Intervention (TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intervention
Genre Documentary
Created by Sam Mettler
Starring Jeff VanVonderen
Candy Finnigan
Ken Seeley
Tara Fields
Composer(s) Scott Klass
"Five Steps" (series theme)
Performed by The Davenports
Craig Marks (Incidental music, 2005 - present)
Dominic Messenger (Incidental music, 2006 - 2007)
Country of origin United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 58
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Colleen Conway (A&E)
Robert Sharenow (A&E)
Sam Mettler (GRB)
Dan Partland (GRB)
Location(s) United States of America
Camera setup Multi-Camera
Handheld HDV cameras
Running time Approx. 43 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel A&E Network
Picture format NTSC (480i)
HDTV (1080i)
Audio format Stereo
Original run March 6, 2005 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Intervention is a controversial American television program about the realities facing addicts of many kinds.

Each program follows one or two participants, each of whom suffers from an addiction and believes he is being filmed for a documentary on addictions. Their situations are actually being documented in anticipation of an intervention by family and/or friends. Each participant has a choice: go into rehabilitation immediately, or risk losing contact, income, or other privileges from the loved ones who instigated the intervention. Often, other tactics are used to persuade the addicted person into treatment, which vary depending on the situation; some of these include threats to invoke outstanding arrest warrants, applying for custody of the addict's children, foreclosing on the addict's property, and break-up of marriages/long-term relationships/etc. The producers usually follow up months later to monitor the addicted person's progress and film it for "follow-up" episodes of the series or for shorter "web updates" available on the show's website.

Although many programs of this type preach certain moral or lifestyle views, Intervention generally tries to refrain from editorializing, preferring to let the addict's story and the family's commentary set the tone for an episode. The show relies on its raw, intimate footage to tell its story, and it leaves ultimate interpretation to the viewer.

Contents

[edit] Show description

The addict(s) featured on the show receive an offer of a 90-day treatment plan at one of a number of rehabilitation facilities featured on the series. As in real life, not all interventions featured on Intervention end well. Some addicts have walked out of the intervention and refused to go to the treatment facility; others have agreed to get treatment only to leave treatment early due to rule violations, behavior problems, or a general desire not to be in attendance any more. Some addicts who leave early enter another facility to continue treatment; many do not.

Occasionally, during the filming of an episode, the plight of another addict in the featured addict's circle becomes apparent, and the show often makes additional plans to help the other addict find treatment as well. The success rate of these mini-interventions parallels the main interventions' success rates.

In situations where the family/friends/other members of the addict's circle have become co-dependents or are otherwise traumatized by the addict's behavior, the interventionist usually recommends that the entire family seek some form of counseling to enable them to move on with their own lives. This has led to some very happy family reunions (Coley, a serious meth addict, got clean while his family went through counseling, and his marriage to wife Francine was saved by the intervention), but has also led to complete dissolution of relationships (Leslie, a suburban housewife alcoholic, went through court-ordered rehab while her family received counseling at the Betty Ford Clinic; after both treatment programs ended, Leslie and her husband finalized their divorce).

Each episode ends with a series of black screens, upon which appear a short narrative discussing the addicts and their progress since the intervention (including a sobriety date, if known), followed by a screen that invites viewers to find out more information on addiction and recovery at the show's official website, InterventionTV.com. The black screens are updated with new information each time the show is re-aired on A&E, and some video updates are made available on the show's official website. Occasionally, a black screen update documents an outreach to the addict from fans of the series. The black screen update for drug addicted siblings Brooks and Ian's follow-up episode that re-aired in early 2008 indicated that Brooks had met and married a fan of the show in 2007. At the end of the original episode featuring alcoholic banker and bar brawler Jacob, he stated that he was planning to enroll in college for the upcoming semester; the black screen update for his episode that re-aired in early 2008 indicated that a fan of the series had contacted the producers after the show's airing and offered to pay for Jacob's college education.

The "cast" for each episode is primarily the addict and his/her family members, circle of friends, and more. The other regular cast member in each episode is the interventionist, whose job it is to conduct the intervention. The show features four specialists:

  • Jeff VanVonderen, a former pastor who became a full-time interventionist to help families through their moral and social issues involved with addiction.
  • Candy Finnigan, a former addict who became an interventionist to help women work through their addictive issues.
  • Ken Seeley, a former meth addict who founded Intervention-911, a service specializing not just in interventions but in also finding appropriate treatment centers for each kind of addict.
  • Tara Fields, a Ph.D with a degree in psychology who is also a licensed marriage counselor and family therapist.

Jenn Berman, a Ph.D with a degree in psychology, made a single appearance in the episode featuring meth addict Amy and anorexic/bulimic Annie; she was the interventionist for Annie.

In conjunction with interventions that involve strong drug addictions where sudden withdrawal of the drug can be dangerous, a nurse travels with the addict to the rehab center, providing medical assistance to keep the addict from suffering during the journey.

Most episodes feature "everyday" people struggling with their addictions, but not always. In season two, the documentary followed Chuckie Negron, the son of Three Dog Night vocalist Chuck Negron, as he battled heroin addiction. A first season episode featured Vanessa Marquez, a supporting actress on the first three seasons of ER, who suffers from a compulsive-shopping disorder. Another first season episode followed Travis Meeks, lead singer of the popular Alternative Rock band Days of the New and focused on his methamphetamine addiction. A season two episode tells the story of basketball player Antwahn Nance, a 6'10" former NBA power forward for the LA Clippers, who ended up homeless on skid row due to his crack cocaine drug addiction. Season four featured a story of World Women's Shot Put champion Tressa Thompson, whose Olympic dreams were crushed by her drug abuse and led to a life back in Nebraska where Tressa shoots meth constantly.

