“The Circus” Returns to Showtime(R) in January Ahead of the Crucial Iowa Democratic Caucuses

THE CIRCUS returns for its fifth season on Sunday, January 26 at 8PM ET/PT on SHOWTIME, a week before the crucial Iowa Democratic caucuses. After covering the burgeoning field of Democratic presidential candidates and their campaigns around the country, along with the Ukraine scandal that led to the historic impeachment inquiry into President Trump’s conduct, season four had its finale on November 10. Hosted by John Heilemann, Mark McKinnon and Alex Wagner, THE CIRCUS is the network’s most-watched docuseries, averaging more than one million weekly viewers.

John Heilemann is a co-founder of Recount Media and editor-in-chief of The Recount, a new video platform for short-form political news, analysis, and commentary. Heilemann is national affairs analyst for NBC News and MSNBC – where he appears regularly on Morning Joe, Deadline: White House, The Last Word, and The 11th Hour – and co-author of the runaway New York Times bestsellers Game Change and Double Down, widely regarded as the definitive chronicles of the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, respectively. Game Change was adapted into a movie of the same name, which went on to win five Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, and a Peabody Award.

Mark McKinnon is a political advisor, reform advocate, media columnist and television producer. He was the chief media adviser to five successful presidential primary and general election campaigns and is cofounder of No Labels, an organization dedicated to bipartisanship, civil dialogue and political problem solving. McKinnon has worked for many causes, companies and candidates, including former President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain, late Governor Ann Richards and Bono.

Alex Wagner is a special correspondent for CBS News and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. She is also the author of the book Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest and the Secret To Belonging, which examines questions about American identity and immigration in the 21st century. Previously, Wagner hosted the Emmy(R) nominated MSNBC political affairs program NOW with Alex Wagner. Before joining MSNBC, she was a reporter with the Huffington Post, investigating the intersection of business, politics and new technology. Prior to this, she served as the White House correspondent for Politics Daily and was the Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning FADER magazine.

THE CIRCUS is produced by Left/Right for SHOWTIME. John Heilemann, Mark McKinnon, Alex Wagner, Banks Tarver, Ken Druckerman, Ted Bourne and Tom Johnson serve as executive producers. To learn more about THE CIRCUS, go to: SHO.com and follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and join the conversation using #TheCircus.