‘Tiger King’ is a global sensation, largely due to the internet going wild for Joe’s eccentric image and character. But that’s not all that’s making storming streaming this week, says NICK OVERALL.

“I’VE never experienced anything like Joe Exotic.”

A murderous, mullet-sporting, musical magician who owns a zoo full of tigers? Can’t say I have, either. And until now, likelihood is neither have you. 

That quote is from Rick Kirkham, a former reporter turned producer of “Joe Exotic TV”, which for years documented the daily exploits of Joe and a bizarre cult of followers. At the height of their reign, they owned the largest private “big cat” enclosure in the world. In “Tiger King”, now available on Netflix, Rick is one of many unusual characters who recounts how Joseph Allen Schreibvogel-Maldonado-Passage went from zoo-keeper to felon as a business feud spiralled out of control.

To suggest Joe is larger-than-life has the same level of subtlety as displayed by he and his acolytes, with their incredible bonds with 400-pound “pet” tigers, lions, alligators and other wild animals normally to be found on an African savannah. 

Before “Tiger King”, I thought I was risking a limb taking my golden retriever for a walk knowing her reaction if she spots a kangaroo in the distance. In this doco I was presented, in close-up, with a group of people with no fear of making bedmates with the most fearsome of creatures – occasionally, that’s even each other. And if you think any of that could go badly, well… yeah.

Just when you’re sure it can’t get any weirder, another “big-cat” lover enters the story. Carole Baskin is Joe’s arch-nemesis, attempting to separate him from his beloved kingdom with claims of animal cruelty. The resulting “war” – complete with guns waved around and threats bandied about – offers up more fascinating exhibits than on offer at the zoo itself.

“Tiger King” has rapidly become a global sensation, largely due to the internet going wild for Joe’s eccentric image and character. Memes, tweets, costumes and more, in the age of streaming, this kind of attention cements something in the annals of pop culture more than any “official” marketing campaign ever could. Due to popular demand, a follow-up episode taking place after the events of the documentary has just been released, something that rarely happens. 

Not only stranger than fiction, but downright screwier, the antics on display here make for a dark mix of hilarity and drama, but it’s a train wreck you have no desire to steer clear of. 

SPEAKING of eccentric outcasts, over on Stan, “Better Call Saul” is finally streaming its fifth and newest season after a long wait. It’s the prequel to the TV phenomenon, “Breaking Bad”, itself aptly described by the word it made notorious: bitchin’. It’s also available in its entirety on the same platform and trending once again thanks to the success of this latest series.

In “Better Call Saul”, you’re introduced to con artist turned lawyer – or maybe that’s the other way round – Jimmy McGill, brilliantly lived-in by leading actor Bob Odenkirk, in the years leading up to his transformation into “attorney-at-law”, Saul Goodman. 

Offering a dramatically comic look at the shady side of the law and its loopholes, it compares with the sharp Australian satire, “Rake”, about a deadbeat lawyer with untapped genius played by Richard Roxburgh that ran on the ABC from 2010-2018.

ABC’s streaming platform is also offering a variety of great stuff for viewing free of charge (at least, thanks to we, the taxpayer). “Murder 24/7” is a unique five-part mini-series that takes you behind the scenes of three real-life murder cases to see, minute-by-minute, how the Essex Police and detectives investigate. 

ALL this talk of murder, madness and mayhem is a little morbid, no? Well, whether it’s fact or imagination, it all demonstrates that the crime genre remains the king of streaming with other successful series including the likes of “Evil Genius” and “Making a Murderer” still commonly talked about. Netflix even makes fun of its own continuous production of these endlessly popular shows with its original comedy, “American Vandal”. Juvenile, yet bitingly self-aware, it’s about two high school students influenced by the documentaries mentioned bringing the same production style to the controversies of their teenage lives. 

CRIME dominates in the realm of podcast streaming, too, with a whole tab, and one of its most popular, dedicated to it on Spotify. “The Lighthouse” is a trending Australian one, detailing the disappearance of backpacker Theo Hayez in Byron Bay just last year. 

Currently though, “Tiger King” rules – although less like royalty, Joe Exotic is the ringmaster and. man, it is some circus.