The cast of "Confessions of a Teen Idol" are, from left: Jeremy Jackson, Chris Atkins, Jamie Walters, Billy Hufsey, Eric Nies, Adrian Zmed and David Chokachi. (Piotr Sikora / VH1)

Why am I watching this? I just finished watching an hour of this, and I'll never get that hour back!

So, does it come on every Tuesdy night? It's the first time I've watched this... and now, of course, I've gotta see what happens to them.

Who are those guys? The only one I can make out is Adrian Zmed and I had no idea he was a teen idol.

June7 said:

I don't know any of those guys

ZombieKitten said:

We need a bigger pic!

I went to vh1.com to get more details. You can watch the shows but they don't tell you who's on them.

From the Los Angeles Times
'Confessions of a Teen Idol' on VH1
Reality show shows just how far fading stars -- Christopher Atkins, Jamie Walters, Jeremy Jackson, David Chokachi, Bill Hufsey, Eric Nies and Adrian Zmed -- will go.

By MARY McNAMARA | Los Angeles Times
January 2, 2009

Confessions of a Teen Idol

The cast of "Confessions of a Teen Idol" are, from left: Jeremy Jackson, Chris Atkins, Jamie Walters, Billy Hufsey, Adrian Zmed and David Chokachi. (Piotr Sikora / VH1)

Watching the premiere episode of VH1's "Confessions of a Teen Idol," it's difficult to know whether to laugh or cry. The "refreshingly honest" (see VH1 promo notes) hook of this show is that fame is an addiction that drives many young stars onto various paths of self-destruction, and this show is going to help a group of them, now adults, find it again.

Presumably, VH1 will also be sending cases of Champagne to their local AA meetings.

Of the eight former teen idols showcased on the show, the best known is the host, Scott Baio, who recently recharged his career on VH1 with the reality show “Scott Baio Is 45 . . . and Single.” Still, he manages to use his former Chachi pinup status to express brotherhood with the seven actual participants while remaining safely aloof from the bachelor pad crucible in which the real "action" takes place.

There, the term "teen idol" has been granted the sort of elasticity one might suspect would be necessary to cast a show like this one. The still rather dreamy Christopher Atkins (he of "The Blue Lagoon"), Jamie Walters (" Beverly Hills, 90210") and Jeremy Jackson ("Baywatch") may have been bona fide teen idols, but the rest -- David Chokachi ("Baywatch"), Bill Hufsey (TV's "Fame"), Eric Nies (the original "The Real World") and Adrian Zmed ("T.J. Hooker") -- well, perhaps they came after my Teen Beat-reading days, but they seem more like former teen stars than teen idols.

Be that as it may, they all have the basic where-are-they-now requirement. Except Zmed, who works as a singer and dancer on a cruise ship, none are full-time performers. Atkins, at least according to the Internet Movie Database, has kept his hand in showbiz, but his real job is building swimming pools; Nies, who has appeared on fitness videos and "Real World" reunion competitions, is a vegan life coach; Walters is a firefighter-paramedic; Jackson is still working to overcome drug and alcohol problems; and so on.

Still, they share the same basic desire: to get back into that corrosive limelight.

To do this, they are each willing, apparently, to share digs with six other grown men (Jackson, rather touchingly, points out that this will not be a problem for him as he has served time in jail and been in and out of rehab), undergo group therapy administered by "celebrity psychology expert" Cooper Lawrence and, during the first episode anyway, endure being pranked by Baio and child star turned producer Jason Hervey ("The Wonder Years"). All in the contradictory and more than unsettling pursuit of exploring their addiction to fame while actively courting it once again.

It is not a competition but a drama. No one will get voted off the soundstage, though some may try to flee in disgust that may be real or scripted. In many ways, "Confessions" is like "Celebrity Rehab" without the rehab, which turns out to be a large and significant omission. As shamefully entertaining as it might be to see what has happened to these young stars, to observe the changes that age and, in some cases, hard living have wrought, the premise of this show is such a naked submission to the most shallow and troubling aspect of our culture that it might require its own special rating.

In the endless discussion of the shared desire to resurrect their careers, none of these guys, not one, uses the word "acting" or even "performing." Over and over they repeat their desire for the fame, but none expresses the least interest in the work that would get them there. Now, no one expects a graduate of "Baywatch" or "T.J. Hooker" to wax rhapsodic about their midlife desire to play Hamlet or Willy Loman, but the lack of even lip service to the profession they hope to reenter is perhaps the most significant thing about "Confessions of a Teen Idol."

