TV Picks: 'The Circus,' 'War & Peace,' 'Baskets,' 'London Spy,' 'Mad Dogs'

The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth.

Game Change

writers Mark Halperin and John Heilemann cover the 2016 presidential race in this weekly show. 8 p.m. Sunday on Showtime.

War and Peace. Leo Tolstoy's great novel done by Lifetime, you say? It's not as bad as it sounds. Paul Dano (Love and Mercy) leads a cast that boils down the Russian saga to its most exciting bits (think romance, death) without the bothersome moralizing. 9 p.m. Monday on Lifetime.

Baskets. Zach Galifianakis could have kept doing middling movie comedies (The Campaign, anyone?). Instead, he took some time off and will now play a man whose greatest desire is to be a professional clown. 10 p.m. Thursday on FX.

London Spy. Ben Wishaw stars as hedonistic warehouse worker Danny, who finds out the enigmatic man he fell for (Edward Holcroft) actually works for the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. 10 p.m. Thursday on BBC America.

Mad Dogs. The Shield's Shawn Ryan produces this British remake about four onetime frat bros (Steve Zahn, Romany Malco, Michael Imperioli, and Ben Chaplin) whose Belize vacation does not turn out as planned. All 10 episodes stream Friday on Amazon.