[edit] Addictions

Addictions covered by the show have included:

[edit] Episode Guide

[1]

 This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling.
You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available. (December 2007)

[edit] Season One

  • 00 - Follow-Up Special
  • 01 - Alyson and Tommy: Alyson was a White House intern and an award-winning student. She met a boy in college who showed her the world of drugs and she became an addict. Alyson now lives at home with her parents and is a heavy user of morphine and crack. She also works hard to alienate herself from the people who love her. Alyson also takes painkillers from her dying father. Tommy, a 38-year-old ex-stockbroker, is addicted to cocaine. He has lost everything to drugs including his job, retirement plan, and his luxury condominium. Now Tommy lives on the streets and tries to keep up his drug habit.
  • 02 - Gabe and Vanessa: Gabe is addicted to gambling and has lost over $200,000 in the casino. He has even withdrawn money from his parent's accounts without their knowledge. Vanessa, who was a recurring guest star on the long-running medical drama ER, is addicted to shopping. She is heading towards bankruptcy.
  • 03 - Tamela and Jerrie: Jerrie's family calls interventionist Jeff VanVonderen to help their 29-year-old daughter, who is addicted to Vicodin. Jerrie is so addicted that she has been forging physician signatures to get the prescriptions that she thinks she needs. She also walks around the waterfront to find drug dealers so she can get high. Tamela, a 24-year-old artist, cuts herself with razor blades. As a child, she was molested and has a hard time getting over what happened. Her family hopes she will go into treatment.
  • 04 - Alissa and Brian: Alissa's parents and friends try to save her from her gambling addiction. She has lost over $30,000 on 25-cent slots. Her boyfriend has three jobs and makes all of the money, while Alissa gambles it away. Brian has a bad crystal meth habit. He is also a sex addict. Brian roams around the streets to find new partners every night.
  • 05 - Sara: She had everything she ever wanted out of life, including a wonderful husband and family. In fact, she almost had a perfect life until it all ended in divorce. Not knowing how to handle the divorce, she turned to crystal meth. Sara is now a junkie and has lost everything in her life, including her daughter. She now lives at home with her parents and continues using drugs all of the time. Her family hopes she will get the help that she needs to get her life back.
  • 06 - Travis and Matt: Travis Meeks is addicted to crystal meth and is a former rock and roll star. Matt is addicted to crack-cocaine. He steals from his family and friends so he can buy drugs for himself.
  • 07 - Peter and Renee: Peter is addicted to video games. It has gotten so bad that he refers to himself as characters that are in the games he plays. Renee has an eating disorder and is dependent on water pills to keep her thin. Her health and her family are all feeling the effects of Renee's eating disorder.
  • 08 - Tina: Tina is a mother of three and a true desperate housewife. She spends all of her time gambling with her car and house payments whilst high on prescription pills. Tina is at a crisis stage with almost all of her jewellery pawned and getting paycheck advances at any chance. Now she is forced to write insurance policies and spends all of her days at race tracks and bingo halls. Her husband Harley has contacted Intervention as a last resort.
  • 09 - Cristine and Kelly: Cristine, a wife and mother with an abusive and dark past, is an alcoholic who drinks about 18 beers a day. Just three years ago, Cristine was top saleswoman at her Los Angeles-based newspaper; now, since her return to work after having her first child, the alcohol has damaged her career so much that she has yet to collect any advertising commission from ad sales. Her husband is a stay-at-home dad, but their "home" is Cristine's mother's living room floor due to Cristine's continuing business problems. Now Cristine's health is failing--she often works 4 hours or less a day due to stomach problems caused by her drinking--and the family feels an intervention is the only thing that can save her from herself, but Cristine wants no part of rehab after a disastrous stint two years ago. Kelly is an anorexic real estate agent and club DJ in Florida who weighs only 93 pounds and who often consumes less than 5% of her body's caloric needs for the day. She has a 6-year-old daughter who is sadly following in her mother’s footsteps, imitating Kelly's disdain of food by refusing to eat her breakfast and leaving her lunch tray full of food. Kelly's boyfriend wants to come live with her in Florida but knows he cannot save Kelly by himself and needs outside help to break Kelly out of this destructive downward spiral. Everyone who loves Kelly is not only trying to save her, but also her daughter. Can Tara Fields and Jeff VanVonderen get through to two addicts who don't believe they have any problems?
  • 10 - Kelly F. and Mark: Kelly is living on the streets and is an alcoholic. Even though she has a genius-level IQ, she cannot seem to stop herself from living off others. Mark has been addicted to painkillers ever since he had a morphine pump surgically implanted because of illness.
  • 11 - Rachel and Tommy Update: Rachel, who was once a gorgeous child, now spends all of her time getting high on heroin and engaging in prostitution. Tommy is a cocaine abuser who has lost everything, including his job, to support his habit.
  • 12 - Michael and Randi: Michael has a serious anger problem. He has a history of violent behavior and has been known to punch holes into the walls of his father's house. Randi is a bulimic and a crystal meth addict. She is in denial of her condition and cannot deal with her childhood sexual abuse.
  • 13 - Michael and Brooks: Michael is a school athlete, now addicted to pills and alcohol after emotional pain from his high school days; Michael is now facing jail time after parole violations. Brooks is a former wrestling star turned drug addict after a car accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Brooks admits he is addicted to "drugs, period; nothing specific", and his older brother Ian has become his drug abusing partner. Can anything help these men reclaim their lives?

