The return of "The Greatest Show on Earth"

Created by P.T. Barnum in 1871 and named "The Greatest Show on Earth," Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus shut down in 2017. But now this American institution is being reimagined for a new age, and is relaunching with a two-year tour, featuring aerial acts, a new take on clowns, and no animals (except for a robot dog named Bailey). Correspondent Martha Teichner reports on how the circus is catapulting into the future.
‪@ringling‬
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[@scottmiller9098]

Saw it last night in person. The kids there loved it. It was a great show. Things evolve in order to survive.

[@teddyfurstman1997]

May go back to seeing Ringling again. It's been a childhood fave.

[@maha77]

omg it's so nice to hear Jane Pauley's voice almost 50 years on from growing up watching the Today Show in the 70s

[@INeedABlessingNow]

Welcome back Ringling!

[@jimeerey]

Seems like the performers are taking more risk. High pace will equal less quality control. Stay safe.

[@tylermackey6495]

I hate how there’s no ringmaster

[@reneastle8447]

The good news is the ringmaster will be brought back into the circus. No circus would be complete without a ringmaster.

[@Jamesandcheraylucas]

I remember when I was a kid, the parade, with the horses,

[@doubleoseven273]

Thats awesome, just visited the museum today

[@Mindfreeingme]

Great 👍 piece 👏

[@adrianaros1023]

As long they don’t have Animals performing it’s all good. 👏🏼👏🏼

[@TylerRakstis]

You know it's not all black and white like how media portrays it as. It usually depends on the trainer they have. Usually, the best kind of trainers are the people who have raised the animals themselves as a surrogate parent but know that they shouldn't let their guards down. Even though they may be dangerous if handled wrong, they respect them as living things. The problem is how unfortunately the higher ups of a company sees them as property. Though trainers would have a close relation with the animals, they unfortunately can't control what decisions that companies would make that they wouldn't agree to. I admit my views on this does feel skewed because it's easy to cherry-pick what you want to hear and ignore stuff that doesn't fit your world view. Even if it's a proven fact and truth. But it's mostly due to maybe being sheltered or having too strong a nostalgic attachment and nobody likes things scrutinized, even they have a point to it.

[@trevorthesorcerer]

Ringling used voice commands for all their animals. Ringling also won all their lawsuits.

[@TylerRakstis]

@@trevorthesorcerer Probably because they are ownef a multimedia corporation any accusation would've been settled out of court. Plus its not like any of those animal activists have a point, but some like PETA are such hypocrites. Since PETA ends up euthanizing the animals they claim to "rescue."

[@fillup40]

Glad to see it back.

[@SarahMichelle777]

Oh good, every 3.5 seconds…so heaven forbid we try to help teach kids to have an attention span, lets feed the disorder instead. 😢

[@TheCathyMundy]

Love this!

[@rr7firefly]

It is obvious that it now takes a whole lot more razzmatazz to get people's attention. You can see that here, with all the visual activity filling every part of your line of sight. Performers in very ornate costumes moving in every direction. Year after year the stimuli get more and more complex. This tells you something about what people expect at a minimum for entertainment.

[@matthewb.7172]

It tells me they used to be lazy by relying on deadly animals to keep people’s attention, and now they’re having to put in effort

[@scottd2063]

Deadly animals.....do you mean Hamas?

[@scarpfish]

@@matthewb.7172 There are other ways in life to be entertained than attending a circus, with or without animals.

[@orriechristopher862]

I love Ringling bros circus as one of my favorite interests because circuses

[@tdelphia1]

" a show moves at the speed of TikTok...." What dies it say for our ability to solve problems as a society when entertainment is targeting a 3.5 second attention span?

[@Beth-zg6gb]

Evolution. Thank goodness no animals other than human! Definitely gets my stamp of approval!

[@trevorthesorcerer]

Ringling won all their lawsuits, soon Ringling will rise agin after all nothing can stop The Greatest Show On Earth. Animal activit’s slander will not win.

[@INeedABlessingNow]

The lions and tigers of the old Ringling were a highlight for me.

[@wesleyabram229]

Oh! SO NO HORSE RIDEING EITHER?!! Especially while it's still a thing in the olympics?!

