I wonder what precipitated this:
Keith Olbermann, the highest-rated host on MSNBC, announced abruptly on the air Friday night that he was leaving his show, “Countdown,” immediately.
The host, who has had a stormy relationship with the management of the network for some time, especially since he was suspended for two days last November, came to an agreement with NBC’s corporate management late this week to settle his contract and step down.
In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation other than on occasion “all that surrounded the show – but never the show itself – was just too much for me.”
Mr. Olbermann thanked his viewers for their enthusiastic support of a show that had “gradually established its position as antiestablishment.”
In a statement, MSNBC said: “MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann’ will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Another interesting question is whether or not Olbermann can find another television outlet. Maybe he could help fill out the TBS nightly lineup. But I can’t see CNN hiring him. Maybe if ABC wants to boost its tiny cable audience?
If he does land a new job, I hope he doesn’t use his old tired countdown format. That shit was boring three years ago.
You obviously didn’t watch the show or an online clip of his announcement. He clearly said that he was TOLD this is the last edition of the show. Doesn’t sound like quitting.
Word is that his MSNBC contract will keep him off the screen until 2012. It was interesting to hear David Shuster on the phone at CNN last night take on Howie Kurtz about Keith.
I’ll best remember the show as the only voice the Left had during the seemingly endless Bush years where speaking up branded him a traitor and yet he kept at it and eventually won the top ratings spot at MSNBC. Everytime I listen to a Morning Joe segment I am reminded of how easily stupid talking points can be delivered and what Keith wrestled with.
Whatever the reason for the event (it does seem clear he was forced out), his legacy is seen in unambiguously liberal and profitable evening lineup on MSNBC, with Cenk Ungar taking over at 6 pm. I would prefer to see a Sam Seder type taking over Ed Shultz’s show, which is just tiresome and far too close to Fox hyperbole for my taste.
I originally watched Countdown because it was funny and I couldn’t stay awake long enough to watch The Daily Show. It reported news not shown on other outlets and did so with a liberal bias that gave me hope. I became an ardent fan when KO started to be outraged by the news that outraged me. (We even exchanged a few emails.) It made me feel better to know there was a voice in the media speaking for me.
At some point after Obama’s election–perhaps when I realized that the Democrats weren’t going to address the issues that mattered most to me–KO started to become unhinged by the death and dying of his parents. There wasn’t enough humor or hope to balance his indignant rage. I had to stop watching because a constant state of outrage is bad, physically as well as mentally and emotionally.
Even tho I was no longer a viewer, I knew KO was still speaking for me; I’d catch the highlights in video clips. I’m sad he’s gone silent.
I actually has probably watched more of him in the last six months than ever before.
He was always among my favorites as ESPN because he seemed to understand and appropriately mock the symbiotic hype machine relationship the media has with sports. And I give him a lot of credit for taking a risk and moving to a different challenge when he tired of that.
He was always refreshing but I often found him jarring. Lately, not so much. Compared to other MSNBC types I think he focused much more successfully at calling bullshit bullshit and less on just being a partisan hack.
I tire of unthinking partisan hackism. I don’t need Ed to remind me of why the GOP are self serving dumbfuck evil. That just gets depressing.
FWIW Olbermann seemed to more successfully focus on what the country needed, not what either party needed — even if the country didn’t need a whole lot of what the right has been offering for at least ten years.
Ed is indeed too jarring and often gets his facts wrong which does nothing to move any of us out of a partisan rut.
But you’re right, Keith did bend toward what was good for the Country; his work to get the Free Health Clinics funded through his viewership was unparalleled and gave a good, well-grounded voice during the Health Care debates to the peoples’ need for reform.
I’m just happy they didn’t replace the slot with Evening Joe.
I’ve watched KO for the last 4 years. Yeah, at times the format got a little stale, but . . . BUT KO spoke for me.
Now all that is left is Rachel. How long before Comcast gets rid of her?
Olbermann quits? With 2 years left on his contract? With MSNBC already whispering how Keith can’t work for the competition for a year? Wow, progressivism truly is fucked. lol. I don’t believe history repeats itself exactly, but still there’s true irony here: “First they came for Phil and no one raised a hand; then they came for Keith and no one listened, then they cut-off web access to Booman and …..”
I watch about 10 minutes of cable news a week now. Everything is just a game to them.
I don’t really have anything against Keith but people like him-trying to shout down the stupidity and evil-can never fix what is wrong with corporate journalism, which is that facts and objective reality no longer exist, and there is no accountability for crimes against humanity. There is only a pretend and temporary accountability for having the bad luck of being caught in a news cycle that makes you look bad. To the extent corporate journalism is not simply an arm of corporate interest, it is utterly dead and buried.
