That there are targets out there who you can skewer til the cows come home for ridiculous, over the top, asinine behaviour that has nothing to do with mental illness, substance abuse, or the litany of things that break a person. The people who instead make themselves targets because they are blowhards, they try to cheat or lie to the public, because they do stupid things to be stupid, or get media attention.

I think, actually, Ferguson touched spot on the reason I tend to avoid most late night television (or talk show TV in general): it has too much of the negative aspects of the spectacle to it, where they are focusing on making fun of the misfortunate.

By all means, take my politicians down. Preferably with a blow gun or other sharp instrument (wit included). But I squirm when any monologue (or other comedy) veers too far into the realm of making fun of those who simply have the misfortune of having public breakdowns because of who they are, or their handlers made them into being.

As someone with alot of training in the field (I have an MA in psychology) I have never ever liked Dr. Phil.

He completely ignores all the rules and steps and methods I learned in my training about what makes psychology work.

"The worst part is, then people like my girlfriend watch his crap, and look at me and say: thats the kind of therapist I want.

And why is that? because instead of a long drawn out process where your feelings and thoughts have to emerge from inside of you (and hence actually be your own), Dr Phil basically tells you how you feel, or how you should feel or act. Or he leads you to the answer he feels is right. And its like: "wow, you fixed my major problem in 15 minutes! On your show!" Sorry, it doesn't work like that.

And all that is, is quick fix television wanna-be psychology.

Ferguson made the great point that comedy should be about targeting the pompous, the larger than life figures. The comedian should be the spokesman of the underdog, not the schoolyard bully making fun of the fat kid.

When you make fun of Larry Craig, you're going after hypocrisy. When you go after George Bush, you're going after powerful men who make dumb decisions that affect the little guy. This is the mistake Don Imus famously made -- his joke failed because his targets were kids who had done nothing to really deserve his ire. It's similar to when Mike Myers erred in joking about Chelsea Clinton's appearance back in 1992.

Paris Hilton takes knocks because she represents what the average person hates -- someone who has had everything handed to he and who expects the world to basically be her father/mother surrogates and continuing giving everything to her.

Britney Spears, on the other hand, is someone who has been making people rich since she was barely into her teens. I'm sure PAD might empathize with her in the sense that he has a job that is viewed by the average person as "fun," but is still hard work. She climbed to the top and there's nothing Americans like more sadly than watching people tumble.

What's happening to Ms. Spears now basicaly isn't funny -- not to her family or to her kids. I think Americans don't really appreciate the effect of mental illness. It's very much like saying, "Why doesn't she stop having cancer?" So, she falls apart mentally and we all have a good laugh.

But it's not funny.

Same with Lindsay Lohan. This kid might be dead in a few years. She lacks the support system to save her from herself.

And, really, it's an election year -- we have more than enough material rather than to mock the weak.

According to the gossip site TMZ.com (take it for what it's worth,) this is an even more pathetic publicity stunt than we'd thought.

TMZ has learned Dr. Phil's visit with Britney Spears was not exactly as advertised.

People on the 7th floor at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center say the doctor arrived about 7:30 AM Saturday. We're told Britney did not invite him in; she didn't even know he was coming. Sources say it was Brit's parents who told Dr. Phil to go to the hospital. When he walked into her room, we're told, a blindsided Britney walked out -- and eventually came back.

Sources say Phil tried speaking with Spears for about 15 minutes -- not an hour as Dr. Phil's press release states -- but she wanted none of it. We're told Phil was doing almost all the talking. As for walking with her to the car on her way out -- again, as his release states -- we're told if he was walking behind her, that's news to her. She absolutely was not accompanied by him.

Sources say Dr. Phil somehow convinced Brit's mom and dad to be on his show, which will tape Monday and air Tuesday (it was just moved up a day), but as one person put it, "Based on the interaction between Dr. Phil and Britney this morning, it'll be a cold day in hell before Britney goes on his show." We're told she absolutely will not appear on the program.

Sources say Dr. Phil wants to do a television intervention, something that isn't sitting well with some of the people who have known for a while that Britney has a very serious mental condition -- likely a bipolar disorder that is now in the red zone.

TMZ contacted Cedars to find out why the hospital let a television doctor on a floor that has such fragile patients, particularly since Britney had no idea he was coming. It's especially troublesome that Cedars let Dr. Phil go uninvited to Britney's room, since she had already been discharged and presumably had a right to know if someone wanted to visit. A Cedars rep made it short and sweet, telling us, "No comment."

A rep from the "Dr. Phil" show had no comment as well, other than "Dr. Phil met with Ms. Spears at family members' invitation."

I think Britney used to be a worthy target for jokes. When Ferguson said that jokes should go against the politicians, the Trumps, and the powerful, I think Britney used to be in that category.

