By Morgan Taylor – Editor-in-Chief

The documentary series “Tiger King” was recently released on Netflix and quickly grew in popularity to make it onto the Top 10 list of shows to watch in the US. The story follows the life of Oklahoma native, Joe Exotic. Not only does Joe act like a character out of a dramatic TV show about country life, but he also owns over 200 big cats. While running his own private zoo called Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, Joe finds himself fighting against various animal rights activists, including one woman named Carole Baskin. Each episode of this seven-part series is filled with immense amounts of drama. From a disappearing husband to polygamy to a murder-for-hire trial, this show truly encompasses the drama that is involved with the private ownership of exotic animals. 

Although the show revolves around Joe Exotic, whose personality takes over the screen with his eccentric lifestyle of running his own broadcast network, filming a reality TV show, and continuing a singing career, the other people involved make the documentary really worth watching. Carole Baskin, the animal rights activist from Florida and Joe’s sworn enemy, runs her own sanctuary called Big Cat Rescue. With millions of followers on different social media platforms, Carole has a huge impact on the animal rights world. The feud between Joe and Carole gets more and more extreme throughout the series and makes the storyline that much more interesting. Joe accuses Carole of feeding her husband to her tigers and continuously berates her on his broadcast network. People such as John Finlay (Joe’s husband) Rick Kirkham (the reality TV show director), Doc Antle (a fellow big cat owner and breeder), and Joshua Dial (Joe’s campaign manager in his run for president and governor) all contribute to the dramatic storyline that explains Joe’s seemingly insane lifestyle.

If people are looking for a series to binge for the entire day during quarantine, “Tiger King” is perfect. The fact that this show is completely true makes it that much more interesting and keeps the viewer on the edge of their couch. Grab some popcorn and take a seat cause you won’t want to get up until the whole show is over.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars