1 hour 28 minutes.
Personal. Unique. Insightful.
To watch this documentary in 2020 would certainly be a different experience to watching it when it aired on HBO in 2006. A 2020 audience is used to seeing daily vlogs showing the highs and lows of people's lives. However, Rick Kirkham’s honesty in his video diary is far more personal than the typical youtube family vlogger. At an hour and 28 minutes long, it cannot include every moment from the more than 3000 hours worth of footage. However, it still manages to show the complexity of family life, especially when in the midst of a serious addiction problem. Unsurprisingly, the film has been used as an educational tool for addiction. It is important to remember when watching TV Junkie how personal this footage is. Kirkham’s ex-wife filed a lawsuit to try and prevent the film being shown, for including her and her children to an extent she argued she did not agree to. Variety’s review in 2006 called Kirkham a “borderline loathsome protagonist” who is always “front and center”. This seems to miss the point of the documentary, and I encourage any 2020 viewer to remember that Kirkham and his family are people and not characters.
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