Fame isn't even fame anymore; it's just media exposure.

Gone is whatever tissue-thin belief remained that talent or skill or dedication is part of the equation. All you need to succeed in entertainment, according to "Confessions of a Teen Idol," is the desire and the commitment to not act like a complete jerk. As Lawrence tells them with all the earnestness of a self-made expert, she is there to help them get back on top. And she is the help they need. Not a director or playwright or, heaven forbid, acting coach, but a celebrity expert to help them work through the scars of early fame.

Watching these guys preen, watching Baio and Hervey smugly rationalize humiliating grown men on TV, all I could think of were the countless hardworking, dedicated actors in this town who have watched their fees slip and their opportunities dry up as reality shows like this one have steadily replaced all the comedies and dramas and procedurals that once kept them employed.

Should a miracle occur and one or two prove they still have what it takes (Atkins has the looks, but my money's on Zmed, who remains a dedicated performer), they will find that work is harder to come by than it was in their heyday.

But then as "Confessions" makes abundantly and unabashedly clear, it's not about the work or the talent. It's all about feeding the addiction.

I know only Eric Nies from MTV's The Real World. He's all long-haired and barefoot here. When did he get all hippified?

Even with their names, I still have no idea who they are.

I had to Google all but two of those names.

JustErin said:

Done.

I still have no idea who Adrian Zmed is sandwiched between.

June7 said:

christopher atkins..is that the one from the movie the blue lagoon??
the one with brooke shields??
adrian zmed..officer romano TJ hooker...
[Edited 1/13/09 20:28pm]

OK... I guess in addition to Eric Nies, I do know David Chokachi from Baywatch and Adrian Zmed from assorted bad '80's film and TV. I have no idea who the others are, though.

I need to see pics of them as a teen!

Vendetta1 said:

The long-haired guy is Eric from the first year of MTV's The Real World. He used to have short hair, and he was the resident hottie. On the show, he almost got into a fight with the black guy, writer Kevin Powell. He later went on to host MTV's dance music show The Grind.

On the other side of Adrian Zmed is David Chokachi. If I'm not mistaken, he used to be on Baywatch. He was totally buffed up and, of course, never had any clothes on. He hasn't aged very well in the face it seems.
[Edited 1/13/09 20:29pm]

Lammastide said:

Billy Hufsey was a no dancin' motherfucker on the Fame television show.

Vendetta1 said:

better than me...
i only recognized Mr. Atkins...
adrian was familiar, but from where?? i had to look...

I don't recognize any of these guys.

EmeraldSkies said:

right? how the fuck are they teen idols?

taking a stab without googling or reading the desciption...


Jeremy Jackson.... was he the kid on Baywatch maybe?
Chris Atkins .... Blue Lagoon?
Jamie Walters ... yeesh.... um.... 90210? and some band with one hit in the early 90's. can't remember the name of the song or band, but a fuzzy version of the song is playing in my head.
Billy Hufsey... no idea...
Eric Nies .... hot piece of ass from Real World season 1 (but yuck about that new hair)
Adrian Zmed ... old guy. know him, but can't think of anything he was in off the top of my head.
David Chokachi .... god damn. i don't know how many times i masturbated thinking about him in his Baywatch speedo.

Vendetta1 said:

Ahh..I know him now.

Vendetta1 said:

I knew his face looked familiar but I couldn't place him AT ALL

I keep meaning to watch this loser fest

Vendetta1 said:

with a well-coifed mullet

errant said:

Ohhh, that guy

peb319 said:

Yes...I had such a crush on Christopher after I saw that movie.

noimageatall said:

I remember being pretty young when that came out. He was cute then, with curly hair...ver teenage heartthrob on the covers of "Teen Beat" and "Tiger Beat" and whatnot. He was that teen idol generation after Leif Garret, Sean Cassedy, Scott Baio, and those dudes.

Ottensen said:

i recognized him first...
because of that...i wanted to be on an island.....
i used to swipe my sister's magazines and take the pictures out that
she wanted..


to put an " i " in ...
[Edited 1/14/09 9:48am]

loved the guy when he was on FAME!!!

JustErin said:

Same here!!

I didn't think that Eric Nies counted as a teen idol.