• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 9, 2024

No sooner did the TV Blog lament the lack of chimp-based content so far in 2024 than a new chimp docuseries appears on the horizon.

Remember “Tiger King”? Now meet the Chimp Queen, Tonia Haddix, self-proclaimed “Dolly Parton of chimps.”

Her affection for these great apes -- particularly one of them -- is the focal point of the four-part series “Chimp Crazy,” premiering Sunday, August 18 on HBO and Max.

With a title reminiscent of classic movie comedies such as “Girl Crazy” (Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, 1943) and “Flying Saucer Daffy” (Three Stooges, 1958), “Chimp Crazy” is about the “limitless love” this “chimp mom” has for a retired movie chimp named Tonka.

Through four episodes of one hour each, the show “reveals the singular bonds that form between chimpanzee owners and their highly intelligent great ape pets,” HBO says.

In the show, Haddix is introduced as a concerned animal lover in Missouri who cares for seven chimps that were bred and trained for work in commercials, movies and photo shoots.

But 32-year-old Tonka is the one that stole Tonia’s heart. That’s the two of them in the photo above, sharing a tender moment.

Their relationship soon becomes the primary storyline of the series when Tonka mysteriously disappears and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) files a lawsuit against Tonia, alleging she has been mistreating the chimpanzees in her care.

Although retired from the movies, Tonka is apparently not forgotten in the Hollywood movie colony.

Among those who remember him well is actor Alan Cumming, whom PETA enlists to draw attention to the group’s efforts to find and rescue the simian star. Apparently, Cumming and Tonka formed a bond of their own when they co-starred in the heartwarming 1997 movie “Buddy.”

The story of PETA vs. the Dolly Parton of chimps is a complicated tale of the lengths a human being will go to for the love of a chimpanzee.

“Chimp Crazy” frames the story of Tonia and Tonka in the context of other stories of chimp captivity. 

The show “broaches thorny issues around private primate ownership and the folly of imposing human traits onto captive apes who have no agency over where or how they live,” HBO states.

“Six months into 2024, and there have been no shows about cute chimps,” the TV Blog observed on June 19. Two months later, “Chimp Crazy” is about to arrive, and not a moment too soon.