[@HDMichelle33]

What the young Feld generation has never understood was adults take their family to a Circus to get AWAY from technology and enjoy some good old family entertainment. The ticket sales DROPPED when the 🐘 retired and the last few seasons followed suit the more and more they tried to complete with technology. It's a shame.

[@roberttemple2521]

Yup. It was the first circus I ever saw, Madison Sq. Garden, circa 1964. I mostly remember the sideshow in the basement before the actual circus performance upstairs. It was the real deal, back then. I sat in the nosebleed seats with my great aunt who poured some vodka into her Coke, SnoCone or whatever, wherever we dined in NYC. As she lived to be ninety-nine, I became a performing juggler and clown. I know real circus, under canvas. Three rings trucked up and down the East Coast, two shows a day, three on Saturdays, three towns a week, March into November, seven days a week. It, too, was the real deal. Circus is not so much a job as it is a lifestyle, and in many cases a tradition, as in family tradition. You have to be born into circus or really love it to make it work, otherwise it is most difficult.

[@reneastle8447]

The good news is it won't be that way forever.

[@andreabertelli263]

Would love to see the show ❤

[@googlegoogle9378]

It’s a shame I missed the original ones from the 80s

[@orriechristopher862]

I love Ringling bros circus as one of my favorite interests

[@GiannisAntetokounmpoIsTheGoat]

Watching this next weekend in fl

[@greystoke2019]

I loved this ...❤

[@ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy]

Hopefully this time the owners don't get stuck in their ways to the detriment of the entire company.

[@shanesollis8819]

I was lucky enough to see the real Greatest Show on Earth at The Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee. Nonetheless, I am just happy to see that it has returned.

[@braised44]

Welcome back!

[@tomega7892]

Why would they get rid of the Ringmaster act?

[@susannpatton2893]

Yay! Glad the animals are gone. No more suffering for them ❤🎉

[@trevorthesorcerer]

Ringling Won all their lawsuits and animal activist’s were forced to pay Ringling millions.

[@wesleyabram229]

Okay So I Guess We shouldn't have HORSES AT ALL EITHER!! IS THAT IT?!

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Every 3-1/2 seconds it changes? Jesus, can we get any more disconnected. If that’s your attention span, seek help.

[@Thedecider1984]

No animals? 😢

[@innagottadavida8538]

The old type of circus is dead. They are no longer comfortable keeping wild animals in captivity; only humans. At least we won't have any more stories of angry elephants raging through parking lots. They have added more flash, more sizzle and shortened acts to play to this generation's short attention spans and need for lights. The clowns don't wear face paint any more which seems okay since my nephew was always terrified of clowns. As long as the clowns are still funny I can live with that one. The circus has evolved for a modern, more progressive-minded audience. It's nice that they kept it going for more generations. As for those saying "it's not the circus, it's like Cirque du Soleil", the word cirque is French for circus so Cirque du Soleil translates to Circus of the Sun or more loosely to Circus of Light, Glamour and Shiny Things. I grew up watching the old traditional circuses and enjoy the performances of Cirque du Soleil. May Ringling Brothers continue on for another century and a half.

[@bibianaguadalupeislasherre9880]

👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@HobbyMoose79]

Miss the animals, the elephants, I am excited they have come back. It’s now the New Circus, miss the trains, the real animals. But look it’s new AI animals. It’s Las Vegas in the new ringling. Great job. More new acts to come. Maybe they can make AI elephants too. ❤❤❤❤

[@pascale5667]

How is it different frm Cirque de Soliel?

[@julieackles7297]

fabulous and why couldn't you say in Palmetto, Florida?

[@ltkreg]

This is great news! I'd still like to see some animals though. 😊

[@tessdurberville711]

A circus without animals. If I wanted to see that, I would go to Circ de Soleil. You could not pay me to watch that......

[@Sammy-mp9xn]

No, thanks, I'll just remember how good it used to be.

[@joeybaseball7352]

The good ol' days of animal cruelty.

