Look, Tiger King is great. Wonderful docuseries with seriously cartoonish, memorable characters. I personally think it’s great that America has become so invested with such a well-made documentary.
But I am starting to fear that Tiger King and its stars are running the risk of being over-exposed. There is another episode of the Netflix show planned, a Fox “sequel series” on the way, another series on the Investigation Discovery network about star Carole Baskin and a whole other, long-in-development project starring SNL comedian Kate McKinnon in pre-production. That’s a lot, folks. You can understand my fears.
And now Rob Lowe is getting in on the action. The West Wing/Wayne’s World star took to Instagram to post pictures of himself as the titular Tiger King himself, Joe Exotic. Okay, that’s funny, that’s cute. People are doing silly things during the COVID-19 pandemic. I commend Lowe for having some fun while observing self-isolation at home.
But wait, there’s more…
After the Instagram post, news broke that Lowe and his buddy, super producer Ryan Murphy, are talking about creating a scripted Tiger King TV adaptation starring Lowe. Deadline says talks are preliminary so there is a chance this never gets off the ground but it’s true that Lowe really might be playing Joe Exotic in the near future.
And I feel burnt out already. This is like that moment when your dad tries to be hip by listening to Drake with you, it ruins everything and makes it immediately uncool. Nothing against Rob Lowe, he is a fine actor, but this just feels like the sort of pandering that Hollywood (and your parents) is infamous for. Not to mention Lowe is wildly wrong for the part of Exotic. I have said it before and I will say it again: only Michael Keaton should play this part in any adaptation. Maybe Sam Rockwell. Lowe just isn’t right for it, not by a long shot.
We are also reaching the point where I am questioning what all of these adaptations can cover. The Netflix series pretty much touched upon all the exciting parts of the story. The McKinnon show will focus heavily on Baskin, the Fox series will likely be salacious and focused on the scandals (it is co-produced by TMZ after all) and the Investigation Discovery show promises to also dig up new dirt. What will a Ryan Murphy show do? Take on the early years of Joe Exotic? A spin-off about him in prison? I really don’t know but I fear that any additional adaptations will re-tread ground already covered.
I think it’s time to wrap up the Tiger King adaption craze, gang. We have had our fun and we also have our work cut out for us with the extensive list of in-development projects. So let’s just call it a day. Sorry, Rob Lowe. Sorry, Ryan Murphy. You guys just missed the cut-off. There really can be too much of a good thing and I think we have just reached that point.
UPDATE: As I was writing this, Netflix announced that the rumored eighth episode of Tiger King will be released on April 12. It will be an “after show” hosted by Joel McHale and featuring new interviews with many of the show’s stars. So you can bet that will be wildly popular.
Okay, now we need to wrap up the Tiger King adaptation craze.