[edit] Season Two

  • 14 - Corrine: Corinne is a pretty 18 year-old blonde girl who was an honor roll student, star athlete and played the clarinet and saxophone. She started using drugs at 14 after being sexually abused by a neighborhood boy who babysat her. Still striving to move forward while battling her addictions, she completed her GED and began college, finishing two semesters before dropping out. Now, Corinne has become addicted to a deadly combination of heroin and crystal meth. Corinne likes the "speedball effect" -- the dangerous result of overlapping meth and heroin usage. Corinne is also a diabetic who requires insulin, but she often skips her doses because she is so high. After repeated trips to the emergency room, her family is expecting, any minute, to hear that they've lost her for good. (The black screens at the end of this episode reveal that Corinne relapsed several times after leaving treatment, but became sober when she learned that she was pregnant. She gave birth to a baby girl and has remained sober since January 2007.)
  • 15 - Howard and Audrey: Audrey, 24, was popular and artistic. Now, she is a heroin addict living on the streets. She has been an addict for 5 years and her family feels like the next time they will see her is going to be in a coffin. Her family plans an intervention to save her, if they can. Howard, 39, is a driving instructor to celebrities, the CIA, and the FBI, but he drinks when he can't get high from driving fast. Now, Howard's doctor has told him his liver is failing, and unless he stops drinking, he will die.
  • 16 - Adam and Michael: Adam, who began using heroin after his girlfriend broke up with him, panhandles money at gas stations to get enough money to score. His family is "hanging on by a thread" and desperate for intervention help. Michael is a violent son who holds his family hostage with his rage. Truly in crisis, his family will do anything to stop living in terror.
  • 17 - Heidi and Michelle: Heidi leads a busy social life and takes great pride in maintaining her health and personal appearance. Unfortunately, she is addicted to plastic surgery (over $40,000 worth of procedures in just a few years) and compulsive shopping (leading to a $110,000 credit card debt). She claims that while she was raped at the age of 16, she blames no one for her need to "fill the void." Heidi has stolen her mother's identity and used it to procure more charge cards to feed her shopping addiction, and now collection agencies are threatening to file charges of felony fraud for both the identity theft and the massive credit card debt Heidi rang up under that name, which stresses her elderly mother to no end. Suffering the loss of her father and sexual molestation at the hand of her cousin at a young age, once bright student Michelle turned to drug use. Michelle has admitted to trading sex for drugs and uses methamphetamine intravenously. Her mother is afraid that at any moment Michelle will shoot up for the last time, but a more immediate threat emerges when rivals of Michelle's meth dealer boyfriend come after Michelle and her family now that her boyfriend is in jail. Tara Fields and Candy Finnigan are brought in to help free these women from their imprisoning addictions.
  • 18 - Salina and Troy: For the past eleven years Salina has been suffering from severe bulimia. She also struggles with a shopping addiction and recently began battling a new urge, self-mutilation. Her family is desperate to help her break this cycle and is hoping she will take this lifeline. After relocating to Los Angeles, Troy had a promising future until his recreational crystal methamphetamine usage escalated into a full-blown addiction. While high Troy reports to having had, "hundreds of homosexual encounters." Now homeless and unemployed, he sells methamphetamine and claims that injecting crystal meth helps him stay alert, and survive on the streets. Long time friends sought Intervention's help. (The black screens at the end of this episode reveal that Salina completed treatment, returned home, and had a son with her husband; she has not binged or purged since September 2006. Troy tested positive for HIV shortly after starting treatment. After completing his program, he stayed sober for over a year but suffered a relapse. He then went through an outpatient program and has remained sober since November 2007.)
  • 19 - Kristen: Kristen is an alcoholic and heroin addict who prostitutes herself for her drug and alcohol money. Her addictions and behavior has cost her custody of her child. Her family hopes that an intervention will help reunite Kristen and her child.
  • 20 - Follow-Up: Cristine, Brooks, Ian, Audrey: Following up on alcoholic Cristine, drug-addicted brothers Brooks and Ian, and junkie Audrey at various stages in their recoveries. Cristine is no longer drinking but her husband didn't go for the suggested counseling, and his lack of commitment is damaging their relationship. Brooks and Ian have both struggled through rehab issues--Brooks has been through three rehab centers and relapsed repeatedly but is now doing well at The Foundry in Birmingham, AL, while Ian is living with a former addict in Taos, NM. Brooks visits his brother in New Mexico, but when Brooks' counselor discovers crack residue on the kitchen table, he threatens to separate the brothers until Ian confesses that his roommate, the "former addict", is still using drugs, and Ian hasn't spoken up because he didn't want to lose his apartment. Brooks and Ian return together to Birmingham and now have to learn to deal with their own addiction demons. Audrey's recovery from heroin has been long and drawn-out, but she has finally learned to deal with her addiction. Now her sisters want her to move in with them. Can these three sisters broken apart by Audrey's drug lifestyle learn to be a family again?
  • 21 - Antwahn and Billy: Antwahn managed to survive a rough and abusive childhood to become a star basketball player in the NBA and in the European leagues, until a knee injury ended his career; now Antwahn is a homeless crack addict whose wife is on the verge of filing for divorce unless Antwahn can get off drugs and get clean. Billy seemed to be living the typical life of a suburban teen until his mother had a near-fatal heart attack and was diagnosed with severe heart disease. Billy turned to opiates to dull the emotional pain; after his family sent him to rehab, Billy returned addicted to yet another opiate, methadone, and now believes he is as addicted to "the needle" as he is to the drugs. Both families realize an intervention is the only way to saved their addicted loved ones from themselves. (The black screen at the end of this episode reveals that Billy completed treatment and moved into sober living program, but suffered a number of relapses and moved back to New York. He has remained sober since July 2006. After completing his own treatment, Antwahn relapsed and moved back to Los Angeles. He spent four months in jail on a theft charge, after which he became sober and was put into the work-release program.)
  • 22 - Annie and Amy: Amy is a free-spirited dancer and class clown who is now a homeless meth addict with a past history of self-mutilation. Annie is a ballet dancer who is anorexic and bulimic and is very close to death. Both have co-dependent partners in their addictive behaviors (Amy's boyfriend, Tom; Annie's fellow dancer Selena). Success in their interventions depends heavily on whether or not their partner addicts will also agree to get help. (The black screen update at the end of this episode after it re-aired in early 2008 indicated that Annie broke up with her longtime boyfriend in the episode and married "a childhood sweetheart" in 2006, but continued to battle anorexia and bulimia until she became pregnant in 2007, finally managing to stop her binge/purge/starvation cycles. Selena went through 90 days of treatment for anorexia and transferred to another facility to continue working on healthy weight gain. Amy went through rehab, got clean, and moved back to L.A. to rejoin her boyfriend Tom, who accepted an invitation from the producers to go through his own meth rehab and got clean as well; Amy is now thinking of joining the Navy to help her stay clean.)