After all, she was a *huge* star. Rich, able to get whatever she wanted, all that stuff. So when she kinda-sorta-accidentally married a guy in Vegas a few years ago and got it annulled a few days later, I made jokes with everyone else. There's nothing wrong with the late night talk show hosts of the world joking about that kind of thing.

But now it's just sad. It's like if a coworker comes to work with a hangover from partying the night before. Do you make a joke? Of course you do (well, I do). And if he's wearing the same clothes as yesterday, even better.

But what if he's hung over every day? That's not a one time mistake, that's a problem, so most people would back off pretty quickly.

If Costner or Spears do something silly, a little joking is no big deal. But at this point making fun of Britney is like making fun of an accident victim.

Yeah, well, y'know what? Nobody on E!, Entertainment Tonight, Inside edition or the rest of the slew practices a profession that abides by the Latin precept "Primum non nocere"--"First, do no harm."

And why is that? because instead of a long drawn out process where your feelings and thoughts have to emerge from inside of you (and hence actually be your own), Dr Phil basically tells you how you feel, or how you should feel or act. Or he leads you to the answer he feels is right. And its like: "wow, you fixed my major problem in 15 minutes! On your show!" Sorry, it doesn't work like that.

I guess Dr Phil would be a more ethical show if he was a small claims court judge instead. He'd have to square-off against Judge Joe Brown on even ground.

When you make fun of Larry Craig, you're going after hypocrisy.

It's a wonder portraying Larry Craig's holding others to a standard he refuses to be held by as hypocrisy is in any way controversial.

1PAD,
If you want to think Dr. Phil is a scumbag, I suggest you dig into his public history before being a TV-Shrink, Psychologist or Jury consultant.

If you look into his ill-conceived fitness business . . . I think you'll find a whole new reason to dislike him.

I'm not saying he isn't an intelligent man. And I'm not saying he doesn't understand psychology. I'm just saying the first person he's going to help out is . . . Phil McGraw.

It sounds, Mr. D., like you have a shot at appearing on "The Root of All Evil," that new show hosted by Lewis Black. The show is a debate between two funny people about which is more evil...say, Wal-Mart or Heroin, Kim Jung Il or Hulk Hogan, that sort of thing. I think you could be the attorney proposing that Dr. Phil (or as Black has called him on more than one occasion, "Doctor F*** Phil") as being more evil than the guy who brought sushi to the United States.

TMZ contacted Cedars to find out why the hospital let a television doctor on a floor that has such fragile patients, particularly since Britney had no idea he was coming. It's especially troublesome that Cedars let Dr. Phil go uninvited to Britney's room, since she had already been discharged and presumably had a right to know if someone wanted to visit. A Cedars rep made it short and sweet, telling us, "No comment."
I can actually answer this one - or at least give you the answer that an awful lot of hospitals would give, which is that if someone is taken in on a 5150 as an adult, and they don't have a marriage or specific legal guardian naming medical decision making capacity to a specific person, the right reverts to the parents. (This is also true for most medical treatment, people - set up your advanced directives, living wills, get your legal documents in order, make sure the person making your medical decisions knows your wishes should you become incapacitated, and talk to everyone about your choices and beliefs!)

Since Spears is unmarried, chances are good that as her closest adult living relatives, her parents have decision-making capacity. As long as Spears wasn't in a lockdown unit and denied all visitation rights, her parents could allow anyone they wanted in to see her while she was deemed unable to make her own medical decisions.

That she so adamantly stepped up to defend her privacy and desires (if what TMZ reports is truer than the sham doc, which I have no trouble believing) is probably one of the reasons the hospital lifted the 5150 early - easier to work with the patient who seems to have an idea of what's good for her, than decision-makers who are making what most doc's would clearly consider bad decisions for the patient.

...those last few sentences became sort of convoluted, but hopefully they made sense. It made sense in my head, but that's not much of a guarantee of anything, really.

I don't know Spears well enough (or at all) to determine what her problem is, but actually I think my daughter Ariel may well have nailed it. She said, "People have been allowing her to do whatever she wants for so long that she's just used to things being that way. So now she's freaking about because she can't understand why people are telling her she can't 'be Britney' anymore and do whatever she wants."

It may not be that she has bipolar disorder. It may be quite simply a massive case of arrested development, someone who has been surrounded by enablers who have allowed her id to run wild for years. She's never really had to function with the responsibilities of an adult, and instead of growing into them like a normal person, she's having them forced upon her by a judge. And, to use the cliche, it's like trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole.

PAD

What bad thing can anyone say about sushi? It's like eating butter without it making you tired afterwards.

I specifically tuned in to Craig Ferguson's show that night back in July when Lindsay Lohan was in a car chase and found with cocaine in her pants pocket. He basically just came out and said, "Lindsay. LINNNND-say. Oh, Lindsay," in a kind of scolding matter, then said, "And that's all I have to say about that."

On "The Tonight Show" that same night, Rob Schneider dressed in drag to play Lindsay Lohan in a mock interview.

