TV You Have Watched

[Lebowski]

Louie Theroux - Shooting Joe Exotic

This 90-minute special sees Louis Theroux travel to America to investigate the story of a man who has become one of the most controversial and captivating icons of recent times: the gun-toting, self-described 'gay hillbilly' and 'Tiger King' Joe Exotic.

A decade on from when he first met Joe for the documentary America’s Most Dangerous Pets, Louis returns to Oklahoma, responding to a direct call from Joe to tell the ‘real story’ and to explore the saga of an animal hoarder turned convicted felon. Joe now resides in a federal prison, having been found guilty of a murder-for-hire plot and multiple animal cruelty charges. But rather than living as a pariah, Joe is now a media phenomenon, the object of international obsession for pundits, celebrities and viewers, with a well-funded campaign team attempting to win him a presidential pardon.

Looking back at his original documentary, Louis reflects on hours of unseen footage and sets out to understand who the real Joe Exotic is and how he used his considerable charm and wiles to assemble a vast menagerie of animals and humans, all roped into a grand project of vanity and deception. Meeting old friends and family members of Joe’s, Louis picks apart the true crime story of how Joe came to be convicted. He also tells the story of Joe’s captivating charisma and the way in which it became a key ingredient in a viral television sensation, with life-changing consequences for all those involved - most of all Carole Baskin, originally the object of Joe’s vitriol, who found herself the target of his murder-for-hire plot and a mass trolling campaign.

He digs deep into Joe’s family, unearthing the origin story of Joe’s pathology and laying bare an only-in-America saga that is part crime story, part media spectacle, part animal rights campaign but ultimately a 21st-century fable of a cowboy-cum-cult leader whose very fragility became a source of power - a power which, in some respects, persists to this day


Watched this on BBC2 last night and it depressed me to the point of near tears at various points. Animal cruelty upsets me so much. I don't understand it.

The Louie Theroux, revisit and delving into the aftermath of the show feels a bit more balanced, Louie has a way of leading people and coming across as Naive but his mask slips here and he seems to really pee off a few of the people he interviews its interesting that hes asking the right questions and not to fussed about getting under peoples skin.

The Netflix show never really focuses on the welfare side of things something its been criticized for this. Its more about the showboating of the three biggest players in American big cats. We have Joe who's scraping the bottom of the barrel and exploiting animals any way he can, Doc” Antle running some sort of sex cult and, Carrol Baskin an ex big cat breeder who really seems like shes exploiting the charity angle to keep cats. Their all using the animals in different ways but it really dose come across like their all exploiting animals in different ways for their own selfish reasons.

What i found interesting about the Louie Theroux look back was the Netflix show left some ambiguity about if Joe was really guilty or if he was set up, but this leaves no doubt about if he is, i hadn't realized it was an FBI sting and that Joe had tried to hire an FBI agent for the Hit on Carrol or that the big cats that had been killed and buried in his park where healthy animals.

[fuse]

Yeah this is pretty much why I didn't enjoy Tiger King; all of the major players were all varying degrees of awful, and I did not feel comfortable with any of them being given any more exposure than they already had. Feel like Louie's recent re-examination of everything paints another picture of an investigation where he's got a little more sucked in to the cult of personality than he'd want to in hindsight, too.

Aaaand entirely as predicted, we've utterly rinsed Line of Duty, finishing season 5 last night. We'll probably be up to date with the new series to watch the finale with everyone else on Sunday. I'm still liking it for the most part, my main criticism being more of myself, how we tend to interact with shows now, and our watching habits, rather than the actual show itself.

[hudson]

I finished all season of Always Sunny for the 4th time this week. I think it's the best show ever made.

I've started rinsing Parks and Recreation and I'm loving it. Ron Swanson is a new hero of mine after Frank Reynolds.

[randombs]

I've started rinsing Parks and Recreation and I'm loving it. Ron Swanson is a new hero of mine after Frank Reynolds.

Random YouTube clips of Swanson got me to watch Parks and Rec in the first place. He’s a treasure.

