Posted 11/05/2007 05:07:00 PM by Douglas

I'll admit I enjoyed Meerkat Manor for a while. It was kinda interesting, but then in season three, they jumped the shark. Or at least the meerkat.

But in its third season, this self-described soap opera has turned into the last act of Hamlet, with corpses littering the stage. After the deaths of several supporting meerkats, Flower--the show's matriarch and protagonist, a furry female Tony Soprano--died of a snakebite defending her pups. A few weeks later, Flower's long-suffering daughter Mozart--a fan favorite who was abandoned by her mother and lost several pups--was killed off camera by an unknown predator. Grief-stricken fans held online vigils, created Diana-style tributes, even suggested the deaths were faked. (Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance--they hit every stage.) Manor is a study of animals, but it's become a study of humans. How much reality do we want from reality TV? And when nature, producers and providence fail to provide justice, how do we step in?

It's a TV show, folks, and a bit overwrought. But leave it to people on the internet to take it to full bore crazy.

And it goes on like that. . .