And that's why I adore Craig Ferguson.

First of all, you don't have any business having raw fish served to you unless you communicate in high-pitched squeals and live someplace that has the words, "People seated in the first three rows will get wet" printed right outside. It's raw fish. Raw freaking fish. Anyone who eats this overpriced crap and comes down with bellyaches, I have no sympathy for 'cause you knew the odds going in. If you're a human being and you're going to eat fish, throw it on a grill the way God intended you to.

I hadn't heard about the Lewis Black show. I doubt they'd want me; I'm not a comedian.

PAD

I'm going to have to agree with Mike on this and tell PAD that he is wrong wrong wrong! Sushi is proof that God loves us.

And not all sushi involves raw fish--try Spider Roll! It has the following attributes:

1- The only food I know of with the word Spider in it.
2- Although it actually is made from fried softshell crab, the legs stick out in a genuinely spider-like manner. You can pretend to be the guy on Man Against Wild, forced to devour tarantulas after a a forced landing into the Brazilian rain forest.
3- It's delicious.

The trick to sushi is to find the right wasabi/soy sauce combination, which takes some practice. Too little and there isn't enough bite. Too much will clean out your sinuses. Also, too many people soak the sushi in the sauce until it falls apart. To each his own but for me it takes just a bit to do the trick.

What other food dances in your mouth like sushi? (I'm being metaphorical here--if it actually dances the fish is too raw.) The faint sticky sweetness of the rice, the chewy texture of the seaweed, the delicate buttery (good description, Mike) texture of the fish, the saltiness of the soy, the fire of the wasabi. Depending on the roll chosen you might get additional factors--avocado, flying fish eggs, etc.

Every bite is a moment to savor.

Believe me, oh my brothers! I was once as you are! I ordered tempura while others ordered that which I disdainfully dismissed as bait. But once you experience the real thing...once you unlock its secrets...there is nothing better.

Common misconception.

Sashimi is raw fish.

Sushi is little rice rolls with filler which often is raw fish, but not necessarily.

No such thing as too much wasabi.

AiiiiiYEEEEEEE!

Frances Farmer Redux, anyone?

Well well well...it appears I made a false assumption. Since he bills himself as "Dr. Phil," I was foolish enough to think he was actually a medical practitioner.

Turns out...no. He has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

So technically speaking, he is in fact not beholden to "Primum non nocere" since he is not actually a medical practitioner. I guess that means he really is no different from E! and the others and is free to do as much harm as he wants.

Isn't that nice?

PAD

"Even Dr. Ruth only has an educational degree."

But she was a sniper, so it's best not to argue with her.

Of course, that's true of most of these guys who have their own TV or radio shows. Even Dr. Ruth only has an educational degree. Notable exception is Dr. Drew Pinsky who does indeed have an MD.

He has a talk show where he aids people for a living. Those people aren't famous but many of them are in bad shape and he helps them on the air and collects a paycheck and most people don't blink an eye at it.

What's the difference between that and aiding Spears and all of the other patients he aids?

Not trying to bait an argument but basically trying to see where your stance is on them.

Denny, a lot of people have been saying for a long time that Dr. Phil doesn't really aid people on his show. He just makes them feel bad while offering nothing that's actually helpful.

Everyone needs to get a paycheck, so getting paid while doing work that helps people isn't a big deal. The problem is when getting a paycheck and some fame becomes more important than making sure what you're doing is actually helpful. That's Dr. Phil.

The difference is that he's coming across like an opportunistic ambulance chaser in this instance, as opposed to dealing with people who voluntarily come onto his program.

PAD

PAD, I have eaten sushi for almost 20 years, and let me tell you about my experiences. It took me a long time to acquire a taste for it after living in Japan, but I did. And I've never ever gotten sick from eating it. But I always eat in high-end sushi places that buy quality fish and MOVE fish daily so it's always very,very fresh.

I suspect those getting sick are eating in all-you-can eat or cheap sushi joints. You would have about as much chance seeing me in such a place as you would seeing me in a Chinese buffet.

Some more clues as to "Dr." Phil McGraw's skeeziness...

His show is really about selling books that he and his wife have written. Each time I've watched the show (for entertainment purposes only) I've heard him say, "I wrote a book called Family First..." Honestly, it's like a drinking game.

He also overtly uses the show as a platform to gain his children public attention. I speculate that it's either an attempt to to get them enough public attention for book deals or to enhance his image as a father figure.

The big clue for me, though, is that he calls himself Dr. Phil. When did these "Doctors" stop having last names? Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew, Dr. Ruth, Dr. Laura... It just reeks of bullshit to me. What? Are we supposed to feel like we can confide in them because they're are allowing us to use their first names? Like it makes them come off as more personable? So why don't they drop the "Dr." part? Maybe it works on eight-year-olds, but on adults? I'm not buying it.

