One of the first television shows I can remember seeing was “The Hathaways,” an early ‘60s sitcom, starring Peggy Cass and Jack Weston, about a suburban couple and their three chimpanzees. Back in the 1950s, a chimp named J. Fred Muggs was a regular on “Today,” whose ratings he’s credited with boosting.
And the last series I reviewed here is called “Bad Monkey” — and there’s a monkey in it. Trained wild animals have been a regular presence on TV and in the movies forever, and I confess for a long time I gave them no thought — certainly not to where they went after the show wrapped, or how they lived out their lives when their careers were through. Chimpanzees live a long time, but like us, they are only cute and pliable for a relatively few years.
It’s the old show business story. Eric Goode who, with Rebecca Chaiklin, directed Netflix’s super-successful “Tiger King” and its two less successful sequels , is telling a similar story here, about people who keep wild animals, for fun or profit — minus the attempted murder for hire, and with chimpanzees instead of big cats, and a chimp actor at the center of it. As with that series, “Chimp Crazy” — as the title suggests — is less about the animals than the people who own them.
The four-part docuseries premieres Sunday on HBO at 10 p.m. Pacific and airs weekly through Sept.
8. Its main subject is Tonia Haddix, whose desire for a chimp (“You can shape them into being you.”) led her to Fest.