"The Circus - Inside the Craziest Political Campaign on Earth" (2020 release; episodes running 30 min. each) is Season 5 of the long-running Showtime documentary series in which we get the inside scope of the latest political happenings. As Episode 1 opens, we are in "Iowa, Two Weeks Before the Caucuses", and it is crunch time for the still large slate of presidential hopefuls. But these are not normal times, as the Trump impeachment trial in the US Senate is about to get started. It requires 3 of the front runners (Sanders, Warren, and Klobuchar) to return to Washington at the most critical juncture. Does it open the door for the other 2 front runners (Biden, Buttigieg)? At this point we are 10 min. into Episode 1.
Couple of comments: by now (Season 5), "The Circus" production team is seemingly a well-oiled machine. The three usual suspects (Alex Wagner, John Heilemann, and Mark McKinnon) are joined this season by Jennifer Palmieri (who advised the Clinton campaign in 2016), as there is so much going on that a 4th person is a godsend. The series continues to be well-served by the seemingly unfettered "all access" to the candidates. The energy is palpable, as these are all political junkies who just live for this stuff. Season 5 runs 9 episodes to date (more or less up to the days following Trump's COVID-19 national emergency declaration). It's unclear whether new episodes will be arriving, given the almost complete standstill of the country as a whole.
I binge-watched all 9 episodes on Showtime On Demand over the last 24 hrs. Even though I obviously knew the outcome of what would happen (covering roughly mid-January to mid-March), it really speaks to the strength of this series that I was absolutely transfixed from start to finish (and hoping for more episodes in due course). If you have any interest in the political process of this country, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