Dr. Drew Pinsky, for the record (if such exists), always came off as professional and I imagine that's not always easy to do when Adam Carolla is ones co-host.

McGraw, on the other hand, comes of as a charlatan.

Say what you will about Britany Spears, but she at least had enough sense not to play McGraw's game. That indicates, to me at least, that she has developed some foresight. Or that she wants a perscrition stronger than "Family First" or "How My Husband Used His Celebrity Status to Get My Book Published."

M

I don't know Spears well enough (or at all) to determine what her problem is, but actually I think my daughter Ariel may well have nailed it. She said, "People have been allowing her to do whatever she wants for so long that she's just used to things being that way. So now she's freaking about because she can't understand why people are telling her she can't 'be Britney' anymore and do whatever she wants."
**************
SER: I'd agree with Ariel on this. It's similar to what happened with Tom Cruise (I don't think he "went" crazy -- was it really any coincidence that he'd fired his longterm manager prior to jumping on couches?).

When you basically provide the livelihoods of everyone around you (including mom and dad), it's hard to not consider yourself the center of the universe. You certainly are for those around you.

I recently watched the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life." What I find most brilliant about it is the fact (and this is something I think some people miss) is that Tommy isn't *evil.* He's an average 6-year-old kid who has god-like powers. There is no such thing as power and responsibility at that age. A child who can go unchecked --- whose parents are too afraid for their own lives and sanity to discipline -- will become a monster.

And I'm sure there are many people close to Britney or Lindsay who reassure them that "it's good that you did that... real good" as they then go and cash their checks.

I think Britney used to be a worthy target for jokes. When Ferguson said that jokes should go against the politicians, the Trumps, and the powerful, I think Britney used to be in that category.

After all, she was a *huge* star. Rich, able to get whatever she wanted, all that stuff. So when she kinda-sorta-accidentally married a guy in Vegas a few years ago and got it annulled a few days later, I made jokes with everyone else. There's nothing wrong with the late night talk show hosts of the world joking about that kind of thing.

But now it's just sad. It's like if a coworker comes to work with a hangover from partying the night before. Do you make a joke? Of course you do (well, I do). And if he's wearing the same clothes as yesterday, even better.

But what if he's hung over every day? That's not a one time mistake, that's a problem, so most people would back off pretty quickly.

*************
SER: I think Johnny Carson, for example, used to really get this. He'd often have a star on his show who he'd ribbed for a blunder they'd made -- similar to the guy who showed up at work with the hangover. However, Carson was always classy enough to know when to back off ,as you say.

Britney's crazy first marriage was genuine fodder -- sort of like Liz Taylor's multiple marriages. Something she herself would willingly joke about.

Now, though, when talk show hosts should back off, they react like Jed Clampett hitting texas t.

I shamefully admit to having watched Dr. Phil's show when it first came on. Pretty soon though, I realized that it was just a case of schadenfreude, and I was enjoying somebody point out the obvious to people who were too stupid to see it for themselves. Once I realized that, I felt pretty disgusted by it.

The guy's a douchebag, and the story you share only adds to the evidence.

I'm going to have to agree with Mike on this and tell PAD that he is wrong wrong wrong! Sushi is proof that God loves us.

QFT. I heartily agree with the statement that all-you-can-eat sushi is an invention up there with fire and the wheel.

I just saw some of the Ralphie Ray Comedy Central special, where he told us all why he hates Dr. Phil: "I can't trust a guy with a porno mustache."

Now that that's out of my system...

Yeah, his offer of "help" was pretty scummy. Massive publicity has never seemed to help anyone already famous -- that Britney and K-Fed didn't do much for either of them, and some suggested the Jessica Simpson-Nick Lachey marriage was severely hurt by their being videotaped all the time -- and his special with her would be more of a public spectacle than an intervention.

Of course, it's hard to defend Britney with all the horrible things she keeps doing. After her most recent MTV performance, I wrote an article online defending her against most of the criticisms (so she was a little heavy and didn't lip-sync or dance perfectly -- these are crimes or sins?). But just about everything since then has either been her neglecting her kids, acting irresponsibly (skipping a court date due to illness, then seen partying that night), or crossing the line between diva and mentally ill (as with the magazine interview she ruined a few months back).

The main problem -- one, I suspect, shared by Michael Jackson and many other celebs -- is that she's surrounded herself with people who are there to make her feel good, not to warn her or help her when she starts screwing up. So if she decides to drive without a license or skip court, they tell her how right she is instead of advising her to get her priorities straight. And now reality is crashing into that false support. The results haven't been pretty.

The self-effacing Peter David said:

I hadn't heard about the Lewis Black show. I doubt they'd want me; I'm not a comedian.

But you're funny on the stump, boss. I've seen you get rooms of people giggling. You can talk extemporaneously beautifully, more so than any author I've ever seen in person. And you have theatrical experience.

