Is The Circus canceled? No, but Mark Halperin’s role is
Political analyst Mark Halperin was one of the hosts of the first two seasons of the series, which first chronicled the 2016 Presidential Election and then the first one hundred days of President Trump in office. The show’s future fate is not entirely clear at the moment (it’s not canceled, at least for now), but Showtime is making it clear that if it does return, Halperin will not be coming back after being accused of sexual harassment by a number of women during his time at ABC News. You can read more about this story over at CNN.
In a statement per Deadline, a rep for Showtime had the following to say about cutting Halperin out of any future projects:
“Should The Circus move forward with another season, Mark Halperin will not be a part of it.”
We cannot pretend to say that this is a surprise. It’s the right thing to do and it was something set up in part by HBO cutting ties of their own with Halperin recently. He was in the process of developing a new project there following the success of Game Change.
If Showtime does decide to not move forward with a new season of The Circus there are other possibilities for them. For example, they could just create a new political series that touches on similar subjects. Or, they could determine that there are a billion other venues at the moment for politics and focus on something completely different for those of us that want a break from it all?
We do think that The Circus produced some strong pieces in the past, but the question you have to wonder now is one pertaining to legacy. Even if Halperin is gone, does the show ever fully escape his shadow? Is he still considered a key part of it even without his name floating around in there? There are questions for the executives and we here at CarterMatt imagine that they will think about all the possible avenues for a while before making a decision. They have a lot on the line in terms of earning viewer trust while delivering the best content possible.
Do you think that The Circus should continue in the wake of the Mark Halperin allegations? Share in the comments.
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