  • 23 - Chuckie: Chuckie, the son of Three Dog Night vocalist Chuck Negron, was born addicted to heroin when Chuck Sr. and his wife Julia Densmore were both heavy drug users. At 18, Chuckie became addicted to heroin again; he now lives in a motel room, spending his days mooching money from his mother and shooting up. With the birth of Chuckie's son, Noah, to his now-clean former girlfriend Jen, the family is in a race to break the cycle of addiction before it costs the family yet another generation. (At the end of the original episode, it was revealed that Chuckie was arrested five months after his intervention for stealing a car to pay for drugs. The black screens at the end of this episode add that Chuckie is still in prison as of May 2008; his original prison sentence has been extended repeatedly due to his inability to stay off heroin.)
  • 24 - Gina and Andrea: Gina is bright, fun-loving, and ambitious, but she's losing a difficult battle with drugs and compulsive gambling. Gina's family feels an intervention is the only way to save her. Andrea is a 30-year-old, divorced, single mother addicted to alcohol, cocaine and marijuana. She says that she loves the party lifestyle and that she can't end the cycle of drinking and drugs in which she's immersed herself. Can an intervention can bring her the "peace" she's looking for?
  • 25 - John: At 33, all John can see is the loss in his life. His mother died when he was 12. This year, he lost his sister, his cousin and his best friend. His only escape from it all is in his addiction to crack and alcohol, an addiction that has already come close to taking his life. His family and friends cannot imagine losing someone else. Their only hope is an intervention and the possibility that John will seek treatment.
  • 26 - Antwahn and Rachel--Follow-Up
  • 27 - Tammi and Daniel: Tammi has five sisters who are all driven, successful career women and survivors of everything from the corporate rat race to breast cancer, but Tammi is an alcoholic facing jail terms for several DUI violations. Daniel was born into a family of traveling evangelists who seemed to have everything until Daniel's father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and a long-time family friend took care of Daniel and his sister...and molested Daniel, who turned to drugs, including meth, to deal with his anger and his self-loathing. Two families whose suffering children are in desperate need of interventions bring Candy Finnigan and Ken Seeley in to do the job. (The black screen at the end of this episode reveals that Tammi completed 90 days of treatment, then returned home and served 90 days in jail for past DUI offenses. She now works as a dental assistant, sees her children regularly, and has been sober since February 2006. After Daniel completed his program, he had several relapses and then moved into sober living. He moved to Florida to be closer to his sisters and has been sober since April 2007.)
  • 28 - Mike and James: Mike is a chiropractor from Modesto, California who loves adrenaline rush sports like snowboarding, jet ski riding, and other forms of living "the high life"...which also includes a hardcore addiction to smoking heroin and cocaine together, a combination known as a "speedball". Now Mike has lost his wife, kids, apartment, car, and tens of thousands of dollars to his drug addiction. James was an outstanding student and ROTC drill sergeant until his mother suffered a serious cardiovascular illness and he was forced to step up and be the man of the household while his father cared for his ailing mother; James cracked under the pressure and turned to meth to allow him to escape from his increasingly grim real life. Now James is an unemployed tweaker who got two girlfriends pregnant within weeks of one another, and the pressures to be a father to his children drive him even further into a crystal meth haze. Can two interventionists help two addicts kick their habits and mature into responsible adults?
  • 29 - Tim: Tim is an up and coming music producer who becomes addicted to crack cocaine. His girlfriend Madyson is lead singer in Tim's band and is just starting to break through in the local music scene, but Tim's crack abuse is threatening to derail her career. Interventionist Candy Finnigan has to persuade Madyson that the only way to help Tim is to force him to go to rehab.
  • 30 - Betsy: At 40 years old, Betsy seems to have it all. She's beautiful with great friends and a gorgeous house. But Betsy is miserable and she drinks up to five bottles of chardonnay a day to mask the pain. The alcohol is starting to take its toll. She has been in detox several times this year. Betsy does not believe she has a problem with alcohol. And her friends and family believe is it time for her to face the truth and get help. They are planning an intervention, but will Betsy be able to admit she has a problem and be willing to go to treatment?
  • 31 - Cristy: Cristy is a hard-core meth addict and alcoholic who resorts to prostitution to get more drugs. She has trashed her father's rental property completely and has such violent tendencies that many of her family members are afraid of her. There is an outstanding warrant for her arrest on DUI charges, and Cristy insists she'd rather go to jail than go through rehab. How can an intervention help someone who has fallen so far? (At the end of the original episode, the black screen update at the end indicated that Cristy, who had left rehab early against her family's wishes and entered jail rather than bow to the pressure of returning for 60 more days of treatment, was given a choice by the judge at her sentencing for her DUI arrest: Rehab for a year, or several months in jail. Cristy chose jail. While in jail, she was able to get clean from both meth and alcohol, but relapsed shortly after her release. The black screen update after the episode was re-aired in March 2008 indicated that Cristy is now living with "a close friend" in L.A. and is attending AA meetings in an attempt to regain sobriety.)
  • 32 - Sylvia: A 49-year-old former soap opera actress and highly successful interior designer from North Carolina, Sylvia has lost custody of her 4 children due to her heavy drinking. Sylvia is addicted to alcohol, specifically the mini-bar sizes of vodka which she refers to as 'red tops'.
  • 33 - Laurie and Jessie: Laurie was a well-respected prison death row psychologist until her affair with a co-worker became public knowledge. A stressful divorce, followed by injuries, illness, and accidents led to her becoming addicted to tranquilizers and opiate painkillers; now Laurie has lost everything, including her children, to the addiction. Laurie almost seems oblivious to having lost custody of her children to her own parents, and refuses to give up her pills or seek any kind of help. Jessie is a sorority girl enrolled at Oregon State University who dreams of being a pediatrician. As a child, she developed a severe anxiety disorder and feared being alone during the night; one Halloween, she was so anxious about being in her own room that she ate her entire candy basket in one night, leading to a rush of endorphins that calmed her anxiety. Concerned with gaining weight, but needing to feel that comforting endorphin rush, Jessie learned about binging and purging and was soon purging two or more times a day. Now, her bulimia has gotten so bad that her sorority kicked her out of the sorority house for eating, in less than one month, six weeks worth of food meant to feed seventy girls. Her parents have to lock their food cabinets and refrigerator when she comes over to visit them, and Jessie has turned to stripping to make enough money to pay for her food addiction. Candy Finnigan and Ken Seeley are called in to work their intervention magic to get these two women to see past their denials about how bad their addictions are. (The black screen update at the end of this episode after it was re-aired in March 2008 reported that Laurie had successfully completed treatment at a rehab center and was working to regain custody of her children until she overdosed on heroin and Oxycontin in January 2008; she recovered from the overdose and as of March 2008 is back in treatment near her home so that she can continue to work on her relationship with her children. Jessie successfully completed treatment for bulimia, has returned to college at Oregon State, and has not binged or purged since the intervention.)
  • 34 - Lauren: Lauren is a former Physical Education teacher and high school athlete who is now a major heroin addict. She lives at home and holds her family hostage, almost literally, with her volatile temper. Her best friend Déa has become her addiction partner and each woman fuels the other's addictive tendencies. Can an intervention stop this death spiral?