Also, Comedy Central is doing the show. I've seen the standup guys they put on these shows; without any ethnic inference intended at all, they're the migrant workers of standup comedy. The guys who do gigs in teeny clubs, on the road 362 days a year, who can only afford MySpace web pages. You are, on your off days when you're sick as a dog, at LEAST as good as them. Get some tape of your solo panels at a con and send it in; they'll love you.

Besides my honest belief that this is true, you backed me up on my insistence that sushi is the most nauseating food on the planet, and I owe it to you.

If you're a human being and you're going to eat fish, throw it on a grill the way God intended you to.

Wait, is lox prohibited by Judaism? That could be the basis of a New York-based version of Footloose.

This is in today's Chicago Sun-Times:

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/zwecker/728694,CST-FTR-zp07.article

Considering the person writing the article, I tend to believe it.

I think that lox is cured, either by brining, smoking, or both, so it might not technically be considered raw.

It's pretty good. But it sure ain't sushi!

I was going by the divine grilling mandate, which lox does not undergo.

The StarWolf said:

Common misconception.

Sashimi is raw fish.

Sushi is little rice rolls with filler which often is raw fish, but not necessarily.

Closer, but not quite.

Sashimi is raw fish.

Sushi is lightly vinegared sticky rice.

Maki-zushi (roll-sushi) is little rice rolls with fillings such as raw fish, etc., wrapped in seaweed.

Nigiri-zushi is raw fish or other ingredients upon a small ball of rice.

There is also inarizushi, which is the sushi rice stuffed into a fried tofu pocket, and chirashizushi, which is a bowl of rice with various sushi toppings (fish, vegetables, fish roe, thinly sliced fried eggs, etc) scattered over the top...

Rob
(had dinner at the local kaitenzushi restaurant tonight)

Ah, I screwed up the tags somehow...my bit starts with "Closer, but not quite."

Rob

This is a mind-boggling quote from that article Kevin posted the link too:
"'We have had many difficult celebrity patients in here over the years,'' said the Cedars-Sinai nurse. ''But Britney tops 'em all -- a real hellion. Screaming and carrying on and totally disruptive. Even though she was somewhat isolated in a VIP room, the administration decided she was too much trouble. In addition, it did seem she was no longer a danger to herself or others, as messed up as she is,'' added the nurse, a longtime Cedars-Sinai staffer."

It's good to see that, if the hospital doesn't really want to bother to help somebody, they'll just throw them out. Nice. That's a real help to society, right there.

As for sushi, I can't get past the taste of the seaweed. Otherwise, I'd try it more often.

Hey PAD, Howard Stern (on the west coast replay) just said pretty much the same thing you said, only with a few explitives added for fun.

What!?! Who the hell slagged on sushi???

Food

of

the

gods.

People who don't eat sushi are simply not well. There may even be grounds for psychological evaluation and commitment based simply on that alone.

There's a place down in Williamsburg that serves some of the best sushi around. They even do the Japanese steakhouse thing and have a guy at each table fixing up everything on the spot. It's just great. Oh, for Bill's well being, they serve a fantastic spider roll that comes with a little spicy dip on the side. My favorite of theirs' is their eel and a spicy one that burns the hell out of you about five seconds after you swallow it. Can't remember the name off the top of my head and I've only ever found it down there.

When it's a famous person, they blame the fame. When it's a nobody they say it's videogames or bad company or drugs or whatever. But, as cliched as it may sound, most times when you get a really screwed-up, dysfunctional person, it's because there are screwed-up, dysfunctional parents.

I know it's not a popular thing to say, it seems like it's evading responsibility by blaming Mom and Dad, but what can be truer? Loving, responsible parents will raise decent people, while bad parenting will inflict the sort of emotional scars that result in wrecks like Britney.

And the saddest thing is, the dysfunction will probably continue with Britney's own kids. And I think her fame is irrelevant. There are lots of non-famous family lines in the same situation.

Jerry Chandler,

What's the name of this place in Williamsburg? I get down there every so often and would love to give it a try....

It's truly sad, yet not alltogether unexpected that a pop-culture psychologist who has no track record to speak of ( where are the patients from his practice coming forward ?) jumps on the Britney bandwagon. He ill be of no help to her. Better she had Dr. Kieth Maddow slap some sense into her momma for being the media-whoremonger she is. Or better yet and more apropos ( of something!) Jerry Springer.

What!?! Who the hell slagged on sushi???

Food

of

the

gods.

Yeah. The elder gods.

PAD

"Welcome to Dagon's House of Sushi! Tonight's special is Cthulhu-roll with almonds! Can I get you something to drink?"

