TV Junkie: Faces of Addiction

Aired on HBO, director Michael Cain's Sundance Special Jury Prize-winning TV Junkie: Faces of Addiction offers a compelling look at the downward drug spiral of former news correspondent Rick Kirkham, drawing on more than 3,000 hours of footage from Kirkham's personal archives. A risk-taking child of divorced parents, Kirkham later made the professional shift from local affiliate news to becoming a reporter for Inside Edition—all despite his rapidly worsening drug problem as a “functioning addict” (he even admits to interviewing President George H.W. Bush while on crack). Offering a bird's-eye view of Kirkham's downfall, TV Junkie features footage of Kirkham smoking crack, trolling for drugs, ignoring phone messages about debts, being handcuffed for roughing up his family, and sitting in his son's school parking lot talking about blowing his brains out. “It's never too late to turn it all around,” Kirkham tells an audience at a graduation address (purportedly after being clean for six years), but—unfortunately—TV Junkie never really shows us just how he does that. Packaged in an “Educationally Enhanced” version, DVD extras include “Curriculum Connections” activities (tied to the New York Times' Anti-Drug Education Program), lesson plan PDFs, and interactive text quizzes. Although it features explicit drug usage, TV Junkie is nevertheless sure to encourage discussion. A strong optional purchase. Aud: H, C, P. (J. Williams-Wood)