Keith Olbermann back on television.......greeeat. [/sarcasm]

[AnCap Dave]

Source.

Starting on Monday, there will be competition for progressive attention spans on television.

Challenging MSNBC, which has a stable lineup of left-leaning hosts, will be Current TV, where Keith Olbermann will start anchoring the 8 p.m. hour, his former time slot on MSNBC. Rather audaciously, Mr. Olbermann will try to draw viewers away from MSNBC and to his new home, where he wants to add more hours of like-minded hosts.

Already, Mr. Olbermann's arrival on a new channel has created a robust marketplace for liberal television talent. Since he exited in January, MSNBC has signed prominent contributors like Eugene Robinson, the Washington Post columnist, to new long-term contracts, in some cases staving off Current's attempts to poach them. MSNBC has also tried out new hosts, like Cenk Uygur, an Internet talk show host who has become the channel's de facto 6 p.m. anchor. The channel's total ratings are holding steady so far this year.

Mr. Olbermann, meanwhile, has persuaded some boldface names to appear on Current, where the name of his show will remain the same, "Countdown." His huge challenge will be convincing viewers to come to Current, which generally is only watched by tens of thousands of viewers at any given time and is high on the channel lineup in most markets. He anticipates that the early viewership totals will be low; he said on a conference call with reporters Friday, "We're in this for the long haul."

The new "Countdown" will be a lot like the old "Countdown": one hour long, with political commentaries and progressive guests and humorous interludes. But few of Mr. Olbermann's producers or regular guests from MSNBC are joining him on the new show. His entreaties to MSNBC employees sparked something of a bidding war, according to people involved in contract negotiations who insisted on anonymity to avoid distressing executives at MSNBC or Current.

"The threat of Keith's new show meant that MSNBC had to spend a little bit of extra money — and Phil was willing to do that," one of the people said, referring to Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC.

Guest bookings are important for cable news channels because viewers come to recognize and expect regular guests with relatable opinions on the left and the right. The channels pay some guests — called contributors or analysts — for exclusive access, and also nurture new and influential voices in politics.

MSNBC has effectively created a new row of these voices, mostly on the left, just as the much-higher-rated Fox News Channel has done, mostly on the right. MSNBC sought this spring to renew the contributor contracts of Mr. Robinson; Ezra Klein, a blogger for The Washington Post; and Christopher Hayes, a writer for The Nation. In an interview, Mr. Griffin declined to talk about contracts in detail, per his parent company's policy, but he said that the new deals were done because the contracts happened to be approaching end dates, not because of any threat from Current.

"I wanted to keep them because we have a strong platform, and they wanted to be on this platform," he said.

Guest bookings are also important because popular guests can become full-time hosts. Mr. Hayes, for instance, is a frequent substitute for Lawrence O'Donnell and for Rachel Maddow, two MSNBC anchors. Mr. Uygur was groomed the same way.

"There's a whole new batch of young people we've brought in, because we want to keep feeding our system," Mr. Griffin said, naming as one example Alex Wagner, a writer for The Huffington Post who is now a paid contributor.

Mr. Olbermann has his own liberal voices to nurture on Current, like the muckraking Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi, the law professor Jonathan Turley, and Heather McGhee, who directs the Washington office of the research group Demos, three contributors whom Current announced on Friday.

But it is unclear how often the contributors will appear, or how many are being paid. The payments for a liberal filmmaker, Michael Moore, who was named as a contributor in April, will be given to charity. Ken Burns, another filmmaker, told The Baltimore Sun that he was surprised to see his name in that announcement as well; Mr. Olbermann has "been a friend for a long time," Mr. Burns said. "And when he moved, I said, 'Oh, I'll come and do it.' And I think that's what it is."

Mr. Burns said that since he lives in New Hampshire, "I don't know how I become a contributor."

Current said the contributor arrangements varied by person, and that the announcements were intended to show how wide a range of people will be appearing on the new show.

The Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, who said he had been "banned" from MSNBC for a year, will also be a contributor to the new "Countdown." (Mr. Griffin sidelined Mr. Moulitsas for spreading innuendo about Joe Scarborough.) While MSNBC "has pretended to be the progressive network," Mr. Moulitsas said, "they are conservative in terms of who they have on and what they can say." Referring to Mr. Olbermann's new show, he said, "I think that Current recognizes that there is a real opportunity here for a network that has a real diversity of opinions and voices."