[hudson]

I like his no veg policy

[Anpanman]

Been going through Spiral since the Beeb put all the series on iPlayer and just finished the final episode. Terrific series, bit like a French Sweeney for the 2000's.

Sad that it's over, might get it on Blu, epic, epic series.

[Finsbury Girl]

Been smashing through The Good Wife ; Deadwood ; Yellowstone.

I initially thought Ian McShane was playing it pretty one dimensionally, but a few episodes in, I realised my mistake. It is an absolutely nuanced performance showing hints of humanity here and there. Some of the monologues are superb. Kudos to the writers as well. Love Timothy Olyphant damn he can play menacing well. Oh and the mini story arc with the Preacher was superb.

Kevin Costner is one of my favourite actors. I'm only a few episodes in and I'm hooked. Yellowstone is great.

I love me a good legal drama and The Good Wife delivers in spades.

[fuse]

We'll probably be up to date with the new series to watch the finale with everyone else on Sunday.

... and yup, we are.

My biggest question by far regarding season 6 has to be

->Open Spoiler<-

when is Steve Arnott going to be arrested for his burglary of John Virgo's wardrobe?

[Dogg Thang]

I started watching Watchmen because [MENTION=10111]QualityChimp[/MENTION] made me. Two episodes in and, wow, it's pretty fantastic so far. Whish is a weird thing to say because I see Lindeloff's name all over it and I think I have been disappointed most things he has been involved with and put it almost squarely down to him due to common writing problems. But this is great. Feels very unique, building on the comic but very much telling its own story in its own way.

[QualityChimp]

So pleased you're watching it, DT.
Those first few episodes are so confusing, but I enjoyed just being swept along like rapids and the story starts making sense.

[Dogg Thang]

The first episode was definitely baffling in places but, once it got going, I just went with it. And mostly, I'm in. The one confusing thing is around the Jeremy Irons character but my guess is that he's someone very familiar and he's gone (more) off the rails. I do love that they really just present the world as is. You just dive straight into it.

[Dogg Thang]

I finished Watchmen. Totally loved it. I feel they struck a perfect balance of telling a completely new story while bringing in elements from the original story. It had a lot of weight to the story, a lot of surprises I didn't see coming and the atmosphere felt very unique. Great characters and great reinterpretations of earlier characters. And it managed to lean into some very outlandish elements without ever taking me out of the story.

Thanks to [MENTION=10111]QualityChimp[/MENTION] for making me get this and watch it!

[QualityChimp]

I'm so glad that you enjoyed it, [MENTION=3144]Dogg Thang[/MENTION].

It's an amazing piece of television, that manages to pay respect to the source material whilst building on it.

I don't think I saw any of it coming!
That conversation through time made my jaw drop.

Thanks for listening to my suggestion to watch this (and Truman! ).

[fuse]

Agreeing with both of the above that the Watchmen series was fantastic.

We watched Bloodlands recently. Can't say I enjoyed it too much - I'm normally a big fan of story telling that gets to the point, but this is very tightly packed into just four episodes, with a few performances falling a little short, and...

->Open Spoiler<-

... an ending that wraps up so quickly and with such a preposterous outcome.

[QualityChimp]

Currently caning Queen's Gambit (Netflix).
It's interesting enough and the earlier chess tournaments are tense, but it's a bit samey in the second half.
Prefer Godless by the same team. That last episode is epic.

I also dipped into NowTV to rewatch the Gareth Evans directed episodes (1 & 5) of Gangs of London.
Episode 5 has better action than most Hollywood films.

Also quite far on with Community (Netflix) and it's jumped the shark a bit after a decent conclusion then starting again. Every episode just seems totally detached from reality on an already fantastical show.

The cast are all likeable still, so it's easy to watch.

Also dipping into Red Dwarf because it's nice and short and still absolutely class.

Talking of short, there are some Rick & Morty promos on All4, including a Lone Wolf and Cub one, which is really just like the films, tbh, but a brilliant one by Paul Robertson: