Am I the only one watching this show? I can't get enough of it. I love the chimps but Eugene is kind of a tool.

I haven't been watching it this season, exactly because Eugene is such a tool, as you said. I'm an Orangutan Island devotee. :)

He is a tool, but an adorable one. And he is dong some very important work. I admire him greatly. Sorts like Paul Watson with the Sea Shepherd. He is a crazy SOB, and I would be driven crazy if directed by him, but he does get the job done. So I just buy the shirts, watch the show, and donate money. I would never be able to do what he and his crew do, so I find another way to support and be involved: with cash.

I think the "Meerkat Manor" wannabe shows are lame. And MM sucked after they got rid of Sean Astin.

I enjoy this show, and so do my kids (ages 12 and 16). I don't think that Eugene's a tool, and was kind of surprised to read that!

We don't care for Meerkat Manor, FWIW. Seems to me that the main difference between that type of show & Chimp Eden type shows is that CE tells you the life stories of their chimps, but doesn't create a human-like, quasi-faux storyline about the animals. It just presents the facts and their personalities (which you can also see clearly anyway in their behavior), not a dramatic interpretation.

Anyway, it's so sad the way that people have treated these chimps, and it's nice to see them being given a second (new) chance at a happy life.

That said? Chimps can be VICIOUS! And I appreciate that Eugene & the others don't try to present them otherwise, or in a falsely feel-good light. They're dangerous, and unpredictable. They're wild animals, it's okay to admit that! I hate it when shows try to make it seem like WE (humans) just don't understand the animals, and we're misinterpreting things.

TOOL!!??!! I love Eugene. Never so much as when he's trying to walk with a baby chimp clamped to his shin. I love the work he does. Those poor chimps. I hated it when that one big chimp died a few weeks back.

I say tool because he's so full of himself and goes on and on about himself and his travails. Dude, no one cares about you. We're all here to see the cute chimps. Shut the eff up.

I might leave my husband for Eugene. I think he's the opposite of a tool. I think he's selfless and dedicated and amazing. To watch him take 8 hours to coax two chimps from one cage to another just floored me. I have rescued many dogs and cats and it emotionally broke me, but his kind of patience is something I can't wrap my mind around. I am in awe of him. The chimps rock, too!

Don't get me wrong. My brother is a tool but I still love him! I watch the show for the chimps. I think what Eugene is doing is absolutely amazing but sometimes I get the feeling a lot of what he does is for show.

I love this show. It's part of my DVR lineup every week. I don't think Eugene is a tool at all. I'll agree he talks about himself a lot, but it gives the work a human face. I like that he doesn't try to make it seem like everything just falls into place for him or that it doesn't effect him. Watching him with the 5 baby chimps last week was beyond adorable. The chimps were the cutest things ever, all tumbly and bumbly. I was surprised at how little the 2 year olds were. They seemed so tiny for 2. Most animals are almost full size at 2 years. Makes you realize how closely related people are to the chimps. Those babies were certainly still in the toddler stage.

And while I know it could have ended in a tragic end, I loved that Josephine managed to sneak out twice. Come Josey-phine, come!

Tonight made me cry twice for different reasons. I was so happy about Tony getting his eyesight back to normal, especially after the trouble performing the surgery on him. And then part 2 with Gida happened.

Damn.

Yup, I cried over Gida. I also cried because Phillip looked so broken up. I am a sucker for seeing big bears of men crying...

Also, in the intro what does Eugene mean when he says that he wanted to be a soft drink king? Is he the Coca Cola heir of South Africa?

He says "software king", not "soft drink" king.

I love this show and I don't think he's a tool at all. He is the natural narrator of the show and so he does most of the talking about what is happening, what he is doing and what he's thinking. He doesn't have to spend his fortune doing what he is doing for these chimps and the fact that he is spending his life doing this speaks volumes about him. That he has a loving family working with him and a lovely wife and new baby also speaks well of him. He is doing great work but is still grounded in his other life, not a martyr syndrome non-person kind of guy. Love him.

Meerkat Manor I had to stop watching because they kept dying and/or ending tragically. Too heartbreaking every damn week. Also, the new narrator gets on my last nerve. Also, the tendency to make the males 'players' and overly sexualize everyone in a human way on Meerkat was very offputting the last season or so. No thanks.

Chimp Eden is a perfect balance for me and Orangutan Island second. No annoying narrators who love the sexual innuendo so much.

Gida's death was so sad. Eugene's dad and Philip were really upset. So sad to see them try to save her and fail. I also like that they never underestimated the other chimps surrounding Gida. 'If a chimp can stand up and walk it is capable of killing you.' They never forget that.