"We also have Crouch End on tap!" :)

Regarding the Britney situation, I want to know what K-Fed's connection has been. Has no one other than me given thought to the idea that all her troubles in the past two years have been HIS fault? Where is K-Fed's ex and the two kids he had with her? (Why is it we don't hear about his "fatherly" concern for those two kids? Let's not forget that K-Fed married Britney about 10 WEEKS after Star gave birth to her and K's second son. Where WAS she during Brit and K-Fed's divorce and custody hearings? I would've thought she'd be the one screaming loudest that K wasn't a fit parent either after his playing around.)
I truly believe that K-Fed's been getting to those around Britney and paying them to screw her around. Most of the accusations against Britney in the divorce case came from or were backed up by the people who (supposedly) worked for HER. K-Fed's not going to let the Britney money factory get away until he's gotten as much as he can. (I honestly think that if Britney were to go broke tomorrow and couldn't manage her child support payments, K-Fed would pass the kids off to Brit's parents in a heartbeat, and set off to find and trap some other poor little rich girl, willing to believe whatever pack of lies he tells her.)
As for Dr Phil, well, the less said the better. The only time he's been remotely enjoyable is when "MadTV" has skewered him (courtesy of Michael McDonald).
And, in regards to Mitch's unwarranted slam against Dr Ruth (OTOH, I wholeheartedly support any slams against "Dr" Laura). Dr Ruth, at least, is qualified in her field (human sexuality) and, given her age and height when she started her media career, using her first name with "Dr" made her sex advice a bit less intimidating as well as more folksy and even sensible. (I almost think it was Dr Ruth who became the unwitting pioneer in the first-name-only doctors. Joyce Brothers was almost always referred to as "Dr Joyce Brothers"--though it does seem that when she was on something like "Hollywood Squares", her questions were prefaced with "Dr Brothers" or "Joyce".)

Craig J. Ries sez:This is a mind-boggling quote from that article Kevin posted the link too:
"'We have had many difficult celebrity patients in here over the years,'' said the Cedars-Sinai nurse. ''But Britney tops 'em all -- a real hellion. Screaming and carrying on and totally disruptive. Even though she was somewhat isolated in a VIP room, the administration decided she was too much trouble. In addition, it did seem she was no longer a danger to herself or others, as messed up as she is,'' added the nurse, a longtime Cedars-Sinai staffer."

It's good to see that, if the hospital doesn't really want to bother to help somebody, they'll just throw them out. Nice. That's a real help to society, right there.

Well, Craig, it may have been in the Infinite Wisdom if the Hospital that Britney was not a danger to anyone, but their insurance premiums after letting Dr. Phil come by. And quite Frankly, I think the Residents of California should e-mail their Assemblyperson because guess what, the Hospital broke the law.

Apparently you were not the only person to question McGraw's ethics. I just read that he has canceled the taping.

I'd need to know more about the hospitals decision before saying that it was a bad thing. If Britney really was as bad as they say, she may have been causing problems that affected the other patients. If that were the case, then they have a responsibility to those patients, too.

Posted by Osbo

The truth of the matter is that the addict usually means all of what they say, but the disease kicks in, and suddenly they don't know why they're knocking on their dealers door. It is not a moral issue (though, under the influence, morality becomes a very flexible thing), it's an illness.

In one of Laurence Block's novels featuring alcoholic private eye Matthew Scudder, a friend (a heroin addict) Scudder knows from twelve-step explains the difference between an alcoholic and a junkie - they'll both steal your wa;;et, but the junkie will help you look for it.

Posted by Peter David

Well well well...it appears I made a false assumption. Since he bills himself as "Dr. Phil," I was foolish enough to think he was actually a medical practitioner.

Turns out...no. He has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

Puts him one up on Dr Laura (is she still around, or did she turn into Ann Coulter?) - *her* PhD was in Nutrition.

As to sushi - quoting Bob Asprin and Mel. White's "Duncan & Mallory": "If you cook it, it tastes just like fish!"

Peter,

It may interest you to know that Dr. Phil has cancelled the shown on Britney because her situation was was " 'too intense' for him to go forward with the show."

You can find the article at:

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080107/D8U18D9O0.html

Oh, and about five years ago, when I was on the Paramount set visiting an actor friend and his agent, Dr. Phil was in the commisary eating lunch. The agent told me, at the time, that Dr. Phil was one of the most detested persons on the lot by the other Paramount workers because of his haughty arrogance.

I don't know if this still true, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out it still was so.

Bob

Rene -
Loving, responsible parents will raise decent people, while bad parenting will inflict the sort of emotional scars that result in wrecks like Britney.

I really hope we don't go down this road.

Yeah, I think Britney's parents take some of the blame here, but even perfect parents sometimes end up with bad kids, regardless. And, conversely, bad parents can still end up with good kids.

JosephW: "And, in regards to Mitch's unwarranted slam against Dr Ruth..."

I should have made it clear that I have nothing against Dr. Ruth Westheimer(sp). It's the practice that "Media Doctors" engage in that troubles me so.

Think of it this way... Who would you take more seriously? Dr. Doom or Dr. Victor.