Mr. Olbermann, always pleased to pick a fight, clearly wants to foster competition. To Rolling Stone this month, he said "we're going to take MSNBC's business away from them," a comment that Mr. Griffin chalked up to strategic posturing.

"If I'm starting up something new, I would always punch up," he said, adding, "If that's how you get attention, that's fine."

In an interview on Friday, Mr. Griffin asserted that MSNBC has "never been stronger" as a network. This year to date, in prime time, it has attracted 272,000 viewers ages 25 to 54, 12 percent more than in the same period last year.

The show that replaced "Countdown," "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell," has averaged 252,000 in that demographic, down just 3 percent from the same period last year, when "Countdown" was on. The shows at 9 and 10 p.m. have gained more viewers than the show at 8 p.m. has lost.

"Beyond our expectations" is the way Mr. Griffin describes the ratings. Mr. Olbermann, after all, bequeathed MSNBC an identity as a destination for news and liberal talk and helped the channel to eclipse CNN in prime time, so many people expected the channel to take a serious hit after he exited.

The next test will come Monday when Mr. Olbermann is on directly opposite Mr. O'Donnell at 8 p.m. "Monday's like any other day," Mr. Griffin said, nodding to what he called a loyal "community" of MSNBC viewers.

And I was in such a good mood too. Now I'll have to hear this dunce quoted all the time. He was better when he was on ESPN.

[Gumba Masta]

If you think you're in a bad mood now wait till you find out what kind of digestive parasites I've smuggled into your breakfast.
On a different note I don't get what you're reasoning for that big ass quotation here is, other than ragin on Olbermann, oooooooobviously.  :rollseye:

[AnCap Dave]

If you think you're in a bad mood now wait till you find out what kind of digestive parasites I've smuggled into your breakfast.
On a different note I don't get what you're reasoning for that big ass quotation here is, other than ragin on Olbermann, oooooooobviously.  :rollseye:

The quote was just the report that someone sent me about him being back on television on a different channel, but yes, I loathe the man.

[Gumba Masta]

So, this was mere hate speech. Good to know Mr Turcotte. Or should I rather say, HERR HITLER?!




Seriously though a bit more content wouldn't have hurt that post. Maybe some elaboration on the basis of your ressentiment torwards Oldermann could have solicited a less snarky reply from me.
You know, something that goes beyond "I hate him because he's against the free market where babys have to pay mothers for breast feeding and sensible stuff like that".

[AnCap Dave]

Seriously though a bit more content wouldn't have hurt that post. Maybe some elaboration on the basis of your ressentiment torwards Oldermann could have solicited a less snarky reply from me.
You know, something that goes beyond "I hate him because he's against the free market where babys have to pay mothers for breast feeding and sensible stuff like that".

I despise him because much like other so called "liberal intellectuals" he has no grasp on reality. He's one of the many imbeciles who has publicly stated that people who don't like Obama must be racist. Much like Bill Maher, he is also an elitist moron who believes that if you disagree with him, you must be an evil Bush loving redneck who likes to murder puppies and kittens.

I wouldn't mind if Olbermann, Maher, and that unfunny Janeane Garofolo were all excommunicated from all media.

[Travis Retriever]

"liberal intellectuals"[...]

...Is an oxymoron.
But I think you knew that already.

[AnCap Dave]

...Is an oxymoron.
But I think you knew that already.

Exactly.

[Gumba Masta]

Awww, you're so cute when you make your broad generalisations.

[MrBogosity]

And you're cute when you make generalizations about broads.

[VectorM]

You are all so cute when you broad your generalizations about broad generalizations.

[Gumba Masta]

And you're cute when you make generalizations about broads.

I once met a general's broad, she blew me the march.

[Virgil0211]

Awww, you're so cute when you make your broad generalisations.

And you're cute when you make generalizations about broads.

You are all so cute when you broad your generalizations about broad generalizations.

I once met a general's broad, she blew me the march.

If read in the voice of Joe Piscapo, the above exchange becomes hilarious.