What was the reason for his early termination at the KTEN local television station? It was never fully explained in the documentary and it seemed that he had stopped using at that time. It was also several years after when his addiction was revealed to the public, so if his dismissal was drug related, how did they know? Also does anyone know if he was ever incarcerated because of his drug abuse?
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I love how everyone thinks they can magically identify drug users just by looking at them. Total *beep* I was *beep* tired of people telling me they could tell I was a pothead in high school just by looking at me, when in fact I had never even seen the stuff. Did you know that 90% of heroin users are integrated into society and working jobs, without any trouble to their life? The bad apples are why drugs are stigmatized, and this is a documentary about a bad apple. You can't magically tell when people are on something. People who are sleep deprived look just as bad, and some people simply have red eyes most of the time. I saw them get accused too. This is merely another form of prejudice.
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I wondered the same thing. It was right after rehab. I couldn't tell from the documentary if the firing led to his fall back into addiction or if it was his continued abuse that led to the firing.
Not that it matters, but I would really like to know as well.
That part was confusing. He mentions that they asked for his resignation then suspended him WITH pay. If he was High 'on the air' or too high to make good 'News Director' decisions, why did he get paid? I would have appreciated that being clearer. He probably had a employment contract that the T.V. station had to get their lawyers to figure out exactly what they owed him to pay him off to go away. That would explain why he refused to resign. Although employment contracts vary a great deal, it is not uncommon for them to be structured so that if you quit within a year you gotta pay back alot of the moving expenses it cost the company to get you to relocate. But on the other hand, if they terminate you within that year but can't prove poor performance; they owe you for the year. So, when Rick refused to quit, I suspect his termination was related to his drug habit; then the station attorney's had to get involved to figure out a settlement. He did seem to be able to live a long time before the family started becoming financially strapped.
shareMy husband and I wondered that too, it was never made clear. Frustratingly, several things were never made clear. The one that's bugging me now is what the deal was with his dad. I cannot imagine wanting to actually kill your father for not giving/lending you and your family money. Ok, hold a grudge or hate him. but drive across state lines with a loaded firearm to kill him? He obviously found it important enough to add it to the final cut, but not enough to really let us in on it? Did I miss something maybe?
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"Damaged people are dangerous, they know they can survive."
At the beginning it said his dad returned from 3 tours of Vietnam and probably had PTSD, his mother became depressed and he was then passed from pillar to post by both parents when visiting
sharerick's bio on the tv junkie web site provides some explanation of why he was fired. supposedly, it was because of a station buyout. it could be biased since tv junkie is his baby but figured this would supply some sort of explanation. here's the web site: http://www.tvjunkie.tv/bio.html.
shareI am not sure I believe the 'station buyout' reason. The minute he said 'there is a bar downstairs' I thought 'oh no'. I am not sure he was clean of drugs anyway. I mean he did only 10 days rehab!! 10 days for a hardened crack addict??? I would say he had alcohol addiction as well as drugs and just upped the booze intake to help stay off the drugs : therefore not really 'clean' in any sense and messed up the job.
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Exactly what i thought too. When they said "wow there is a bar downstairs" and "it was a lot of fun" i was like, "i bet he gets fired in the next scene". I don't believe the excuse he gave of a station buyout. The whole thing is another lie, like the one he gave the audience of the show about he had to leave to finish his book and have more time with Ricky and Dusty. God bless his wife. She tried and tried. I would've given up a long time ago in her situation.
"That Monster is being ignorant!"
He said that on-air so he wouldn't lose face or had some agreement with management that he could use an excuse as to why he was leaving hoping not to damage his "so called" less than stellar reputation at that time. I don't know that for sure but that's what I figured happened when I watched that part.
Viewers would have possibly started asking questions when they realized, " hey, that Rick guy isn't on the news anymore?" Seems plausible to me anyway.