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    Showtime To Maintain “The Circus” Minus Mark Halperin

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments2606 Views
    In this Aug. 11, 2016, file photo, author and producer Mark Halperin appears at the Showtime Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

    By David Bauder, Media Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) --

    Showtime says it is keeping its political television series "The Circus" alive despite the loss of co-host Mark Halperin on sexual misconduct charges.

    The network announced Wednesday that the show will return on April 15, with Alex Wagner of CBS News and the Atlantic magazine joining holdover hosts John Heilemann and Mark McKinnon. The series explores the character and strategies of politics, and will focus this season on the upcoming mid-year elections.

    The show's future was in doubt when Halperin was dropped in late October. The veteran political reporter was accused by multiple women of unwanted advances and lewd behavior when he worked at ABC News.

    Behind the scenes, Showtime executives had continued to stress their support for the show, McKinnon said. "Everyone said we hope the show goes on," he said.

    Showtime would not make an executive available on Wednesday to discuss the factors that went into continuing the show, and producers didn't respond to requests for comment.

    Wagner had appeared on "The Circus" in a couple of episodes during the first two seasons and there were already discussions about making her a regular before the news about Halperin broke. Halperin also lost his job at NBC News, a contract for a book about the 2016 presidential campaign and an HBO miniseries that was to be based on the book.

    There's no question that it's a plus that Halperin is being replaced by a woman, McKinnon said.

    "It's even more important given all that is happening, not just the stuff with Mark, but culturally" with the flood of news reports about men behaving badly, he said.

    Besides reporting on politics, Wagner is a co-anchor for the Saturday edition of "CBS This Morning," having joined the network from MSNBC. She is a contributing editor at the Atlantic and co-hosts a weekly podcast for the newsmagazine.

    McKinnon said he didn't think "The Circus" would be on the air for more than one season, given that its initial focus was on the 2016 campaign.

    "It turned out I was wrong," he said. "In many ways, it was more interesting. Whether you're for Trump or against Trump, everyone is fascinated by what is going on. It's a national civics lesson."




    Does “Hundreds of Beavers” Reflect A New Path Forward In Cinema?

    Monday, November 25, 2024

    Hard as it may be to believe, changing the future of cinema was not on Mike Cheslik's mind when he was making "Hundreds of Beavers." Cheslik was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with a crew of four, sometimes six, standing in snow and making his friend, Ryland Tews, fall down funny.

    "When we were shooting, I kept thinking: It would be so stupid if this got mythologized," says Cheslik.

    And yet, "Hundreds of Beavers" has accrued the stuff of, if not quite myth, then certainly lo-fi legend. Cheslik's film, made for just $150,000 and self-distributed in theaters, has managed to gnaw its way into a movie culture largely dominated by big-budget sequels.

    "Hundreds of Beavers" is a wordless black-and-white bonanza of slapstick antics about a stranded 19th century applejack salesman (Tews) at war with a bevy of beavers, all of whom are played by actors in mascot costumes.

    No one would call "Hundreds of Beavers" expensive looking, but it's far more inventive than much of what Hollywood produces. With some 1,500 effects shots Cheslik slaved over on his home computer, he crafted something like the human version of Donald Duck's snowball fight, and a low-budget heir to the waning tradition of Buster Keaton and "Naked Gun."

    At a time when independent filmmaking is more challenged than ever, "Hundreds of Beavers" has, maybe, suggested a new path forward, albeit a particularly beaver-festooned path.

    After no major distributor stepped forward, the filmmakers opted to launch the movie themselves, beginning with carnivalesque roadshow screenings. Since opening in January, "Hundreds of Beavers" has played in at least one theater every week of the year, though never more than 33 at once. (Blockbusters typically play in around 4,000 locations.)... Read More

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