Yawn. It should have been re-named “Keith Obermann – Special Drama”. I truly think his massive ego would have won in a one on one match against Glenn Beck’s. What little value of progressive journalism (?) one could distill out of one hour of his “show” was ever diminishing these last 3 years.
(At a good profit. Bet on it.)
Now we’ll see what he is made of.
Will he fight? Or will he fold.
Has he simply been an actor playing a role?
We will see soon enough.
Watch.
AG
We won’t see very soon, since his contract apparently forbids him from working for another TV station for a least a year. As to what he’s make of, he’s what a $7 million salary makes. Which works for the worshipers of money, as it fits right in with their greedhead ideology, but not for those who, however sincerely, want to speak on behalf of real people. Which is why I think robust nonprofit public broadcasting is our only chance.
You write:
So…TV is the only media that means anything?
Another victim of the hypnomedia reveals his trance state.
Wake the fuck up.
There are a thousand ways that he could fight.
He could have walked away from the money. What a statement that would have made!
Is he precluded from public appearances of any kind? Radio? Guest appearances on TV? Films? Writing, either in a newspaper/magazine or online? How about a book telling the truth about the media in which he has so profitably paddled all of these years?
Here is some of what he said at the end of his last MSNBC show:
My heart bleeds for this diva motherfucker.
Now this I could understand.
But a goddamned drama queen TV show?
Please.
“Too much” for him?
He should maybe take a couple of fucking weeks off. Take some paltry piece of the obscene amount of money that he has made and go on a vacation.
And then stand the fuck up.
My own bet?
Back to corporate, big money sports.
While millions bleed.
Fuck these primadonna motherfuckers!!!
Wild horses could not have dragged me to a TV set to watch his act.
As false as Limbaugh.
Only smarter.
Whadda bunch maroons!!!
S.
Blew my cover.
Once or twice every century, I guess.
Socrates
P.S. That hemlock…? T’was merely a mild hallucinogen.
Bet on it.
Say!!!
I know!!!
Olbermann could co-author a book with Barack Obama.
A sequel to Obama’s autobiography/campaign investment “The Audacity Of Hope.”
Call it “The Audacity of Hype.”
It’d sell millions!!!
Bet on it.
Whadda buncha…
Awwwww…
You know….
AG
It’d be cool to see him pop up at some Podunk outlet ala Helen Thomas, but realistically, what are the odds on that happening?
/rhetorical question
Politics.
i know…it’s just the emptyminded Kos Kidsz dreaming away their spare hours.
But…it could happen.
I hope it does, actually. It’d mean that he has enough guts to back up his words with action.
We shall see…
AG
was not to your liking is that he called Obama on his cowardice and capitulation.
Not really. He’s an annoying blowhard. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather have him on than not, but I don’t care for his style; never have, not even during Bush.
Yeah.
We don’t want anybody calling crazy Republicans “crazy Republicans”.
Or calling the half-stepping Obama “half-stepping Obama”.
Pretty soon “Morning Joe” will be seen as left-wing media.
I’m sorry, but I don’t enjoy his style. I hate Ed even more. On the contrary, despite his sexism and sometimes prejudice behavior, I do like Bill Maher’s style (and when she’s at her best, Rachel).
Is it that horrible that I just don’t like the way he conveys information, and I assume this is also why BooMan doesn’t enjoy him either? Christ. You’re transfering your hatred of Obama onto why we don’t like Olbermann. Remove the goggles.
don’t hate Obama.
Just real disappointed in the third Clinton administration.
Y’mean…Joe’s not “left wing media?”
Jeez…and all this time I thought he wuz…
AG
I don’t see how the timing of the KO dismissal and the Comcast takeover can be ignored. Comcast bribed its way to hegemony over both information content and delivery, and the first consequence of that outrage has come with stunning speed. The so-called American Left allowed itself to depend on General Electric as its media voice, and now Comcast has apparently decided that’s not a prudent business plan.
If any good can come of this, it would be for the Dems, liberals, lefties to wake up at long last and build their own media voice instead of settling for a free ride with the corporate cancers. So far we’re batting zero — we can’t even muster up the support for NPR and PBS that would allow them to do journalism without worrying about “support” from the oligarchy.
Thing that makes us different from the wingnuts is that we don’t need an echo machine for our propaganda. All we need is good journalism that tells the truth, investigates honestly, calls a lie a lie and craziness craziness, and follows up until the issue or event makes sense. Olbermann was not that journalist, but was a treasured port in the wingnut PR tempest that we have to endure as Americans.