I am so happy to find this forum. I love this show. If Escape to Chimp Eden had it's own channel, I'd watch this show 24/7, but since it's not, I'll just be happy having this show on my Season Pass and look forward to Friday nights.

I love Eugene, and I love what he's doing for the chimps. If only he could save every chimp out there right now that is being abused, neglected or living in a situation unnatural for chimps. But for what he can do with what little he has, he is amazing. Bless you Eugene.

I would make this show mandatory for any idiot who thinks you can have a chimp for a pet (or any exotic animal for that matter). I am so appreciative of all the people who work at Chimp Eden. Bless all of you.

Rest in peace Abu and Gida. And Eugene, can I please have some more Cozie. I love that guy.

I'm glad to see this show finally has a forum. My daughter and I have been loyal viewers since the first season. I love Eugene and do not find him toolish at all :) This season has been a little more depressing than last year's. I cried when Abu and Gida died. Mostly, I love watching the interactions between Eugene and the chimps and the chimps themselves. This is probably my favorite show on TV. And I agree, more Cozy -- he cracks me up.

HEY - why was Chimp Eden not shown on May 22?

This was supposed to be the episode when a third enclosure was added. While Chimp Eden was advertised, some other show (Untamed and Uncut - or something like that) was shown. Does anyone know why?

It was so weird. I set it up on my DVR ahead of time to tape at 6 or 7 or whatever on Friday night, per usual, and when I woke up early Friday morning my DVR was running. Odd. It was taping Chimp Eden from 5am to 6am Friday morning! It was not scheduled then previously, but it must have changed at some point and my DVR changed with it. Good DVR! Anyway, it was an excellent episode. I didn't know it didn't run at all at it's usual timeslots though...That sucks.

I think Chimp Eden comes on, on Thursday now instead of Friday. I remember a blurb about it moving to 10 oclock, but dont remember a day change, but that was when it was on this week.

It was a really good episode.

I do wonder why this show doesnt have repeats outside of the premiere day though. I missed about 40 minutes of last week and I really want to see it.

I ran through my DVR and you're right, it did change to Thursday nights at 10pm. I show a rerun of the new ep at 1am and again at 5am Friday as well. I don't know why I missed that last week. Thank God my DVR switched it for me, which I still don't understand but it did. I usually schedule these things long in advance so I guess it found time free at 5am Friday because I had filled the taping slots up for both Thurs 10pm and 1am Friday so 5am was the first free spot. <<pets DVR>>

Whew! Finally a forum for one of my favorite shows. :)

Like others here, I'm not getting a tool-y vibe from Eugene at all although Philip is actually my favorite non-chimp person on the show...I think that Philip, although he works for Eugene, is actually Eugene's mentor.

Loved seeing the adults in their new enclosure and I'm really looking forward to Jao's clan moving into their new digs - I assume that the new bunch of babies (and their new mom!) are going to be moving into the space now occupied by Jao.

And I just have to echo others...MORE COZI PLEASE!!! Cozi and Nicky are my two faves as they are so friendly and outgoing (and a bit show-offy as well).

Yes, I think it was made clear early in the first season that Philip is the actual chimp expert and Eugene is learning from him. Eugene has the land and family and personal money and the calling to help the chimps and he enlisted Philip who has the expertise to make it happen vis a vis the actual chimps. Eugene often takes his cues from Philip. I love Philip. What a wonderful partnership they have. If I were an animal expert who had a love for a particular animal but not the resources I would be thrilled to be able to partner with someone who cares just as deeply and has the resources to make it all happen.

Nicky is quite handsome, isn't he? I can't recall if Cozi is regular chimp or was Cozi the rarer more humanlike breed he brought back in the first season? If not, have we seen whatever is happening with the other chimp? I can't recall the actual name of the species of chimp it was but it looked like a hairy person more than a chimp. Not as cute but fascinating.

Love, love this series and watched since it began. I dig the South African accents ("soft drink king - LOL!" ) and adore how Phillip plods along, quietly taking care of business while Eugene bounces around. They make a good team.

It's a good week when I can cobble together episodes of CE, Orangutan Island and Whale Wars (without you-know-who). I can never get enough of young primates joyfully clobbering each other on the head and moments later hugging. I know it's all about hierarchy and relationships, but it makes me laugh.

