A week after the New York City Medical Examiner's Office announced that a celebrity DJ had died after downing a lethal cocktail of cocaine and prescription drugs, MTV announced that it will go ahead and air a reality series in which that DJ recruits young addicts for rehab.
The eight-episode series Gone Too Far, with host Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM, will make its debut tonight -- one week after it was originally scheduled to be unveiled.
That original plan was scrubbed when Goldstein was found dead in his Manhattan apartment in August, and MTV had been unwilling to discuss whether it was even contemplating a run at salvaging the reality series. The show was yanked just days after VH1, another of MTV Networks' cable channels, was forced to scrub two reality series after a guy who'd been cast in both shows was named the only suspect in the death of his onetime wife and then turned up dead in a motel in Canada.
MTV made sure to note in its announcement that it was going ahead with the telecast of Gone Too Far "with the consent and support" of Goldstein's family. MTV also made sure to include a statement from Goldstein's family saying that "after careful consideration, we have decided to air the show" because it would depict "the side of Adam that we knew and loved," and because of their "profound belief that it will inspire others to seek help."
But that's not all. MTV's announcement included a quote from the executive vice president of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, Sean Clarkin, saying: "Recovering can be extremely difficult, and requires constant attention ... but it's important to know that it is, in fact, possible to present examples of people who are recognizing the need for treatment and beginning that journey."
In Gone Too Far, young addicts are given recording devices to show viewers how they procure and ingest drugs. In the first episode, Goldstein is sent into a bodega to buy a crack pipe to demonstrate how easy that is, according to an account in Entertainment Weekly, which had received an early version of the episode just days before Goldstein was found dead -- along with a crack pipe, and bottles of prescription drugs.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement