Between Dr. Drew Pinsky on VH1's reality hit "Celebrity Rehab" and the fictional Dr. Paul Weston on Hbo's highly addictive "In Treatment," we're awash in TV therapists .
"These shows are a way of people getting back in touch with the soul, and the audience wants that," Baylor College psychiatry professor Glen Gabbard, author of “Psychiatry and the Cinema,” told Broadcasting & Cable.
But TV’s fascination with the therapist’s couch is nothing new. Here’s a highly subjective look at a few of the fictional tube shrinks — past and present — who have captured my imagination.
Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) of HBO’s “The Sopranos” (1999-2007)
Nobody knew more about New Jersey’s top mobster, Tony Soprano (except perhaps the FBI agents who kept tabs on him). But toward the end of the series, she began to wonder how much she’d helped the mobster, who first visited after suffering a panic attack.
"These shows are a way of people getting back in touch with the soul, and the audience wants that," Baylor College psychiatry professor Glen Gabbard, author of “Psychiatry and the Cinema,” told Broadcasting & Cable.
But TV’s fascination with the therapist’s couch is nothing new. Here’s a highly subjective look at a few of the fictional tube shrinks — past and present — who have captured my imagination.
Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) of HBO’s “The Sopranos” (1999-2007)
Nobody knew more about New Jersey’s top mobster, Tony Soprano (except perhaps the FBI agents who kept tabs on him). But toward the end of the series, she began to wonder how much she’d helped the mobster, who first visited after suffering a panic attack.
- 3/7/2008
- by Tempo
- The Watcher
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