[@roberttemple2521]

@@joeybaseball7352 And SnoCones, banners, the program full of pictures, "the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd", all gone from RBBB. This is the chintziest version of this show ever, really embarassing. I am glad there are no animals. I am a former circus performer. I can tell you that NO animal deserves to be in the business of show, ever. It doesn't matter if the trainer raised the animals, the beasts are still always tethered or caged unless they are "performing", which is most certainly cruel.

[@trevorthesorcerer]

@@joeybaseball7352 Ringling Won all it lawsuits please stop spreading false information slander Native Americans, Immigrants, veterans, animals, and all the hard workers of Ringling Brothers.

[@saxonray4071]

Animals being miss treated 😴🤔

[@wesleyabram229]

@@roberttemple2521 Hey, What about HORSES? We still have equestrian horse shows!!! So your saying we can't have Circuses that only feature horses and no other animals?!

[@Mac62671]

This is fascinating. I went about 20 years ago with my God children and it was really out of pace then. The animals seemed totally out of place. There was a gator that was clearly drugged. It was just kind of sad and anxiety producing. This sounds like its worth going to.

[@trevorthesorcerer]

Ringling did not use drugs on it’s animals

[@joeybaseball7352]

​@@trevorthesorcererthey absolutely did. They beat them, tortured them, entrapped them, and abused them in every way imaginable.

[@trevorthesorcerer]

@@joeybaseball7352 Not everything on the internet is true please do more research then one website Ringling treated the animals quite well the trains were quite spacious, the cages you were talking about were only used for transportation. All animals were given fresh food and hay. Animals were given plenty of room though out the day. All of Ringling animals were never forced to tricks they were not comfortable with. Remember Ringling performed at Disneyland for three years. Disney has worked with Ringling since 1980 so Disney would never work a company that abuse their animals. So clearly Ringling did not abuse their animals.

[@roberttemple2521]

Drugs make the beasts LESS afraid of man.

[@roberttemple2521]

@@trevorthesorcerer Total B.S. i worked in circus for years. All showbusiness animals suffer a great deal. Get over it, it's outright animal abuse. It comes with the territory, it is universal, sad to say. It is much more than just the Berosini and other circus animal abuse clips you refer to. I saw animal abuse up close and personal and it eventually was one reason I left circus performing. I never worked with animals, but I am not stupid or blind. If animal abuse is an acceptable part of Your circus "tradition", that's a shame.

[@roberttemple2521]

How sad. This is the tackiest RBBB version yet. I'm glad there are no animals. However, there is absolutely no magic to this production. No live band. It is anything but circus. One ring shows of the European and Russian style have always presented art. RBBB always sold "spectacle" as a major part of its name, as if bigger is better. It became like a Vegas show that happened to have circus acts, often very good acts. I know and have worked next to many of the former performers and band members from the Felds' eras, and earlier. I am sure they are either laughing or crying at this latest iteration of RBBB. There are two words in showbusiness. Sad to see this business has chiseled down the show aspect of a once respected institution.

[@trevorthesorcerer]

Please remember Ringling treated their animals quite well and respected. Ringling also won all their lawsuit’s.

[@ggach1]

I get it, times have changed. But this, as impressive as the performers are, is not the circus. The American circus is done, now it’s cirque de soleil. It’s not bad, it’s just not the circus.

[@SarahMichelle777]

Agree. I wouldnt want the animals to suffer, but this is cirque de soleil and not the circus, I wouldnt enjoy it. But I guess its still a good idea.

[@dustin9132]

Language is a social construct. The circus is whatever society understands it to be. Sure, this is a transitional period, but ask someone twenty years from now to describe the circus, and this is what they'll tell you.

[@trevorthesorcerer]

@@SarahMichelle777 Ringling used voice command for all their animals and won all lawsuits.

[@lewstone5430]

Tomato/tomahto, who cares.

[@roberttemple2521]

@@dustin9132Not if they're from Europe or Russia where circus remains a respectable artform, not some offshoot of Barbie.

[@davejohnsoncreativemedia8637]

If I want to watch a middle of the road drum solo I can go to the local bar, or watch a better teenager on youtube. I'm all for evolution, and kindness to animals in every possible way, but this is so antithetic to the charm of a circus. Sterile might be an apropos adjective. There is magic in imperfection, . . and a little sawdust.

