It seems pretty obvious that a fictional series based on the whole Joe Exotic/Carole Baskin saga would draw directly from the 2020 netflix "Tiger King" documentary series. But the main difference here is that this show is almost a dramatization of the documentary series itself, rather than the actual events.
The show goes about showing almost every event that was covered in the documentary. Almost every story that someone told, it's presented here in some form. Carole off-handedly mentions in the docuseries her throwing a potato at her first husband, here it is in the series depicting her throwing a potato at her first husband. Carole off-handedly mentions in the docuseries buying a big cat at an auction to save it from being killed and stuffed by a taxidermist, here it is in the series her in a bidding war with the taxidermist.
On the positive side, the show goes beyond just the documentary series in many cases, largely in the form of flashbacks of both Joe and Carole, depicting some events the documentary didn't cover, mostly character moments, and Joe's time with his first husband. But the way the film seems to dedicate itself to covering pretty much every event spot for spot that the documentary series does is in some ways fascinating, but probably off-putting for some viewers.
The casting and acting is phenomenal; beyond just having the people look like the people they are depicting, it's very clear that the actors involved put special effort into fully encompassing the people they are playing. Kyle MacLaughlin, playing Howard Baskin, perfectly captures the timbre of Howard's voice, as well as his accent and speaking style. John Cameron Mitchell and Kate McKinnon are almost indistinguishable from Joe and Carole in terms of speaking style.
If you went about watching episodes of this series then alternated with episodes of the documentary series, it's uncanny just how flawless the actors are in capturing everything they can about the people they play.
One of the biggest things that stands out in this series as well is a heavy usage of CG. Literally every animal seen on screen is CG, not just the "dangerous" animals like big cats and alligators, but even sheep are all CG. The CG is not very good, though CG effects are used on John Cameron Mitchell to de-age him for the Joe flashback scenes, and these look much better.
As a whole, this isn't really a necessary series in any real way. It helps for those who are more "visual" learners in terms of establishing the relationships and sequence of events depicted in the documentary series in a more linear fashion (as the documentary had occasional episodes that went off-topic to more deeply cover related subjects, like Don Lewis's disappearance, Doc Antle's zoo, and so on). It's more a fun diversion to see a group of actors perfectly capture the look and sound of the people they are depicting.
