Showtime President Gary Levine on The Network’s Political Future

If there’s one good thing this stressful time has brought us it’s a surplus of excellent politically-focused shows… But Showtime‘s programming is working on another level. In a television landscape dominated by nightly and weekly talk shows, the cable network has been dissecting the world of politics through a living documentary about elections, an up-to-the-minute animated comedy, and an undercover comedy show. It’s a lot, and with the eventual premiere of former Vice correspondents Desus and Mero’s new show, it’s sure to only get more intelligent and less conventional.

At the Television Critics Association’s 2018 summer tour, Decider spoke to Showtime’s President of Programming Gary Levine about how Showtime has been breaking the mold when it comes to its politically-focused series. Levine also discussed the potential future for one of the network’s biggest hits of the year — Sacha Baron Cohen‘s Who Is America?

“What’s important to us is to be relevant,” Levine said, noting that it doesn’t matter if that relevancy comes in the form of a scripted, reality, or even animated series. “It probably began with Homeland, which was the first sort of overtly political show, which was also a psychological thriller and so many other good things. And then The Circus was really a sort of conscious move into doing a truly political show.”

Now in its fourth season, The Circus follows a group of political insiders week to week as they try to cover various debates and events. The docuseries is about as fly-on-the-wall as this subgenre gets, and in its first season it was an eye-opener for Showtime. It was politically-focused, smart, and unlike what anyone else was doing in the crowded political entertainment landscape of 2016. It soon became a touchstone for the network, but it was Stephen Colbert who cemented Showtime’s evolution.

Colbert wanted to perform a live special for the 2016 election, but CBS already had news coverage planned for that time. Showtime didn’t.

“Once he recovered from the shock of that evening, his next instinct was that we should be able to do some kind of a political half hour and it became an animated show: Our Cartoon President,” Levine said. “And look, Stephen Colbert is one of the greatest political comedians of our time, and so we were just thrilled to be able to go ahead and do a show with him.”

But Showtime’s latest politically-minded show doesn’t overtly have anything at all to do with politics. It’s a prank show. Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who is America? became an almost overnight success for the network. Though the series targets all sorts of victims, from reality stars to art gallery owners, politicians have received the most attention during the show’s first season.

“I think [Cohen’s] comedy is to really hoist people on their own petards and politicians have big petards,” Levine said.

As for whether or not there will be a Season 2 of Who Is America?, Showtime is on board. “We are extremely open to doing another season with Sacha, and I know he is really enjoying the experience. I think you’ve got to figure out exactly how to pull it off because it’s amazing what he pulls off,” he said. “But Sacha, if he wants to do it, I’m confident he will find a way to do it, and we will welcome the chance to do it with him.”

Since we interviewed Levine, Cohen publicly stated that Who Is America? has ended after one season.

“Tonight, is the last EVER show of ‘Who is America’,” Cohen said via Twitter. “Thank you to all of you who enjoyed it…and for those who didn’t…..”

Could that just be part of the prank, letting political figures think Cohen is done, when he really isn’t? Perhaps, and if it is a ruse, Showtime is clearly open for more.

But really the network’s expansion into politically focused content is similar to all of its programming. The network wants to be bold and innovative. “I think because we are a subscription service, we don’t have to have the timidity of advertiser-supported broadcast networks or basic cable networks,” Levine said. “Sometimes that freedom for a scripted series is being able to use language or sexuality or just the unlikability of human frailties. But it also gives you the freedom to have strong political points of view and we like to share that freedom with the right people.”