[@trevorthesorcerer]

Ringling won all its lawsuits against Animal Activist’s.

[@dougmcclelland6139]

Ahhh yes La Canada to the rescue ' mais oui le cirque du soleil ' said but we can use people to perform great circus acts

[@roberttemple2521]

Cirque knows how to make a show with circus-like acts, yes. Cirque is more about theatre than circus. RBBB is more about money, art is a second consideration, if at all. I much prefer European or Russian circuses, they have real class, something that RBBB has not, not one bit,

[@Fosterdana]

but no animals

[@wdh47211]

And now the circus is ruined for everybody.....they turned it into a Cirque de Soleil type show.

[@lewstone5430]

Boo hoo!

[@HDMichelle33]

Agreed..not the circus

[@roberttemple2521]

Nah, Cirque du Soleil has class, RBBB has none. This is chintzy at best, it will not make money.

[@scarpfish]

Nobody is making you buy tickets.

[@elaineburruss7133]

So American Circe de solei

[@trevorthesorcerer]

Rember Ringling was founded in the 1840’s.

[@roberttemple2521]

What, no Barbie?

[@steveconn]

I kind of miss the visceral smell of elephants at the circus but it looks like Ringling Bros. has become a good Cirque De Soleil experience. Still death-defying and fun!

[@susannpatton2893]

They were tortured. Can't miss that

[@steveconn]

​@@susannpatton2893Not always.

[@adrianaros1023]

Im sure the elephants don’t miss it!!

[@lewstone5430]

For you Steve: 💩

[@steveconn]

​@@lewstone5430Say it to my face, Lew! 😊

[@n.d.7931]

until someone dies lol but yeah this is a circus for this generation for sure. Old circus or new, neither is for me. There's tons of other better entertainment out there.

[@uniquelymade6760]

The colors have changed to represent the alphabet people they going to find a way to implement their agenda.....

[@williamhoffman7009]

This is not THE Circus; sadly, it's just a circus. I will take my grandchildren to see historical films about THE Circus, not this sideshow.

[@joeybaseball7352]

You should also show the documentaries about the awful animal abuse that circus animals endured.

[@williamhoffman7009]

@@joeybaseball7352 Agree. Nothing is perfect. And wrongs should be shown, acknowledged and corrected. But animals can be treated humanely and still be part of a circus.

[@trevorthesorcerer]

@@joeybaseball7352 Ringling did not abuse their animals they use voice commands for all their animals. Ringling also won all their lawsuits.

[@peitsia9063]

Horrible opening song unlike the greatest showman on earth movie

[@scottd2063]

Just what we needed: more woke entertainment. Don't bother to make me a reservation.....

[@robertferguson5562]

Aweful

[@robponton3181]

So sad we lost freedom!!!

[@lewstone5430]

🤪

[@matthewcubbon1264]

Disgusting, this is a cirque du soleil show... bring back the classic circus. Animals, ring leaders, creepy clowns, freak shows... we want it all back

[@lewstone5430]

[@roberttemple2521]

Nah, Cirque du Soleil has class, RBBB has none. This is chintzy at best, it will not make money.

[@hpnc]

Bring back lions and tigers.

[@adrianaros1023]

Bring back tortured Animals? Why !?

[@scottd2063]

Yes, better they die in the cross hairs of big game hunters.

[@JustinCase780]

No motorbike riding bears? Boooo!!!

[@maxlinder5262]

Somebody needs to Chip in & buy Martha some NEW Clothes......The 1980 s are Over....😊

[@susannpatton2893]

Who's Martha? Wrong segment

[@Kitty8791]

​@@susannpatton2893The correspondent doing the segment is Martha Teichner. It's stated by the host Jane Pauley in the introduction & written in the Description. Definitely the right segment.

[@lewstone5430]

👚👖🩲🥿📿

[@bensherman6644]

This terrible circus is a complete rip off of every cirque du Soleil show, just a super tacky version

[@roberttemple2521]

Nah, Cirque du Soleil has class, RBBB has none. This is chintzy at best, it will not make money.