The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth poster

The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth (2016)

Name: The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth
Genre: Documentary
Rating: 7.3
Cast: John Heilemann, Mark McKinnon, Jennifer Palmieri

Documentary

Come one, come all to The Circus. This real-time documentary series pulls back the curtain on the current political stories, revealing the intense, inspiring and infuriating stories behind the headlines. Key characters and events are presented in real time, as they are happening.

IMDb rating: 7.3 (1,391 votes)
Episode average: 6.9 -0.4 vs IMDb
Seasons: 8
Streaming (US): Paramount+
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rebound trajectory: dips, then comes back stronger. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well. See every Rebound show in the explorer →

Browse all Rebound shows in the explorer → Open in Rising Shows app → View on IMDb

Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 8 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (2016)

6.67 avg 26 episodes 7.1 → 6.6 29 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Outsiders	7.1	42
2	Prisoner's Dilemma	6.5	27
3	Tension City	7.1	26
4	The Big Mo	6.9	28
5	The Winnowing	7.0	24
6	Fear and Loathing	6.9	24
7	Confidence Game	6.7	24
8	The Reckoning	7.1	20
9	Dead or Alive	7.1	20
10	High Hopes	6.8	19
11	Home and Abroad	6.9	19
12	On, Wisconsin	6.2	19
13	Circus Recap	5.9	12
14	Game On	6.5	17
15	Veepstakes	7.2	20
16	The Trump Show	7.1	20
17	In the Arena	6.2	19
18	Closing the Gap	6.3	19
19	Fit to Serve	7.0	21
20	Battleground	6.4	18
21	Newsrooms	7.2	21
22	Tale of the Tape	6.3	22
23	From Russia with Love	6.0	21
24	His Word as a Biden	6.6	23
25	Nobody Fucking Knows	5.9	20
26	President Trump	6.6	29

Season 2 (2017)

5.61 avg 8 episodes 5.1 → 5.5 31 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Shocking But Not Surprising	5.1	18
2	Checking and Balancing	6.4	19
3	How's He Doing?	5.4	14
4	The Whole World Is Watching	5.6	12
5	Recess Reset	5.2	12
6	The Resistance	5.9	13
7	Learning Curve	5.8	13
8	Looking Back and Moving On	5.5	12

Season 3 (2018)

6.83 avg 15 episodes 7.0 → 6.5 32 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Looking Glass War	7.0	22
2	Too Many Lawyers	7.0	19
3	Man of the World	6.9	19
4	Trump Country	6.6	14
5	War and Peace	7.1	16
6	Their Brand is Crisis	6.9	17
7	The Gathering Storm	7.5	16
8	Burden of Proof	7.2	12
9	Judgment Day	7.1	12
10	The Verdict	6.5	10
11	California Dreaming	6.0	9
12	Senatorial Combat	6.1	9
13	Black and White	7.0	11
14	A Place Called Fear	7.1	11
15	Mother(F***er) of All Midterms	6.5	11

Season 4 (2019)

7.26 avg 16 episodes 6.8 → 7.4 29 min avg

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	New World Disorder	6.8	19
2	Circling Vultures	7.4	19
3	The State of Our Union Is...	7.1	19
4	2020 Is Here	7.1	18
5	States of Emergency	7.3	18
6	The Big Split	6.9	17
7	To the Left	7.5	18
8	What the F*** Happens Next?	7.3	17
9	The People on That Stage	7.4	14
10	Across the Rubicon	7.2	14
11	Impeachmentland	7.3	14
12	Desperate Times, Desperate Measures	7.4	13
13	The Widening Gyre	7.1	12
14	The Deep State	7.4	11
15	Field of Dreams	7.5	13
16	Here Be Dragons	7.4	13

Season 5 (2020)

6.64 avg 21 episodes 6.5 → 7.4 30 min avg

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Obligations and Opportunities	6.5	18
2	Closing Arguments	6.2	18
3	CLUSTERF**K	6.6	17
4	Unfinished Business	6.5	16
5	What Happens in Vegas	6.2	14
6	On the Boil	6.5	15
7	Super Duper Tuesday	6.1	15
8	The Cruelest Month	6.1	14
9	The New Abnormal	7.0	21
10	Unconventional	6.4	22
11	Party of One	6.4	22
12	Law and Disorder	6.4	20
13	Going Postal	6.9	22
14	Force Majeure	6.6	15
15	Full Court Press	6.9	16
16	October Surprise	7.2	19
17	Crisis Mismanagement	6.2	16
18	Steal This Election	7.9	20
19	End Games	6.4	14
20	Landslide??	7.1	14
21	Who The F*** Are We?	7.4	17

Season 6 (2021)

6.86 avg 16 episodes 8.0 → 7.2 30 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Reigning Chaos	8.0	32
2	Clear and Present Danger	7.3	26
3	President Biden	6.8	29
4	Rubber Meets Road	7.0	16
5	Dysfunction Junction	7.1	16
6	Persona Non Grata	7.0	15
7	Being Green	5.8	16
8	Points on the Board	5.7	12
9	Calling the Shots	6.3	17
10	The Biden Doctrine	6.3	13
11	It's All Happening	7.2	13
12	Lone Star Blues	7.3	13
13	Coup II	6.8	12
14	Virginia Is For...	7.2	11
15	Big F***ing Deal	6.8	11
16	The Broken Place	7.2	12

Season 7 (2022)

7.53 avg 16 episodes 7.2 → 8.5 31 min avg

Season 7 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	On the Brink	7.2	20
2	The Escalation Ladder	7.9	14
3	The Information War	8.0	16
4	The Nuclear Option	7.6	14
5	The Home Front	8.0	13
6	There Will Be Blood	7.4	14
7	Keystone Chaos	7.3	14
8	Tip of the Spear	7.1	18
9	Not in Kansas Anymore	7.7	12
10	Rule Of Law	7.8	12
11	State of Denial	6.3	12
12	Buckeyes and Bulldogs	7.3	11
13	This Land is Greene-Land	7.2	12
14	The Main Event	7.6	9
15	Here Comes the Flood	7.6	11
16	Riptides	8.5	9

Season 8 (2023)

7.99 avg 12 episodes 7.8 → 8.5 29 min avg

Season 8 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Year of Living Dangerously	7.8	15
2	Off to the Races	7.8	15
3	Kevin's House	7.9	12
4	Fake News?	8.4	14
5	Wheels of Justice	8.0	12
6	Nothing But the Truth	8.5	13
7	Exhaustion, Depression and Dread... Oy Vey	8.1	15
8	Piercing The Bubble	8.0	12
9	The Crucible	7.8	11
10	This Thing of His	7.4	12
11	The A.I. Election	7.7	13
12	Life During Wartime	8.5	15

The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth (2016)

Cast

Seasons

Shows like this