I am so bummed the episode "Moving Day" didn't air when it was supposed to Friday night. A look at my TiVo guide shows only two new episodes coming up (with many different dates/times so you certainly can't miss these two episodes), but not the missing one. I also checked Animal Planet's web site, in particular Chimp Eden's forum, but they aren't listing the missing episode at all. I fired off an email to them asking politely when it will re-air, and also, why didn't it air when it was supposed to. If I receive a reply, I will certainly post it here in case a new air date is given. But in the meantime, I checked out the "Meet the Chimps" section on the site. It was nice to learn more about the chimps, their histories, their personalities, but damn, if some of the descriptions didn't make me cry. It was also nice to see other chimps that Eugene has at the sanctuary but some who apparently haven't been featured. Also, can anyone answer this question for me? There was an episode earlier this season which featured Nicky attempting to become the alpha male over Jao (which broke my heart..poor Jao). Did we ever get an update to find out if Jao retained his status or if he did indeed lose it to Nicky? Many thanks in case someone can answer this for me.

Happy Belly, there's been no follow up on the Nicky-Jao show-down yet. That episode absolutely broke my heart. Jao has always been my favorite. It was so sad to watch him getting pushed out of his spot by Nicky.

Well, Nicky has been pegged to be the alpha male in the new adult enclosure so he got a lot of screen time these last two episodes. If what I recall hearing from recent episodes is correct, Jao was mentioned as being the alpha for the new chimps being set up for release to their enclosure. I'm pretty sure Jao was mentioned as the pegged alpha to join them with the alpha female with the new littler ones he just rescued. I guess we'll see on Thursday.

That was a different chimp, Cozi was already at CE at the time they were wondering (last season) whether the other chimp (whose name escapes me at the moment!) was an actual chimp. As I recall they did DNA tests and it came back that he WAS a chimpanzee so he (or she?) was allowed to remain at CE.

Nicky is now the alpha male in the adult enclosure? I thought Amadeus was alpha but Nicky is the ladies' man (or as my husband says - the horndog). The AP Chimp Eden website still states that Nicki is #2 male in the adult enclosure (BTW if you don't like spoilers I would stay away from "meet the chimps" as there are some listed that we haven't met yet...)



Nicky is in the adult enclosure, while Jao is in the infants' enclosure with Cozi and Zac - Zac is now alpha male for the infants (Jao is now over 60 years old! and after a bit of a tussle appears to have permitted Zac to assume the responsibility of alpha, Cozi is still #3).

Thank you swansong68, nikitakitty and DakotaJustice for answering my question. I very much appreciate it. Also, I still haven't heard back from Animal Planet as to the "missing" episode, but they did have a disclaimer on the site that said it could take up to a week to receive a reply.

eta...I evidently had my chimps mixed up. DakotaJustice was right. It wasn't Nicky challenging Jao, it was Zac. Thank you Dakota for that.

I spent hours on the Animal Planet site last night. I don't want to spoil anything but Eugene tells a great story about Cozi. Very funny! Cozi is definitely the class clown!

Fantastic two episodes. Love the little chimps in their new enclosure.

But Martha. That poor girl. Afraid of the grass. That thousand yard stare, so depressed. She wants to go outside so badly it's coming off of her in waves, but she is just too scared, too certain that it is all some cruel joke meant to lure her in and ultimately hurt her. She really seems to think they are taunting her with the outside, like Lucy and Charlie Brown's football. And she just can't let herself dare to trust enough to do it. Watching her lay there, staring ahead at nothing, all day, every day was bad. Then watching her hang up there staring at the others having fun thru the bars but being unable to allow herself to join them - I actually cried for her. There had better be a happy ending for her because I've never been so moved by a chimp in my life and that depressed hopesless stare just won't leave my head.

On a brighter note, I completely understand why Eugene was looking forward to a new group of infants. They are soooo cute and rolly poly and so much fun to play with and hold. Oh! And how adorable (and sweet) that several of them only ventured outside with a friend. Watching them go out in pairs, holding each other tightly as they carefully tested the new enclosure. You could totally imagine them in the sleeping quarters saying,

"You go first"
"No, you go first!"
"Scared?"
"No! You?"
"No!"
Pause. Grab each other tightly.
"We'll just go out together..."

I absolutely agree, nikitakitty. Great episodes with a whole bunch of emotions to go with them. From seeing the cuteness of the infants to seeing Jao take the lead into the new outdoor enclosure to seeing Cozi petrified to go outside but then finally being brave and venturing outside dead last only to lead the way the next day to the heartbreaking story of Martha. These two episodes had me going from "Awwwww, how cute" to crying my eyes out. I was really happy that two things I addressed in my earlier posts were shown. The Zac/Jao alpha male situation (Go Jao!) to my little Cozi. His story breaks your heart and my guess is that many of you are as angered as I am as to what humans did to these poor animals. Their mental states are so damn fragile, but knowing that they are with Eugene now and they are forever safe from the idiots of their past, makes me so happy.

