|
|
REVIEW 'Tiger King' rules television
by Jerry Nunn, Windy City Times 2020-04-15
|
|
This article shared 2597 times since Wed Apr 15, 2020
|
|
Netflix had perfect timing when the media company released Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness on March 20. Because of a pandemic that trapped television viewers at home like animals in cages, audiences had time to cram down a seven-episode story arc about the world of big-cat owners.
The welcome distraction left some people astounded and many ravenous for more. Sex, drugs and country music are all part of a new zoo revue that covers animal parks and various owners' interactions with each other throughout the years.
Co-producers/co-creators Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin wanted a big-cat version of the award-winning documentary Blackfish and instead ended up with a very entertaining character study. There's something for everyone in Tiger Kingand that's why it resonates so well with viewers.
The LGBT community pops up throughout the documentary. The star of Tiger King Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as "Joe Exotic"is a gay, gun-toting polygamist zoo owner hungry for fame. Exotic's past husbands are a mix of gay, bisexual and straight. One of Exotic's employees, Saff Saffery, is trans and prefers he/his pronouns. Unfortunately, in Tiger King, Saffery not only loses a limb, but is identified incorrectly several times.
After traveling to the Big Cat Rescue in Florida myself, I noticed how smalland far away from the publicthe cages were located. In the program, owner Carole Baskin makes the case that the park is helping abused and abandoned big cats while charging customers to enter. If this is true, then she is making a killing along the way, after starting the project in 1992. Baskin is a fascinating character in Tiger King; she was ahead of the curve in terms of social media and even made a virtual-reality zoo last year. Is she a gentle animal lover or an evil genius who killed her husband in some way? These are questions that have both hooked viewers and have resulted in a new investigation against her.
Exotic is still behind bars and loving the attentionwhile serving 22 years. Now there's even talk of a possible presidential pardon for his sentence.
Lovers of animals have been skittish about watching the series, although another docDon't F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer, on the same platformis much tougher to watch. The focus is mainly on the human subjects, and that's where Tiger King only scratches the surface of the real problem. While it can be fun to see the eccentric and vengeful cast of characters in Tiger King, the series really lost sight of being about the animals. Don't worry "all you cool cats and kittens," there's still meat on the bone, with a storyline of misused employees and an underworld of crime. The creators of Tiger King didn't complete everything they set out to do, but they have made a highly watchable tiger tale that is must-see TV.
The catty adventure continues with The Tiger King and I, a new after-show that was released April 12. |
|
|
|
This article shared 2597 times since Wed Apr 15, 2020
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | The importance of becoming Ernest: Out actor Christopher Sieber dishes about the Death Becomes Her musical 2024-04-20 - Out and proud actor Christopher Sieber is part of the team bringing Death Becomes Her to life as a stage musical in the Windy City this spring. Sieber plays Ernest Menville, who was originally portrayed by ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Celine Dion, 'The People's Joker,' Billy Porter, Patti LuPone, 'Strange Way' 2024-04-19 - I Am: Celine Dion will stream on Prime Video starting June 25, according to a press release. The film is described as follows: "Directed by Academy Award nominee Irene Taylor, I Am: Celine Dion gives us ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ film fest Queer Expression to feature Alexandra Billings in 'Queen Tut' 2024-04-12 --From a press release - CHICAGO — Pride Film Fest celebrates its second decade with a new name—QUEER EXPRESSION—and has announced its slate of LGBTQ+-themed feature, mid-length and short films for in-person and virtual events in April and May. QUEER EXPRESSI ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Jerrod Carmichael, '9-1-1' actor, Kayne the Lovechild, STARZ shows, Cynthia Erivo 2024-04-12 - Gay comedian/filmmaker Jerrod Carmichael criticized Dave Chappelle, opening up about the pair's ongoing feud and calling out Chappelle's opinions on the LGBTQ+ community, PinkNews noted, citing an Esquire article. Carmichael ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Outfest, Chita Rivera, figure skaters, letter, playwright dies 2024-04-05 - For more than four decades, Outfest has been telling LGBTQ+ stories through the thousands of films screened during its annual Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival—but that event may have a different look this year because ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Dionne Warwick, OUTshine, Ariana DeBose, 'Showgirls,' 'Harlem' 2024-03-29 Video below - Iconic singer Dionne Warwick was honored for her decades-long advocacy work for people living with HIV/AIDS at a star-studded amfAR fundraising gala in Palm Beach, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Warwick received the "Award of ...
|
| | WORLD Israel court, conversion therapy, death sentences, Georgia bill, fashion items 2024-03-29 - Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Population Authority must register female couples as mothers on the birth certificates of their children they have together, The Washington Blade reported. The decision was made following a petition ...
|
| | JP Karliak morphs into non-binary character for Disney+'s X-Men '97 2024-03-22 - series X-Men '97, a revival of the popular X-men: The Animated Series that's both continuing the ongoing mutant storyline and breaking new ground along the way. The character of Morph now looks more like the comic ...
|
| | WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21 - It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21 - Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15 - Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08 - Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01 - Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctora film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...
|
| | Dorian Film Awards: 'All of Us Strangers' takes top prizes 2024-02-27 - February 26, 2024 - Los Angeles, Ca. - For its 15th Dorian Film Awards, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics fully embraced All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh's fantastical and tear-inducing tale of two ...
|
| | SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25 - Queer entertainers made their markalthough not a major oneat the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...
| |
|
|