Dr. Drew Goes 24/7
Heidi Kriz, Dr. Drew Goes 24/7, Culture News, 21 Sep 1999
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Five times a week at 10pm, the young, hip, and tragically confused turn their radios to Loveline, where they seek advice from Adam Corolla and Dr. Drew.
The syndicated show is also simulcast on MTV, where the soothing authority of Drew Pinsky, a real-life MD, comes off as the perfect foil to the bad-boy capers of comedian Corolla. Some viewers may find the good cop demeanor a little hard to swallow. How could this smart, patient, merciful guy, a dedicated family man with a full-time medical practice and a weekly show, be as energetic -- and as nice -- as he seems?
Well, it turns out he's not. He's nicer.
His crusade to improve the sexual well-being and health education of young Americans is a sincere and tireless one, and beginning Thursday his followers can seek out his advice 24 hours a day, when DrDrew.com rolls out. The site launches officially in October.
"Drew's the real thing, and he really cares about these kids," said Curtis Giesen, co-founder and CEO of Dr. Drew.com, and Pinsky's buddy since the 7th grade in Pasadena, California. "After years of listening to these increasing horror stories of drug and sexual abuse, he realized how important it is to reach as many kids as possible."
"There's a growing rift out there," said Pinsky. "Ten to 20 percent of kids are growing up smarter and better, as a result of better parenting. But 10 to 20 percent are actually getting worse, more violent, reactive, poorly informed. These are kids we want to reach through a community on the Internet."
Visitors can pose questions to Pinsky himself, or to another MD calling himself Dr. Tim. They can read real-life stories peppered with the universal travails of being a teenager, written by other young people and the occasional celebrity.
Pinsky and other medical professionals will verify all the sexual and health information contained on the site. And there will be streaming live video from a studio resembling the Today show where, for a half an hour each day, Pinsky will interview voguish celebrities, like the directors of The Blair Witch Project or a band member of Limp Bizkit.
In order to get and keep the attention of the attention-deficit-disorder generation, Pinsky hired hip young managing editor Jennifer Maerz to keep the show up to date.
"I told them they could make it as wild as it needs to be, and I'll be like the Jane Goodall of the Web," he said, laughing.
"It shouldn't be difficult to attract people," said Maerz. "Young people really trust him, because he has this magical way of not being judgmental."
Which counts for a lot to a generation of teens who cut their eye teeth on the razor's edge of Letterman-esque sarcasm.
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