There you go! (TANJENT WARNING) Have Dr. Doom appear as Dr. Victor, with his own daytime talk show, to bring Peter and Mary Jane together with suprise guest Mephisto to solve their current marriage woes! Then Doom... er... Dr. Victor can steal Mephistos power and return the marvel universe to normal. Why would Doom do this? Because Mephisto inadvertantly fouled one of Dooms master plans: To force Britany Spears to endure all books written by the McGraw family.

Yeah, I lost it.

M

"Think of it this way... Who would you take more seriously? Dr. Doom or Dr. Victor."

That's just because he has an imposing last name. He'd probably be calling himself Dr. Victor if his real name was Victor von Huckabee.

As someone who suffers with a son who's bipolar (this week we're an insufferable manic, who was up past 2am last night endlessly flushing toilets), although I realize everyone can present differently, I don't see Britney as bipolar at all. I do know, in either case, she should never be left alone with children until she has a steady track record of mental stability and/or sobriety. The saddest part is, she had everything at her fingertips, and now her likelihood of ever making a serious comeback is about as good as Michael Jackson's.

Ok, Jason. Point taken.

Even better would be "The Dreaded Dr. Huckabee."

I am, however, still holding to my original position: McGraw is a self-exalting box of insufferable horse sweat.

M

Sushi rolls can contain all kinds of things other than raw fish. Most places I've been have at least one type of all-vegetable roll, which is what I usually get (since I can't eat seafood), and some will even offer non-traditional rolls with, say, cooked chicken or beef, or even spam (scary, but I expect it's probably popular in Hawaii).

Clay,

Kyoto at 1621 Richmond Rd.

or

Hayashi Sushi & Grill at 5601 Richmond Rd.

I haven't been in Hayashi yet, but I've heard good things about it.

PAD: "Yeah. The elder gods."

Hey, just because some of us were raised to respect our elders...

mike weber: “As to sushi - quoting Bob Asprin and Mel. White's "Duncan & Mallory": "If you cook it, it tastes just like fish!"”

And if you don’t cook it, as tasty as cooking does make it, it taste absolutely divine.

Wimps.

~8?P

and some will even offer non-traditional rolls with, say, cooked chicken or beef, or even spam (scary, but I expect it's probably popular in Hawaii).

Spam WAAAYYYY more often than beef or chicken. (And spam sushi is pretty tasty.....).

For the hakujin, there's the California roll, with avocado and cucumber (and occasionally a bit of crab meat). Yummmmmmm.

And spam sushi is pretty tasty.....

Yipes! The idea of spam sushi scares me more than anything raw or even Dr Phil!

PAD wrote: I hadn't heard about the Lewis Black show. I doubt they'd want me; I'm not a comedian.

They'd be fools to limit themselves to comedians only.

On a side note, the "Root of all Evil" idea would be an interesting panel topic at ICON.

"Welcome to Dagon's House of Sushi! Tonight's special is Cthulhu-roll with almonds! Can I get you something to drink?"

There's a Starbuck's on Yuggoth. I hear it has free wi-fi.

"There's a Starbuck's on Yuggoth. I hear it has free wi-fi."

And four cup sizes - Tall, Grande, Venti, and Deep One

Mitch Evans

Think of it this way... Who would you take more seriously? Dr. Doom or Dr. Victor.

It would have to be Dr. Vic. Victor is still too formal sounding.

Yipes! The idea of spam sushi scares me more than anything raw or even Dr Phil!

Trust me...spam sushi has Dr. Phil beat seven ways to sunday. One million Hawaiians can't be wrong...

"I am, however, still holding to my original position: McGraw is a self-exalting box of insufferable horse sweat."

No arguement there.

Also, I shall now refer to myself as Victor von Huckabee. The name has grown upon me.

I happen to love Sushi. Remember, gagh is best when served live.

Hey, has anyone seen Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern or No Reservations with Antony Bourdain
on the Travel Channel? These guys rock!

Dr. PHil kicks himself off his show :)
actually it's the guy who created bum fights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4H5S6UkZDk

There's a story on CP how Britney Spears may not actually be crazy, she's just a spoiled baby who can't deal with reality:

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jLt30ePbqcQ_0mFlEBnQtNBPlysw

This is horrific. I'm a psychiatric nurse and you can be sure I would not let ths man take a patient off of my unit. Yes we dont always keep people for the full 72 hours were provided for assessment, but we make sure that we do fully assess them before dischargng them.

Posted by Mitch Evans

mike weber: "As to sushi - quoting Bob Asprin and Mel. White's 'Duncan & Mallory': 'If you cook it, it tastes just like fish!'"

And if you don’t cook it, as tasty as cooking does make it, it taste absolutely divine.

Hey, i love the stuff - just picking up on a chance to quote a great line (which, in the original context, was a bit of a put-down of the requisite slightly-dim-antagonist/foil-to-be-baffled-by-the-brilliant-protagonists (and sometimes by the slightly less brilliant second bananas, if it doesn't interfere with the schemes of TBP) - think Elmer Fudd, Bugs and Daffy...