[edit] Season Three

  • 35 - Ryan: Ryan abuses OxyContin and other opiates. Ryan's mother was previously married to a cocaine addict; when that marriage ended, she married a man who later became an alcoholic. Ryan has been through rehab in the past but always failed, and his stepfather's drinking makes any attempt at gaining help for Ryan even more difficult because Ryan calls out the hypocrisy. Interventionist Ken Seeley tries to make sense of the tangled family dynamics to get everyone on board to help Ryan succeed this time.
  • 36 - Jacob: Jacob is an alcoholic whose mother was a major drug dealer when he was a young man. Jacob, normally a calm and friendly guy, has a darker side that comes out when he drinks; he has been thrown out of multiple bars for fighting, including fighting with bouncers. Now living with his mother again (who has recently returned to society after serving a two-year sentence for drug dealing), Jacob and his mom are constantly butting heads and pushing each other's buttons, driving Jacob even further into the bottle. Jeff VanVonderen has to cut through the complicated tangle of multiple familial addictions and dysfunctional relationships to get Jacob to agree to accept help.
  • 37 - Kim: Kim is anorexic and bulimic, and also cuts herself. Due to horrible physical and emotional abuse Kim's birth father inflicted on his wife and three children, Kim's mother was forced to flee the marriage to preserve her life and her children's lives...but Kim ended up with severe anxiety about being alone and clung to her mother for comfort and support. Kim's mother, overwhelmed with Kim's emotional demands and needing to find a father figure for her children, remarried when Kim was still a young child. Kim's stepfather openly disdains her neediness and attention-seeking behavior, and the tension caused by this dynamic is affecting the entire family. Kim's anxiety and eating disorder has already ruined her marriage, and now that she is forced to live at home with a stepfather who despises her and a mother who has become codependent to Kim's mental state, the negativity threatens to destroy everyone around her. Can an intervention save this extraordinarily dysfunctional family?
  • 38 - Anthony: The youngest son in a gregarious Italian-American family in New Jersey, Anthony should have been following in his brothers' footsteps to open his own pizza parlor...but instead follows his heroin-abusing stepsisters' addictive lead, ending up with a serious addiction to injecting cocaine. Anthony has robbed his brothers' businesses, stolen from his parents, and committed any number of serious criminal offenses, all in the name of obtaining the drugs needed to maintain his addiction. The family wants to save Anthony, but will any of them be able to follow Jeff VanVonderen's tough standards for consequences of a failed intervention?
  • 39 - Trent: Trent, 33, is a four-star chef who's served U.S. presidents and Hollywood stars. But as the child of alcoholics, Trent's formative years were marked with violence and abuse. He ultimately turned to drugs to cope, and today he is homeless, sick, battling freezing temperatures, and has an insatiable heroin and cocaine addiction, otherwise known as a "speedball". His friends and family fear he won't make it through the winter on the streets, but will Trent be willing to listen to the family he feels deserted him?
  • 40 - Dillon: Dillon is a crystal meth addict and criminal whose violent tendencies frighten his family, who admit that if he keeps going down this road, he will either end up dead from the meth or dead from the crimes. What starts out as a typical intervention with an uncooperative addict quickly spirals into a situation requiring police intervention to solve.
  • 41 - Jessica and Hubert: Jessica, 21, comes from a tight-knit family. Her father, mother, sister and grandfather all work at the family-owned gas station. But Jessica's not allowed to work there any more. Ever since Jessica became addicted to heroin at 17, her family cannot trust her. And even worse--her addiction is straining family relationships. Everyone wants to see her go to treatment...but just organizing the intervention is tearing them apart. Hubert is a middle-aged American Indian man whose struggles to keep his family together amidst an abusive childhood at the hands of his alcoholic stepfather, along with the pressure to protect his siblings from the verbal, emotional, and physical violence from his alcoholic parents, eventually drive him to the bottle as well during his life in Las Vegas as a bartender. Hubert moved back to Los Angeles to care for his dying diabetic mother, but after her death, his alcohol abuse worsens. His stepfather, showing "Tough love", which Hubert says "sucks...just look at me," kicks Hubert out of the house, and Hubert becomes just another homeless alcoholic depending on recycling bottles and cans for booze money. Another homeless friend, John, a bipolar who is non-compliant with medication, helps take care of Hubert on the streets by feeding him, buying him alcohol, and helping him find safe places to sleep at night. A real estate agent who frequents the park where John and Hubert "live" during daylight hours had gotten to know Hubert and John and realized what a kind gentleman Hubert was underneath his layers of dirty clothes and alcohol abuse. The real estate agent contacted the Intervention requesting an intervention for Hubert, and the producers tracked down Hubert's family, who had lost track of where he had gone after being kicked out of his stepfather's house. With Hubert's stepfather now dying and other family members feeling deep regret about abandoning the man who had always taken care of them in their times of need, the race is on to bring Hubert back to sobriety so that his family can become whole once more. Candy Finnigan and Ken Seeley must work their intervention magic to bring new life back to these broken families.
