TV Junkie

I happened to stumble on this movie on HBO while channel surfing. Got sucked into it. Man, did I get sucked into it. Never heard of this guy Rick Kirkham but did I realize that whatever mediocre, normal, family life I have is worth so much. This movie is real and everything in it is as close to reality as you can get. The movie shows how his wife sticks by him (longer than I expected), his kids see him self destruct, his career go down the toilet and yeah, then its the drugs. And yeah all this was caused by his self-destructive nature but I took more than just the obvious. All in all, if you are feeling a little low on life and you feel luck has not not been your side, spend the 75 minutes to watch this movie. It will make you appreciate it.

This movie seemed poorly edited and agonizingly repetitive. But it's kind of funny to imagine your local news anchor as a closet crackhead, and that's what we have here. A view of drug abuse so unvarnished that I was almost hoping this jerk would somehow quickly drop dead so I wouldn't have to continue listening to his drug addled rants. And if it was that bad for me, it was clearly worse for his kids and wife. This should be filed under "Things not to say in front of your children".

For some reason I was expecting to see a movie about the entire lifespan of some dude who really liked watching TV. Instead I got 2 years in the life of a crackhead. 2 years, that was 95% of it. What happened to the rest? And did I just see that Dan Rather is listed as one of the actors/stars of the movie? Are you f-ing serious?! He was on screen for maybe 5 seconds total.... not speaking I don't think, just grinning.

I know a few things about drug abuse. The best thing about this movie is that it doesn't glorify it for an instant. It shows the ugly and it shows a guy who threw away his family and he threw away his TV career. I don't subscribe to the whole "disease" excuse thing. I don't buy it. I've been there. It's a choice. Most people who fall into it continue to make bad choices until they either wake up dead or they eventually decide to do something different. I don't have much more than a minute amount of sympathy. And of course this exact story could have just as easily been about an ordinary everyday alcoholic who ruins his life and his family's life just like this crackhead did. Happens every day.

I just wanted to say thank you Rick for releasing these films and recordings and allowing this to be created. Because if this film, it has changed my life and that of my family.

This film has saved my life and made sure that my two boys will have their father while they are growing up in this harsh world we live in, and has saved my marriage.

I wish there was more I could do or say so that you (Rick) would know just how much this means to me and my family, and that you could truly understand in your heart of hearts that you have helped to save a life... My life!

I trust that in some way, some how, God will bless you for having the courage to bring forth these films and recordings. I will keep you in my prayers.

Thank you Rick!

Patrick

TV Junkie was an experience I was not prepared for. This movie was about a man and his struggle with drug addiction. Edited from hours of video footage, you see about as "honest" a look into the life of a successful man both in vocation and family ripped wide open by the monster of drug dependency as has ever been presented.

What a moving film...

I'm not entirely sure why anyone would have a problem or be suspicious of Kirkham's motives.

One thing to consider is that Kirkham received his first camera as a teenager and began filming everything at that point. So the drug addiction and subsequent breakdown of life came within the context of a lifetime of filming.

He did have a very "plaintive" way of describing what was happening to him, but I think he was trying to explain a totally indescribable feeling/situation in as professional a manner he could.

I really enjoyed this film and thought it presented a completely unique perspective on a very well-documented subject. And how could you not help fall in love with Tammi's small town wisdom and optimism.

This 'documentary' lifts all the home-bred editing techniques from Tarnation, and THAT wasn't even as great a film as people made it out to be. Cue indie guitar rock with a nostalgic tone, "iMovie" cue cards over nostalgic long lost photos, break cue cards into poetic nostalgic 'faux' symbolic sentences, follow a loser over his loser life as he wallows in nostalgic introspective narrative. Did I mention he was addicted to drugs? Argh, frustrating, self indulgent filmmaking at its worst.

I want to support indie filmmakers, and low budget bedroom films that make it big - I think we need more of them in the world. But I can't support this one, sorry. I just can't.