BTW - i accidentally caught a promo on CNN (i think) just last night indicating they were going to talk to Dr Laura about something - maybe Britney...)

"There's a story on CP how Britney Spears may not actually be crazy, she's just a spoiled baby who can't deal with reality:"

That's a story? You mean it's news to people that when you give a 15/16 millions of $, and the ability to choose how to spend it, treat her like royalty, and then she freaks out when she learns that she's not actually royalty, and that life actually does have some limits she has to follow?

ArcLight:
"It would have to be Dr. Vic. Victor is still too formal sounding."

See, that's the contradiction that annoys the gravy out of me (gravy?).

If they want to come off as casual by using their first names then why retain the formal title of Doctor?

Mike Weber:
"Posted by Mitch Evans

mike weber: "As to sushi - quoting Bob Asprin and Mel. White's 'Duncan & Mallory': 'If you cook it, it tastes just like fish!'"

And if you don’t cook it, as tasty as cooking does make it, it taste absolutely divine."

Sorry, Mike but that wasn't me. I believe it was Jerry Chandler.

I have never tried sushi and likely never will. It's part of my master plan to not be disapointed in sushi.

M

If you don't like the taste of seaweed, go for the nigirizushi -- the sliced fish atop mini riceballs. Good, good stuff.

And, if you think sushi is scary, don't go to Kagoshima (second-southernmost prefecture of Japan). One of the local specialties is chicken sashimi. That's right -- RAW CHICKEN.

(It's actually surprisingly delicious. And, I didn't die from eating it. I'm not going to go looking for it around here, though.)

Not a day goes by, apparently...

"Police said Spears left her 2008 Mercedes-Benz on busy Sunset Boulevard, near the University of California, Los Angeles campus, about 8 p.m. Monday because of a flat tire."

"According to the celebrity Web site TMZ.com, Spears caught a ride home from a member of the horde of paparazzi who follow her everywhere. Then it was off to the Four Seasons."

I'm sorry, but I don't think she should be allowed out in public at this point.

Craig J. Ries:
"I'm sorry, but I don't think she should be allowed out in public at this point."

I honestly don't know if I agree with this statement or not. I am leaning toward it though.

Now I should state that I despise the whole concept of 'Life Coaching' from the outset. However if some of the above speculation turns out to be accurate, spoiled rich girl what doesn't comprehend because of enablers yada yada yada, then perhaps a life coach with just a pinch of drill sergeant isn't such a bad idea in this case.

On the other hand, presuming Ms. Spears has some type of personal affairs manager, she should fire said manager and hire someone to manage her affairs that can do a better job.

Naturally I'm speculating as much as anyone else. Probably more than most, in fact.

Time will tell as it always does.

But Phil McGraw is still a low budget toilet-full of defective cooking fat.

M

I don't really see a life coach doing any good. If she really is just spoiled to an incredible level and not truly sick, then the problem is that she doesn't think there's a problem. She won't listen to anyone as long as she can get pretty much whatever she wants.

If she truly is that spoiled then she and Paris Hilton should get together for a new reality show, especially if the strike goes unresolved for the long term.

They could shoe each other in the ass to see whose brain kick-starts first.

Think "IQ Test for Wealthy Idiots."

Depending on the contestants it may have to be a reality mini-series.

Now if there were only a way I could get paid for these ridiculous ideas of mine....

M

Posted by Rob in Japan

And, if you think sushi is scary, don't go to Kagoshima (second-southernmost prefecture of Japan). One of the local specialties is chicken sashimi. That's right -- RAW CHICKEN.

And then there's "dancing shrimp".

Visualising which is left as an exercise for the student.

Dr Phil went on ET and said how he was there ft the request of the family and attacked the tabloids that went after him.

I wonder what he's going to say now that the family has blasted him.

Several things stand out at me. First of all, as somebody who has worked with people who are bipolar, I know that several personality disorders can follow them. Narcasism and borderline are the two that job to mind when I read all the stuff that she's done. She doesn't need to have another diagnosis- just one of the two would be enough to account for her current behavior.

Secondly, what the fuck is up with Dr. Phil? He's not even allowed to practice psychology in the state of Texas because of an ethical complaint!

If anyone is still reading this, this might be interesting: http://www.tmz.com/2008/01/16/psychology-board-investigates-dr-phil/.

Wow, that's funny.

I never liked Dr. Phil, but I never thought of him as dangerous until he told a woman that her hypothyroidism had NOTHING to do with her weight problem, and she was just using it as an excuse to be weak-willed and lazy.

Considering that the fatigue caused by hypothyroidism can lead to a loss of will-power AND crippeling depression and muddled mental thinking and ultimatly mental instability...and weight gain...if left untreated...

I thought that bordered on criminally irresponsible...of course, I'm no lawyer.