  • 42 - Laney: Laney is a hard-core alcoholic who grew up in a dysfunctional family where her mother's many husbands and boyfriends both physically and verbally abused her, in addition to being raped by an ex-boyfriend in her own home. Laney is a millionaire thanks to a divorce settlement from her husband, a dot-com exec whose stock options paid off handsomely, but spends her days alone in a luxurious mansion with only her cat for a companion, drinking rum constantly and popping tranquilizers in a futile effort to make her numb to the pain and despair in her life. She books limousines to take her everywhere, including long cross-country trips to visit relatives, claiming that she does not want to take her cat, Puddy-Tat Ashworth, on a commercial airliner. When Laney, during a hospital stay caused by a suicide attempt drug overdose, overhears a doctor telling a nurse that her family is planning an intervention while she is still hospitalized and thus cannot refuse to attend it, she checks out of the hospital against medical advice and rushes home before her family can stop her. When Candy Finnigan leads the family over to Laney's home the next morning to conduct an "ambush intervention", Laney locks herself in her mansion and calls the police to get "this group of really weird people who are trying to break into my house" off her property, leading to the most unorthodox intervention ever seen in the series. (The black screen update at the end of this episode reported that Laney only lasted two days in treatment before she checked out, retrieved her cat from the rehab center staffer who was caring for it, and booked a limousine to drive her back to Kansas from the Florida rehab center. In a video update at interventiontv.com, Laney now says that this decision saved her life, because her limousine driver was a part-time counselor at a Jacksonville, Florida-area church; during the three-day drive back to Kansas, they talked constantly about Laney's drinking and the underlying issues that fueled her self-destructive tendencies, why she had decided to seek help, why she was now leaving this help, and more. After thinking back over the conversation, Laney decided to sell her house in Kansas and leave her old life behind; she now lives in Florida and has become very close to the driver who gave her the incentive to give up alcohol, and has been sober since June 2007.)
  • 43 - Ashley: Growing up, Ashley, 20, was always considered the wild child. While her younger sister was quick to follow the rules and be active in the church, Ashley tended to reject her parents' strong Christian values. The more her parents tried to guide her, the more she pulled away. By her teenage years, Ashley became a chronic runaway and drug addict, and is convinced she's on her way to Hell for being a meth addict. Her family sees an intervention as her only hope. But will Ashley take their efforts as a sign of love or another chance to run away?
  • 44 - Andrea and Ricky: Not long ago, Andrea, 31, decided to follow in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother and become a nurse. It was a field in which she excelled and was revered by colleagues and friends. But all the while, Andrea was hiding a dark secret--a growing crack addiction. Now she's lost her job and relies on several male friends to buy her drugs. Her family is terrified that she may never recover. Their only hope is an intervention. Growing up, Ricky seemed to be on a path to greatness. He was a straight-A student, a star athlete and named one of the three brightest students in school. He joined the Marines, where he served as a police officer. But what started as experimentation with drugs has turned into an out-of-control heroin addiction. Ricky's friends and family fear for the worst but hope an intervention will be his best chance for getting his life back. (The black screen at the end of this episode reveals that Andrew cut ties with her older male friend upon entering treatment. She moved into sober living after completing the program; she has been sober since February 2007 and is expecting a baby. Ricky spent two months in treatment, then moved into sober living in Florida. He works as a waiter, has begun running again, and is training for a half-marathon. He has been sober since March 2007.)
  • 45 - Leslie: Leslie is a suburban housewife with a severe alcohol addiction. Her addiction is so all-consuming that Leslie has resorted to drinking mouthwash for its alcohol content. She has been arrested multiple times and is facing jail time for several DUIs. Leslie's husband has filed for divorce from her, but takes her back in as part of one last shot at an intervention. (The black screens at the end of this episode as part of the April 2008 re-airing reveal that Leslie and Craig finalized their divorce while both were undergoing rehab at the Betty Ford Clinic in 2007; Leslie was able to stay sober until she relapsed in November 2007, but went back into rehab and has been sober since January 2008.)
  • 46 - Coley: Coley is a meth addict who was raised by his mother, a speed junkie, for much of his childhood. Previous attempts at rehab seemed to have started Coley on the path back to sobriety until his mother was found dead in her home a year ago. Since then, Coley has been on a meth-snorting binge, endangering himself and others because of his occupation--a logger. Can an intervention help him turn his life around?
  • 47 - Caylee: Caylee is a 23-year-old bulimic who is also addicted to "speedballs" (heroin and cocaine, smoked together). She has dropped down to 80 lbs. Caylee's mother, Christy, has been a major influence for her addictive behavior. Christy had a traumatic childhood (including physical abuse and rape) and has hidden bulimia from her family since she was much younger. Christy taught Caylee how to watch her weight and together they now suffer from this very dangerous eating disorder. The family wants to help both of them, but they need to have Christy present at the intervention to first confront Caylee. Then, the family plans to confront Christy, with treatment options for both of them.
  • 48 - Pam: An alcoholic with a terrible past full of failed marriages and abuse, Pam drinks to cope with her past and cannot seem to move beyond her pain, which is damaging her relationship with her loving boyfriend Marvin. Pam's mother is in serious denial about the abuse her children suffered as they grew up, and even claims Pam makes up her stories to keep Mother from "being happy"; Pam's siblings--all of whom have had addiction problems at some point in their lives--sympathize with her anger at their mother, but all of them have urged her to try and let go of the pain so that she can stand a chance at having a good life. Cirrhosis, the degradation of the liver due specifically to alcohol, has already claimed one member of her family. Her family does not want Pam to be the second victim and urge her through an Intervention to agree to treatment.
  • 49 - Jill: Jill was a beautiful teen dancer well on her way to a successful dance career but was betrayed by a boyfriend who distributed copies of a tape that depicted them having sex. Now, Jill is depressed and hurt, using alcohol to numb her pain. Further complicating the issue is the divorce between Jill's parents left all of their children hurt and adrift, and Jill's mother has serious problems with verbalizing expressions of love. Her family hopes an intervention will bring Jill out of her alcohol daze and help her deal with her pain.

