'Tiger King' and 'Chimp Crazy' were hits for Eric Goode. 'Monsters of God' is a whole other animal

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Set us as preferred This time, it’s personal for Eric Goode.The director’s first two docuseries — “Tiger King” and “Chimp Crazy” — were smash hits about larger-than-life characters engaging in questionable and illegal activity surrounding the care and ownership of animals.Both had an underlying conservation message but drew viewers in with the colorful and chaotic worlds they depicted.Goode’s third, “Monsters of God,” premiering Thursday on HBO, is both a direct descendant and forges a new path.

While it also features a hugely entertaining menagerie of criminals, who speak frankly about many of their illegal acts and how much they dislike each other, “Monsters” is largely a historical look at reptile smuggling going back more than half a century — unlike the contemporaneous stories in “Tiger King” and “Chimp Crazy.”Goode had opportunities to bring in current events — one dealer was rearrested shortly after being filmed and there were major smuggling arrests in California in recent years — but realized he couldn’t keep piling on more stories.“We’re just setting the tone of this multibillion-dollar reptile-smuggling industry that you’ve probably never heard of,” says Goode’s producing partner Jeremy McBride.

Television As critics raise questions about his new project’s ethics, ‘Tiger King’s’ Eric Goode finds himself embroiled in another wild tale of exotic-animal owners.But the other difference is that Goode has spent his entire life immersed in the world of reptiles, starting long before he even contemplated making a documentary.Goode had a pet tortoise when he was 6 and slept with a tegu lizard in his bed as a teen.

He also saw the industry underbelly up close and personal.“In the ’70s and ’80s, I even bought reptiles from some of the very people that I chron...