There’s always something a little magical about a streaming show that for seemingly no reason explodes into a cultural phenomenon. Netflix has several of these, with Stranger Things being the most famous. Well, lightening has struck again while we were all in quarantine with Netflix’s new docu-series Tiger King.
According to Nielsen, which records TV viewing numbers, 34.3 million unique viewers within the first 10 days of its release (March 20-29). For context, that’s more than Stranger Things 2, and just two million shy of Stranger Things 3. And, surprisingly enough, only 19 millions of those views are from the U.S. so it seems crazy draws an international crowd.
If you haven’t seen the madness that is Tiger King, here’s a quick recap. The series follows Joe Exotic, a gay polygamist man who breeds tigers and runs a zoo in the middle of nowhere. He loves to shoot guns, collect exotic animals, and has a long-standing feud with Carole Baskin, a woman who runs a big cat rescue in Florida who is rumored to have murdered her husband. It is a tale that involves suicide, suspicious meet, political campaigns, flame wars, and more trashiness than you could fit in a dump. As one of the 34 million who have watched this show, I can tell you it is nuts.
The show might soon be getting even more views. There is, supposedly, a bonus episode of the show in the works now. They even interviewed Joe Exotic from jail on March 22, after the release of the show, which could lend credence to this rumor:
Joe Exotic was interviewed from prison on March 22.
Here's what he told us pic.twitter.com/ueqTeWfKxh
— Netflix (@netflix) April 3, 2020
Tiger King is currently available for streaming on Netflix.