By Brent Blanchard / Implosionworld.com

It's not often that we find a documentary program so offensive to our industry that it warrants a full critical review. However producers of The Wrecking Ball (2001, Actuality Productions) seem to have worked so tirelessly in setting a new low standard for the genre, we figured it would be in the public interest to warn our visitors of what's to come.

Even before viewing the program, several ominous signs emerge. First is the fact that the Arts & Entertainment Network (A&E) has mysteriously chosen not to air this program on its flagship portal as was originally touted to implosionworld.com and others several months ago. It has instead relegated the offering to its junior counterpart, The History Channel. Second, the program has billed itself in advance as featuring a demolition contractor who has "demolished more structures than all of their competitors", which most demolition veterans will instantly recognize as a questionably self-serving and unverifiable claim. And third, the program's producers chose to cast rock n' roll veteran Alice Cooper as host. While there is little doubt that their intent was to add a mad-capped and zany element to the program, the selection ensures an uphill battle towards attaining any actual credibility right from the outset.

And therein lies the program's fundamental flaw: A documentary program that deals with subject matter as serious as explosive and heavy conventional demolition - and tries to sell it's audience on the legitimate "drama and danger" of last-minute electrical storms, working with explosives at dangerous heights, and the issues of spectator safety and concern for nearby businesses - cannot expect their audience to simultaneously buy into the "But look everyone, we're also kooky, reckless and irreverent!" mindset. These two opposite portrayals simply can't co-exist, and it is puzzling to wonder why a supposedly reputable documentary team was unable to realize this.

If there is any doubt as to how awful The Wrecking Ball might be, producers end the debate within the first half-hour by presenting segments on Japanese citizens smashing a roomful of vases and other household items ("for therapeutic reasons"), 19th century Indian Chiefs burning their canoes ("to display superiority"), and Actuality Production's documentary crew filming their own family members repeatedly striking a derelict car with a hammer. The jaw-dropping aimlessness of the first few segments will likely cause even the most dedicated viewer to scream out, "What the heck does any of this have to do with demolition?", followed quickly by, "And who in the world could have approved this for actual broadcast?"

The procession of disjointed segments then plods on for another 90 painful minutes, and includes snippets of a motorcycle-riding Buddhist Monk who likes demolition, Battle-bots (yes, the remote-controlled machines designed by young aspiring engineers), a woman who recounts how she accidentally crushed the car of a motorist who ran out of gas near her "car crusher", drivers who compete at a local demolition derby, laborers in India who dismantle ships, and rock n' roll musicians who trash hotel rooms for fun. Cooper attempts to connect this latter segment into a demolition context with the line (we're not making this up), "Rock n' Roll has been a cultural wrecking ball." Yikes!

To be fair, there is a small amount of actual demolition content to be found. Short segments featuring some early demolition machines, the conventional destruction of an old baseball stadium, and the history of the wrecking ball indicate that the producers wanted their program to be taken seriously. But even these story-lines lack a cohesiveness that suggests an editorial direction based more on which old film clips were conveniently available to be exploited rather than actually developing any sort of educational timeline or chronology of events leading up to today's modern demolition methods.

The program then reaches a low point for the ages, as it mocks the work of researchers at the University of Missouri who are studying how experimental polymer-laced concrete walls react to explosions similar to terrorist bombs. Cooper's closing editorial commentary on the alleged wasting of government funds with regard to this research must truly be heard first-hand to be believed. Is he just kidding? Is he serious? At this point in the program, who knows?

And finally, interwoven throughout the entire two hours are various explosive demolition projects performed by the producer's preferred contractor. Much of the video footage is interesting to watch, and there is a certain element of drama - some genuine and some obviously over-hyped - to be found in several of these segments. However, the narrative commentary is rife with inaccuracies and misrepresentations (one interviewee is permitted to falsely claim that his parents actually invented implosions!), right down to the inappropriate, and some will no doubt say irresponsible, statements made by an independent NADC spokesman. As our visitors who have read implosionworld.com's published paper, A History of Explosive Demolition in America, are aware, these types of misrepresentations are nothing new to documentary programs that chase demolition contractors. And given all of this program's other shortcomings, perhaps it is not surprising that they exist in such quantity here. Nonetheless, it is disappointing to observe such an obvious lack of research in an endeavor that purported to achieve respectable ambitions.

In the end, the ultimate reason that this program fails - and indeed one of the reasons we have chosen to review this program in such detail - is because the production team appears to have made virtually every mistake possible. As Alice Cooper slings his guitar in futility against a steel trash can and other items during the closing credits (ultimately failing to destroy anything and walking away in disgust), he unwittingly provides the perfect metaphor for slinging a documentary production in all directions at once. And perhaps the most optimistic and constructive image we can take from this unequivocal embarrassment is the hope that other producers and filmmakers will learn from these mistakes.