My TiVo is only showing one more new episode, so I'm guessing Thursday is the season finale. How do we last until it comes back on again wondering how Martha is doing? She needs a hug, but I'm not brave enough to do it.

So glad to learn this has only moved to Thursday. I live in Oklahoma and the powers that be are so conservative and religious that I was afraid they would think a place named Eden full of chimps was sacrilege and they would not show it in our fair state. Believe me, it wouldn't be the first time they have messed with programming on moral grounds.

This is a little OT but that reminds me of a headline Jay Leno showed where the newspaper had decided that 'gay' was objectionable as a word and automatically changed it every time to 'homosexual', no doubt on religious grounds. Anyway, there was an article about the a-bomb in WWII, some anniversary or something, and the newspaper printed the name of plane as the 'Enola Homosexual'. LOL Anti-political-correrctness run amok.

But yeah, these were great episodes. I am going to sorely miss this when it's off the air. They'd better do the next season quickly. This is my favorite show hands down.

So happy for Martha, that she finally went outside. I love to watch the chimps when they help each other and show empathy as Lilly did for Martha. This show moves me to tears every time. It was beautiful to see the rain forest in Gabon, and to know that there is a protected area that the chimps can live in. So much of that part of Africa has been deforested, animals are being pushed and poached into extinction. I do hope that some of "our" chimps can go back out into the wild, or the closest thing they will ever get to it. That will be an episode that will tear me up, as I can't imagine how hard it will be for Eugene and his team to let go, but how fulfilling it will be for them to see the chimps mostly free again, as this is what true conservation is all about.

Lily! My girl! That was so sweet. She held her and guided her and just generally offered tactile and emotional support to Martha so she could finally be outside and move around the enclosure. The compassion these chimps show each other is amazing. Great episodes.

I have been checking Animal Planet on and off since the show last went off the air to find out when the series will start up again. Having seen nothing in months, I emailed Animal Planet and asked them when we will be seeing this show. Here is their reply:

"Dear Viewer,

Thank you for contacting Animal Planet and for your interest in Escape To Chimp Eden. Currently, there are no plans for a season three of Escape To Chimp Eden.

At Animal Planet we are extremely proud to have brought a hero such as Eugene Cussons and the work he does on behalf of chimps to a larger world audience. We are extremely committed to Eugene and the chimps in addition to Dr. Jane Goodall with whom we have worked for many years to raise awareness of the plight of not only chimps but other primates.

As a television network, we aim to enlighten, inform and entertain our audience and connect them to the animal world in a deep and meaningful way. We feel we were able to accomplish that with two seasons of Escape To Chimp Eden and hope to find other avenues to continue to feature chimpanzees and the heroic work being done to save them around the world.

We wish all our viewers were as passionate and dedicated to our programming as you are and hope that you will continue to find Animal Planet programming enriching and meaningful.

Sincerely,

Viewer Relations, Animal Planet"

So there you have it my friends. No more Chimp Eden. I'm going to email them again and ask that they reconsider their decision. We need to know if Martha ever came outside and stayed outside with the "kids", did she ever overcome her fear of grass, etc. Not to also mention, I need my weekly fix of Cozie.

That's sad. I loved this show. What, does Animal Planet need more rooms to show shows about bears attacking people or the 25 incarnation of Pet Cops?

Chimp Eden, and Meerkat Manor were cancelled. After COUNTLESS e-mails from viewers, Animal Planet finally admitted it. Unfortunately, Animal Planet has a new "direction" in its programming. The target is a much younger, male oriented demographic that prefers more violent content. The rest of us are out of luck. There is an international petition on Care2.com to Bring Back Meerkat Manor. The last season of Meerkat Manor is airing for the first time in different countries all over the world, and it's very popular. This is a link to the petition site: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/19/Bring-Ba...ManorBringBring

So sad. I don't get it at all. Such an awesome show.

Isn't amusing that Animal Planet claims that it is extremely committed to Eugene (Cussons) and the chimps in addition to Dr. Jane Goodall, but Chimp Eden is cancelled anyway?

Animal Planet is increasingly committed to gory, shocking animal and human carnage. It's been obvious the past year and it disgusts me. I rarely watch any more.