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The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
26 Episodes 2016 - 2016
The documentary series centers around the 2016 US Presidential election and focuses on primaries and campaigns for both parties. The show focuses on some of the key players, including the various candidates and the people closest to them, and offers a look behind the scenes of the media circus that follows the most important political event in the US. The season highlights the scandals, drama and general unpredictability that characterized this election, and concludes with an hour-long special about Election Day.
Episode 1
The Outsiders
Sun, Jan 17, 2016 30 mins
A real-time documentary series that offers a revealing look at the 2016 presidential race. In the opener, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump campaign in Iowa.
Episode 2
Prisoner's Dilemma
Sun, Jan 24, 2016 30 mins
A real-time documentary series that offers a revealing look at the 2016 presidential race.
Episode 3
Tension City
Sun, Jan 31, 2016 30 mins
A look at the angst and drama leading up to the Iowa Caucuses, with a showdown brewing between Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, and the GOP's first real test of outsider candidates versus the establishment.
Episode 4
The Big Mo
Sun, Feb 7, 2016 30 mins
A look at the Iowa fallout and an examination of who has momentum going into the New Hampshire primary, and whether Trump and Clinton can pick up the pace to beat back the surging Cruz and Sanders.
Episode 5
The Winnowing
Sun, Feb 14, 2016 30 mins
The candidates deal with the jolt that was New Hampshire and prepare for hard truths in South Carolina and Nevada.
Episode 6
Fear and Loathing
Sun, Feb 21, 2016 30 mins
Anxiety grows among the candidates about the high stakes in South Carolina and Nevada, and the significance of falling behind.
Episode 7
Confidence Game
Sun, Feb 28, 2016 30 mins
With the field narrowed down to the Big Five, the campaigns spread their game across the country and play to their strengths, with their eyes squarely focused on the all-important upcoming prize: Super Tuesday.
Episode 8
The Reckoning
Sun, Mar 6, 2016 30 mins
Candidates who trail the front-runners deal with the results of Super Tuesday, while the Democratic and Republican establishments try to find a way to stop Trump.
Episode 9
Dead or Alive
Sun, Mar 13, 2016 30 mins
Rubio, Kasich and Sanders pin their hopes on Florida and Ohio in hopes of gaining enough momentum to force a brokered convention.
Episode 10
High Hopes
Sun, Mar 20, 2016 30 mins
While Rubio gets trumped in Florida, the rest of the candidates remain cautiously optimistic. But they may need more than high hopes to pull off a win and secure the nomination.
Episode 11
Home and Abroad
Sun, Mar 27, 2016 30 mins
Foreign policy comes to the forefront as the political climate grows fiery in the wake of the attacks in Brussels. As Trump and Clinton prepare to square off, they try to prove their presidential mettle.
Episode 12
On Wisconsin
Sun, Apr 3, 2016 30 mins
The candidates crisscross Wisconsin in pursuit of competing agendas.
Episode 13
Circus Recap
Sun, Apr 10, 2016 30 mins
From the early primary battles to the Super Tuesday showdown and beyond, the curtain is pulled back on the 2016 presidential race. Mark Halperin, John Heilemann and Mark McKinnon examine the electrifying first 12 weeks of the campaigns.
Episode 14
Game On
Sun, Jul 10, 2016 30 mins
Trump and Clinton engage in their own July 4th fireworks, as Clinton's email scandal erupts and Trump backpedals from his latest faux pas.
Episode 15
Veepstakes
Sun, Jul 17, 2016 30 mins
Clinton and Trump narrow their choices for running mates who will make and not break their campaigns. Trump auditions Chris Christie, Mike Pence and Newt Gingrich, while Clinton considers Tim Kaine.
Episode 16
Trump Show
Sun, Jul 24, 2016 29 mins
The political circus goes into overdrive as Trump is crowned the Republican nominee - and Melania, controversially, speaks! Capitalizing on his children to help humanize his image, can Trump plus Pence finally rally a unified party?
Episode 17
In the Arena
Sun, Jul 31, 2016 29 mins
The jeers and boos of Sanders diehards ring out in Philadelphia, before the Democrats at last make Hillary a historic nominee. But is shattering a glass ceiling enough for Clinton and Kaine to unite the party into a winning coalition?
Episode 18
Closing the Gap
Sun, Sep 11, 2016 30 mins
With ten weeks to go until the election the Trump campaign finds itself running from behind. As members of his party start to publicly jump ship, can Trump find a way to close the gap with Clinton or will he just fall further behind?
Episode 19
Fit to Serve
Sun, Sep 18, 2016 30 mins
As Clinton's pneumonia and scrutiny about Trump's medical records comes to the forefront, their fitness to lead is questioned.
Episode 20
Battleground
Sun, Sep 25, 2016 30 mins
As Clinton and Trump prepare for the first of their debates, the campaigns target a handful of states that could swing the election, including the must-win battleground of Florida.
Episode 21
The Newsrooms
Sun, Oct 2, 2016 29 mins
Preparations for the debate; the candidates cede the spotlight to those who cover the political news.
Episode 22
Tale of the Tape
Sun, Oct 16, 2016 29 mins
The fallout from the second debate and the current scandal surrounding a recently publicized audio tape.
Episode 23
From Russia With Love
Sun, Oct 23, 2016 29 mins
Clinton faces the scandal of her highly sensitive, private emails being made public on WikiLeaks, amid claims of foreign hacking and intervention and international espionage of the 2016 election.
Episode 24
His Word as a Biden
Sun, Oct 30, 2016 30 mins
With only two weeks until election day, Clinton bets on the one man who has the potential to swing those states still up for grabs: Joe Biden.
Episode 25
Nobody F***ing Knows
Sun, Nov 6, 2016 30 mins
Polls predict the differing outcomes; both campaigns make a case in "far-fetched battlegrounds"; to most, the race is either up for grabs or already decided.
Episode 26
President Trump
Sun, Nov 13, 2016 60 mins
In a special hour-long episode of the real-time documentary series, Mark Halperin, John Heilemann and Mark McKinnon go behind the scenes of both campaigns in the lead up to Election Day - and the fallout that followed.
