Over My Dead Body - Joe Exotic: Before there was the Netflix show, there was this pod

The Premise (from Apple Podcasts):

Joe Exotic loves his animals, his husbands and his animals. He’s a liger-breeding, gun-slinging, polygamous zoo owner from Oklahoma. And throughout his career, he’s made some major enemies.

Series or standalone:

Series

Begin listening to:

The Tiger King

Format:

Investigative reporting

Host(s):

Matthew Shaer and Eric Benson

Sound/production quality:

Very good

Rating/age suitability:

Adult; CW: Animal cruelty

Approximate length of episodes:

40 minutes

Curricular ties:

N/A

Similar recommended pods:

Cat People; The Pope's Long Con

Podcast Librarian’s Review:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

There’s been a lot of buzz around this season of OMDB, which centers around Joe Exotic, a big cat collector/exploiter(?) and his arch nemesis, Carol. The series details how the two animal lovers first came into contact and the longtime feud that subsequently occurred in real life and online through YouTube videos. There are some pretty upsetting details about animals being mistreated and killed throughout the series, which is the crux of the conflict, and there’s a very minor subplot of a possible (human) murder. I found the series interesting but not so much so that I had to binge it. I think the problem was that there really isn’t anyone who I would root for in the story. Both Joe and Carol seemed to think they were doing what was best for the animals, but if the information in the pod is correct, neither one of them really was. This is worth a listen if you want a (mostly) murder-free true crime pod, but I don’t feel it lived up to the hype.