[edit] Season Four

  • 50 - Dawn and Fabian: Dawn, a forty-nine year old former model, is now homeless and wanders around town using meth and suffering from the effects of Meth Psychosis. 37-year-old Fabian is an amateur artist, musician, and photographer who was once a rising star in the Los Angeles entertainment promotion scene, but his childhood growing up with a bipolar mother who once kept her miscarried fetuses in jars and boxes in closets, coupled with his girlfriend miscarrying Fabian's child, sends him down a meth and alcohol spiral toward oblivion. Can an intervention help two families rescue their out-of-control loved ones? (The black screen update at the end of this episode reveals that Dawn completed treatment, returned to Nebraska, and now sees her sons every week; she has been sober since July 2007. Fabian was kicked out of his treatment program for making homemade wine. Returning to Los Angeles, he was evicted from his loft; now he lives with friends and continues to use drugs.)
  • 51 - Emily: This twenty-six year old grew up struggling to meet her parents' high expectations, as well as constantly being overshadowed by her identical twin, Tiffany. Despite winning many academic and athletic honors, Emily suffered from depression and low self-esteem. Her shameful feelings intensified when she became a date-rape victim in college. She dieted in hopes of regaining control of her life, but now she weighs less than 90 pounds. Her family hopes an intervention will save her before she starves to death. (The black screen update at the end of this episode after it re-aired in March 2008 indicated that Emily actually lost weight at her first rehab center; she transferred to another center for eating disorders and was put on a feeding tube, and has finally begun to gain weight.)
  • 52 - Follow Up: Ryan and Hubert: A look at how two people have fared since their interventions. Ryan, an OxyContin addict, was in and out of treatment for months before dropping out entirely and hitting bottom as a homeless heroin addict on the streets of L.A. Now he's back in rehab at Oasis in Malibu, California, a facility where he'd had previous clashes with the rehab director, under orders from a judge to stay in rehabilitation for one year or face a jail sentence for heroin possession and DUI conviction. Ryan, as in his earlier stints in rehab, openly refuses to conform to the facility's rules; the facility's director, speaking at a follow-up hearing after Ryan's first 60 days at Oasis, informs the judge of Ryan's continued rulebreaking and asks the judge to remind Ryan of the terms of the sentence since Ryan is now on his second strike and will be kicked out of Oasis if he breaks one more rule or continues to defy the Oasis staff counselors and doctors. The judge reminds Ryan of the terms of his probation--one year in treatment or jail--and if he gets kicked out of rehab again, the judge will have no choice but to send Ryan to jail...a condition Ryan puts to the test just six weeks later as he is kicked out of Oasis for prank-calling his former girlfriend. Hubert, a former homeless alcoholic, is nine months sober and has a new job as well as a new home in a halfway house program called Clean and Sober Living. But he still struggles with the death of his stepfather, who finally admitted during the intervention that he had been a "terrible father" to Hubert; Hubert was able to fulfill his stepfather's dying wish--to see Hubert sober--by coming to his bedside just weeks into his rehab. Hubert also struggles with house rules about no interactions with people previously involved with possibly enabling the addicts...meaning he must avoid seeing old friend John, a fellow homeless person who often fed Hubert, bought alcohol, and helped him find a safe place to sleep. John is equally sad about not being allowed to see Hubert, but acknowledges that if Hubert staying away from him is crucial to maintaining Hubert's sobriety, not being able to spend time with his old friend is a small price to pay to save that friend's life. At the time of filming, Hubert was celebrating reaching the nine month sobriety milestone by watching his episode of Intervention with his siblings and housemates, with a goal to reach one year so "I can get a cake" (a tradition at Clean and Sober Living); in December 2007, Hubert successfully reached that milestone, and got his cake.
  • 53 - Brooke: Brooke suffers from chronic pain, and doctors have never been able to find a diagnosis that covers all her symptoms. Her family thinks she takes too many prescription pain pills, and Brooke was found unconscious and injured by the Intervention production crew after taking "an extra pill or two" to take the pain away. Her mother wants her to go to a Lyme Disease treatment center, but Brooke's regular doctors are adamant that she does not have Lyme Disease. Can Interventionist Ken Seeley help Brooke's family understand that chronic pain is a true disease and help Brooke find a way to manage her pain with fewer pharmaceuticals? (The black screen update at the end of this episode after it re-aired in April 2008 indicated that Brooke underwent treatment for Lyme disease and rheumatoid arthritis at a center for chronic pain management where doctors continue to adjust her medications to alleviate her chronic pain; however, Brooke admitted after viewing the episode that she was indeed addicted to pain pills and needed help to control her pain without resorting to addictive tendencies.)
  • 54 - Jason: Jason is an alcoholic and cocaine abuser who makes all of his money selling drugs. His sister, Joy, is often his drinking partner and co-drug user whose partying ways cost her custody of her two-year-old son. They come from a large religious family that was torn apart by their mother coming out as a lesbian and then abandoning her entire family. Though the primary addict who needs an intervention is Jason, it becomes increasingly apparent that both Jason and Joy need professional help.
  • 55 - Josh and Ben. Josh is a talented young singer with an uncontrollable desire to eat; he weighs over 550 pounds. Ben is a genius with an IQ of 170 and a debilitating addiction to DXM. Both addicts suffered at the hands of abusive fathers and father figures throughout their childhoods, and both have serious issues with low self esteem. Ben also happens to be a long-time Internet persona known as "Rob Cypher"; his blog contains entries describing the filming of this episode, his stint in rehab, and his reaction to the finished episode. Ben under the name Rob Cypher has also appeared on the dextroverse forums [2], which is a forum of people who use DXM for recreational purposes. (Josh recently provided his own video update on YouTube, in which he says that he has moved into a halfway house in Boca Raton, Florida and has lost a total of 127 pounds as of March 29, 2008.)
