At the start of Netflix's 'Tiger King', one interviewee observes: “The monkey people are a little bit different, they’re kind of strange.
“But the big cat people are backstabbing.”
If you were to pick one series that had streaming sensation written all over it during the Covid-19 lockdown, it would have to be Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin's 'Tiger King': Murder, Madness and Mayhem'.
'Tiger King' is packed full of eccentric characters.
It is built quite frankly around a bonkers true story that trumps a lot of fiction.
It has Cowboys, guns, betrayal and even the FBI.
Joe Exotic is a former Presidential and Libertarian Party Gubernatorial candidate from Oklahoma, who came to fame as a country music singer and an exotic zoo owner.
A gay man with two husbands, he keeps big cats in his zoo and has built his reputation as the self-styled Tiger King through his own internet reality TV show.
His staff are drifters from the wrong side of the tracks, who are fed meat past its sell by date recovered from a skip outside the local Walmart.
Joe's two husbands, John Findlay and Travis Maldonado are drawn from these ranks.
His mentor is Bhagavan Antle, the owner of a successful wildlife park in South Carolina, who has built a national profile through appearances with his animals on shows like 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' and has his his own harem - all of whom work for him.
The Tiger King's nemesis, however, is Carole Baskin, the wealthy owner of the Florida based Big Cat Rescue whose philandering millionaire first husband disappeared in strange circumstances.
Joe Exotic's feud with Baskin stems from her targeting of his business for the alleged maltreatment of animals.
This initially sees her lobbying shopping malls not to allow him to bring his cats out to the public.
However it quickly escalates into public slanging match over social media and the Internet, with Joe Exotic raising questions about Carole Baskin's husband's disappearance.
Joe even records a gruesome country song with an accompanying video, speculating about what may have happened and even shoots a Carole dummy on his internet TV show.
Other characters come into the mix including Mario Tabraue, a former drugs gang member suspected of trafficking animals, a Las Vegas playboy and businessman Jeff Lowe and TV producer Rick Kirkham who had planned a cable network Tiger King reality show.
What Goode and Chaiklin deliver is a spicy gumbo of a documentary which will have your head spinning at the ridiculousness of it all.
Not only is it another insight into the bizarre culture of American celebrity but it is a tragic tale of bruised ego, bitterness and warped ideals.
None of the characters are easy to warm to.
All of them are pretty grotesque.
But as events spiral out of control, you are struck by the sense of how no-one really seems to be concerned about the impact on the animals.
In many ways, the cautionary tale of 'Tiger King': Murder, Madness and Mayhem' seems to epitomise how America seems to have lost its way.
In this Trumpian era of relentless narcissism, outlandish unsubstantiated allegations and sheer vindictiveness, 'Tiger King' shines a disturbing light on just how rampant those destructive qualities are not just in Washington DC but in the American heartlands.
An America addicted to celebrity and a scant interest in the facts has forgotten how to be civil.
And in a year when American voters can help their country change course, Goode and Chaiklin's macabre show illustrates just how pervasive and destructive that lack of civility is.
It doesn't take very long for the central players in 'Tiger King' to lose their way.
What noble intentions they may have had are pushed aside in the hunt for fame and fortune.
The tragedy is no-one is there to stop them.
And there's the rub.
It will be one hell of a challenge to rebuild a nation divided and a nation that cherishes intelligence over the worst emotion.
It will be even harder to do that in individual communities.
It will need more than a change of President.
Good luck with that.
('Tiger King': Murder, Madness and Mayhem' was made available for streaming on Netflix on March 20, 2020)
“But the big cat people are backstabbing.”
If you were to pick one series that had streaming sensation written all over it during the Covid-19 lockdown, it would have to be Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin's 'Tiger King': Murder, Madness and Mayhem'.
'Tiger King' is packed full of eccentric characters.
It has Cowboys, guns, betrayal and even the FBI.
Joe Exotic is a former Presidential and Libertarian Party Gubernatorial candidate from Oklahoma, who came to fame as a country music singer and an exotic zoo owner.
A gay man with two husbands, he keeps big cats in his zoo and has built his reputation as the self-styled Tiger King through his own internet reality TV show.
His staff are drifters from the wrong side of the tracks, who are fed meat past its sell by date recovered from a skip outside the local Walmart.
Joe's two husbands, John Findlay and Travis Maldonado are drawn from these ranks.
His mentor is Bhagavan Antle, the owner of a successful wildlife park in South Carolina, who has built a national profile through appearances with his animals on shows like 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' and has his his own harem - all of whom work for him.
The Tiger King's nemesis, however, is Carole Baskin, the wealthy owner of the Florida based Big Cat Rescue whose philandering millionaire first husband disappeared in strange circumstances.
Joe Exotic's feud with Baskin stems from her targeting of his business for the alleged maltreatment of animals.
This initially sees her lobbying shopping malls not to allow him to bring his cats out to the public.
However it quickly escalates into public slanging match over social media and the Internet, with Joe Exotic raising questions about Carole Baskin's husband's disappearance.
Joe even records a gruesome country song with an accompanying video, speculating about what may have happened and even shoots a Carole dummy on his internet TV show.
Other characters come into the mix including Mario Tabraue, a former drugs gang member suspected of trafficking animals, a Las Vegas playboy and businessman Jeff Lowe and TV producer Rick Kirkham who had planned a cable network Tiger King reality show.
What Goode and Chaiklin deliver is a spicy gumbo of a documentary which will have your head spinning at the ridiculousness of it all.
Not only is it another insight into the bizarre culture of American celebrity but it is a tragic tale of bruised ego, bitterness and warped ideals.
None of the characters are easy to warm to.
All of them are pretty grotesque.
But as events spiral out of control, you are struck by the sense of how no-one really seems to be concerned about the impact on the animals.
In many ways, the cautionary tale of 'Tiger King': Murder, Madness and Mayhem' seems to epitomise how America seems to have lost its way.
An America addicted to celebrity and a scant interest in the facts has forgotten how to be civil.
And in a year when American voters can help their country change course, Goode and Chaiklin's macabre show illustrates just how pervasive and destructive that lack of civility is.
It doesn't take very long for the central players in 'Tiger King' to lose their way.
What noble intentions they may have had are pushed aside in the hunt for fame and fortune.
The tragedy is no-one is there to stop them.
And there's the rub.
It will be one hell of a challenge to rebuild a nation divided and a nation that cherishes intelligence over the worst emotion.
It will be even harder to do that in individual communities.
It will need more than a change of President.
Good luck with that.
('Tiger King': Murder, Madness and Mayhem' was made available for streaming on Netflix on March 20, 2020)
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