No one could have predicted how successful Tiger King would become when it premiered on Netflix in March 2020. Whether it was the sudden rise of TikTok that did it or the fact that similarly to the G.W. Zoo tigers, we’d all been locked away at the start of the pandemic with just our TVs for entertainment, the feud between big cat owners Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin quickly went viral across the world and became a huge part of the 2020 zeitgeist.
Now nearly two years on – with a sequel, a spin-off, a series of Dancing with the Stars and a dramatisation under its belt – the Tiger King franchise is somehow still alive and I don’t think I’m the only one who’s utterly sick of it.
The docuseries, which looked at the bizarre world of big cat collectors and conservationists in America and culminated in and exploration of Exotic’s feud with his rival Baskin, was watched by over 34.3 million people in the first 10 days of its release – an absolutely staggering feat, especially for the documentary genre. However, like many phenomenons, 15 minutes of fame is all you get before everybody moves onto the next thing and unfortunately, this is something NBC failed to consider before diving headfirst into its upcoming drama Joe vs Carole.
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The eight-part show dramatises the feud between Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin, exploring their troubled lives before getting into the big cat industry and putting a scripted spin on the events we saw in Tiger King. The limited series has some serious star power behind it, with the hugely charismatic John Cameron Mitchell and Saturday Night Live darling Kate McKinnon leading the pack of excellent actors, but not even their captivating performances are caffeinated enough to cure the public’s Tiger King fatigue.
At least this lethargy was anticipated by Amazon Prime Video, which had plans to develop a separate dramatisation of Tiger King with Nicolas Cage oddly cast as Joe Exotic. In July last year, the streamer wisely shelved the project, with Cage citing that the show was no longer “relevant” and had “become past tense because it took so long for it to come together”.
Of course, the Wicker Man was completely right and any Tiger King dramatisation was ultimately doomed if released after 2020. It would be too late to capitalise on the documentary’s brief time in the global spotlight, but too early to bring a fresh perspective to the story that everyone now knows inside out.
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Even when the actual Tiger King sequel came out towards the end of last year, viewers found it pointless and boring – a criticism linked to the fact that the doc rehashed many of the revelations explored in season 1, muddled up the time lines and threw in anything in an attempt to make the poorly received series more substantial. And don’t get me started on Netflix’s The Doc Antle Story which just about nobody watched.
With Joe vs Carole already receiving negative reviews on account of the general loss of appetite for all things Tiger King, let’s hope the networks and streamers will learn a lesson from this. If a piece of content performs well, that doesn’t mean you have to milk the intellectual property until it’s shrivelled and dying. Please let’s leave Tiger King alone – there is such a thing as flogging a dead horse (or rather cat in this case).
Joe vs Carole premieres on Peacock, exclusively available on Sky and NOW in the UK on Friday 4th March. Check out our Drama hub for more news, interviews and features or find something to watch with our TV guide.
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