Showtime has greenlit a political documentary series, produced in cooperation with Bloomberg Politics and featuring Bloomberg Politics managing editors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, and political strategist Mark McKinnon. The Circus: The Greatest Political Show on Earth debuts in January 2016.
The series “will pull back the curtain on the 2016 presidential race,” said Showtime, “revealing the intense, irreverent, inspiring and infuriating stories behind the headlines of what promises to be one of the most fascinating and consequential elections in modern history.”
Airing until November, The Circus will “examine what really goes on behind the carefully constructed facade of a presidential campaign in real time.”
"Americans are captivated by the 2016 presidential election and a real-time political series of this nature has never been done before," said David Nevins, Showtime Networks president. "People don't want to wait a year to see how and why things played out and the impact they had. Everything today is immediate, so there's no better time to change the way American politics are covered. Mark and John are the preeminent chroniclers of the presidential scene with their deeply influential books and I'm thrilled that, along with Mark McKinnon, they will bring their years of expertise and the pedigree of Bloomberg Politics to Showtime in a truly dynamic and innovative way."
Halperin and Heilemann are co-authors of the political books Game Change and Double Down.
The Circus will be produced by Left/Right (part of Red Arrow Entertainment Group). Halperin, Heilemann, McKinnon, Banks Tarver and Ken Druckerman are executive producers.
