Dr. Drew Gets HLN Show

HLN, the softer-news sister of CNN, is adding a talk show in prime time hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky, the celebrity doctor who has a suite of rehab reality shows on VH1.

The channel said Monday that Dr. Pinsky, better known among his fans as Dr. Drew, would start the show next spring. Oddly, the channel did not specify a time slot.

HLN currently features “Issues” with Jane Velez-Mitchell at 7 p.m. Eastern, “Nancy Grace” at 8 and “The Joy Behar Show” at 9. “Nancy Grace” is replayed at 10 p.m., so that time slot is a sensible one for Dr. Pinsky’s program.

In a news release, HLN downplayed Dr. Pinsky’s television credentials and played up that he is a “practicing physician who is also board certified in internal and addiction medicine.” Dr. Pinsky has a private practice and is on staff at Huntington Memorial Hospital.

The channel said his talk show would tackle “a broad range of subjects every night,” including relationships, addiction and “finding constructive ways to navigate common struggles facing parents and their children alike.” Certainly he will be analyzing the celebrities and crime cases that HLN covers at other hours of the day.

Dr. Pinsky has been a media figure for decades, going back to 1984, when he was the host of the radio show “Loveline.” More recently. his personal brand has been burnished — or blemished, some would say — by “Celebrity Rehab,” “Sober House” and “Sex Rehab” on VH1. “Celebrity Rehab” is in its fourth 


via mediadecoder.com