The self-fulfilling prophecy of Bobby Wheeler

The concept of "celebreality" TV is sad; Jeff Conaway on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club is heartbreaking.

A shadow of the free-wheeling Bobby Wheeler (Taxi) or hickey-giving hottie Kenickie (Grease), my former childhood crush has done more, in one hour, to scare me away from drugs than any ABC after-school special ever could. His once-chiseled face is slack, his sharp tongue slurred. Neither is a result of age (in fact, he's still quite the hottie at 55), but overuse of prescription meds and who knows what else from a 30 year ride on that rickety Hollywood rollercoaster.

Sure, I don't know him from Adam and I tend to get attached to TV characters more quickly than I do actual live people, but it impaired my enjoyment of the show just seeing where this was all headed. I mean, of all the has-been, (I'm being generous by calling them) quasi-celebs on that show, he's the only one that was ever truly talented. Before he was Kenickie, he WAS Danny Zuko.

I guess it's not so much because I'm sad for him, but that it's one more sign that my childhood is really over.

Thanks, VH1, for the memories.