  • 56 - Tressa: Tressa is 32 and was an outstanding female athlete from Nebraska, the world women's shot put champion who would only have had to drop the shot in front of the throwing circle to qualify for the 2000 Summer Olympics, until she tested positive for cocaine the day before the 2000 Olympic Trials. Tressa was banned for 2 years from Olympic competition; her family then found out about her LGBT lifestyle and drug abuse, which caused severe strain in all of their relationships. Tressa has given up sports altogether and now uses crystal meth daily as her life spirals out of control. Her girlfriend has kicked Tressa out for stealing, leaving Tressa even more emotionally overwrought. Can her family save Tressa despite her father's disapproval over her LGBT lifestyle?
  • 57 - John T: As a former clean-cut track star, John's life used to revolve around athletics. Now, after a leg injury ended his running career, John spends his time abusing his body with alcohol, marijuana, ecstasy and hallucinogenic drugs. He believes he is living a charmed life as a successful and popular DJ when the reality is that he is losing his friends, his family, and his chance at success in the music industry to an addiction that could result in permanent brain damage or death. His family believes that his only hope lies in an intervention, but can they convince him that he has a problem before it is too late?
  • 58 - Brad: Brad grew up the eldest of three--and the only boy--in his family. His parents split when Brad was young, and his mother attempted to parentally abduct his younger twin sisters, leaving Brad behind with his father; despite evidence to the contrary, Brad's mother insists she never intended to abandon her son. Brad's father won custody of all three children and married his children's former babysitter. Brad self-medicated as a teen with marijuana to deal with the emotions left by his mother's abandonment and his anger at his stepmother's attempts to enforce discipline. Brad's father ordered him to either leave home forever or sign up for the military; Brad chose the Army and came out of Basic Training seemingly a changed person. After two tours of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, however, Brad's tenuous hold on maturity and inner peace is shattered after Sgt. Deason, his commander, was killed on the last day of both men's second tours, and Brad returns home suffering from serious PTSD. Unwilling to accept the drug and counseling therapy offered by the VA, Brad turns to self-medication and is now a major hardcore alcoholic and pot smoker, drinking over a pint of vodka per day and smoking any weed he can get his hands on. Brad wants to return to the Army Reserves, but Brad's family wants him to get past his PTSD and anger issues first. Can an intervention help a confused military vet make the right choices?
  • 59 - Lawrence: Having graduated high school with academic and athletic honors, Lawrence, 34, became a successful owner of a chain of tanning salons in Las Vegas in the early 1990s....but he was never able to dull the pain of emotional and physical abuse suffered in childhood at the hands of a brutal father figure. In his early twenties, Lawrence gained formal custody of his two younger siblings in an attempt to remove them from a home environment full of unhealthy abusive dynamics. However, Lawrence could never conquer his own demons brought out by the brutality, and he began consuming GHB for both its muscle-building and mind-relaxing properties. When GHB was taken off the market, Lawrence looked for a substitute for GHB's calming effects, and turned to alcohol. Addicted within weeks, the alcohol abuse left Lawrence a shell of his former self as he frequently consumed over a liter of vodka a day in large 32-ounce mugs. A recent battle with testicular cancer has left him further weakened; Lawrence had surgery to remove the cancer, but never underwent any follow-up treatment, despite his family's pleas to see an oncologist or a urologist to ensure the cancer has not returned. Lawrence's body is covered with deep purple bruises in random spots, a sign of low blood clotting factors indicating impending liver failure. Lawrence's denial of his deteriorating health and his accelerating drinking problem is so strong that at one point he openly denies having had anything to drink while holding a plastic mug full of straight vodka, in an apartment where the garbage cans are full of empty vodka bottles. Lawrence's loved ones bring in Jeff VanVonderen for an intervention in the hope that this show of love and support will help Lawrence get the help he needs, and that by sharing his story he might help others. (The black screen summary at the end of this episode reveals that Lawrence died in February 2008 as a result of complications stemming from cirrhosis of the liver. He is the first Intervention profiled addict to die post-intervention.)
  • 60 - Intervention In-Depth: Heroin Hits Home: Narrated by Donnie Wahlberg, this episode examines the recent rash of drug abuse among high school students in and around Brockton, Massachusetts--first OxyContin, then heroin. The experiences of four such addicts (Pat, Pete, Sara, Shannah) are profiled.

[edit] Criticism

Critics of Intervention and shows with similar premises argue that the documentary may cross the line into exploitation, and that people who were perhaps not in the best frame of mind were persuaded to appear on the program, even if they later agreed that appearing on the show was good for them.[3][4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Intervention: Episode Guide. A&E Television. Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
  2. ^ http://www.dextroverse.org/forums/index.php?s=082c77b84e62386c1f9c96527a4ccecf&act=Profile&CODE=03&MID=14175
  3. ^ Gilbert, Matthew. "Vile 'Intervention' pulls a fast one", The Boston Globe, 2005-03-05. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 
  4. ^ McFarland, Melanie. "On TV: 'Addiction' takes pains to show us real drug abuse", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2007-03-14. Retrieved on 2007-06-01. 

[edit] External links

Languages