I didn’t watch much Olbermann, but will miss knowing he’s there to at least fish a few small turds out of the sea of shit and call them for what they are. Now those days are over, and the future of MSNBC news looks doubtful under the new bosses. It would seem that we’re at a crossroads: either we develop some media savvy and media infrastructure or we just decide to forget about having any voice at all beyond sitting around bitching at each other.
NPR/PBS are not worth hard-earned monetary support, at this point. Their problems began under Reagan & now these outlets are unique in broadcasting: the corporate wolf in liberal sheep’s clothing.
So far we’re batting zero — we can’t even muster up the support for NPR and PBS that would allow them to do journalism without worrying about “support” from the oligarchy.
PBS and NPR chased oligarchic money because that’s what they wanted to do. Shit, PBS still re-runs Lawrence Welk on Saturdays. What does that tell you? Even if liberals contributed all next years operating budget, they’ll still chase more oligarchic money because the local PBS station heads want to make more money. And like any place else, want more money to spend.
I don’t understand the liberal campaign to bitch about public broadcasting. Other than maybe CSPAN, it’s the only “news” media I can think of that does honest reporting a lot of the time, other than some newspapers and magazines. They kept Moyers around for decades (and his time with NBC(?) was noticeably tamer than his PBS years), run outstanding reporting on Frontline and a few other shows, and get an audience in the process. Same with NPR.
Seems like you want to judge by the standards of some fantasy country where there’s a left worth of the name that’s willing to support independent media that somebody actually watches/listens to. I get really sick of all the implications that these stations and their reporters are getting rich on their bus-driver salaries. This gets to sound just like the GOP: starve the beast, and then sit around bitching about how it doesn’t work. But it’s OK, we’ll just keep depending on the good intentions of Comcast, Disney, and the rest of the dedicated oligarchy.
I think you miss my point. My beef is with management. Not the lowly camera operator or sound board guy. Does PBS do some good? Sure! But lets face it. Who did they replace Moyers with? The ultimate, failed establishment hack.
Dave, it isn’t the small donors — that would be most of us — who starved the beast. Federal funding for public broadcasting has been continually cut under every Republican administration since Reagan, leaving a gaping void. Guess who’s stepped in to fill it? Monsanto, WalMart, Merck, Exxon & Archer Daniels Midland, among other well known supporters of progressive causes.
What I personally see since I began accessing public radio & TV in the 1970s — not in any fantasy country, btw — is truly a different animal.
There’s a lot of rush to blame Comcast for this. Sure, they’re the evil empire, but does anyone really think that a multi-billion dollar media conglomerate, upon reaching an agreement to buy another multi-billion dollar media conglomerate, even before they have operational control, says, “HA! First thing we’re going to do, we’re going to get rid of that despicable Olbermann!”
Of course not.
Much more likely is that MSNBC’s current management saw a chance to curry favor with new bosses by forcing KO out. The net effect is the same, but it’s self-censorship by existing bosses. And that’s how abou 95 percent of corporate media censorship happens. You don’t get to that level of media success without being able to anticipate what will and won’t play well upstairs.
That’s why there’s so few Olbermanns in the first place; most pundits, even the ones that might privately share Olbermann’s views, censor themselves. And that’s why, as irritating as I found Olbermann’s style at times, his departure is a big loss. He had the courage to speak his mind, an act that’s actively discouraged in most national media — commercial or “non”-commercial — unless your mind aligns with corporate interests.
In the Bush years, the impact of his example far outweighed his actual audience numbers, because nobody else with his kind of platform was stepping forward. At all.
Just curious, is Comcast buying 100% of nbc? If Keith’s ratings are good could other share holders sue management?
To hell with NBC. Want progressive media? Try this.
My reading of what he was saying is that he was kind of burned out and had had enough of this.
His next gig could in fact be sports related. He isn’t prohibited from doing radio or Sirius. My wife thinks he might make appearances with his old ESPN sidekick Dan Patrick (who now has a sports show on XM).
Off topic — has anyone noticed how the fruitcake division of the progressive movement has been going bonkers over Obama’s SOTU speech, before he has even given it? Take a look at the comment threads over at Hullabaloo for instance.
I’m starting to be embarrassed for progressives.
How do you define what the “fruitcake” division is? When the Turd Way talks about slashing Social Security, as well as the Catfood Commission that the President himself set up, then it is a problem. Meaning we have to take preemptive action. You can ignore reality if you want. I’m not.
fruitcake division — the progressives who nod their heads when someone says Obama is no different than W. (see the thread).
I’m all for reality. But preemptive action — hmmm. Where have I heard that term used before? I seem to recall that that can get one into trouble, even start wars, when ones assumptions don’t match reality. Lets wait to see what Obama says before we start this war.
You write:
‘Bout time, seems to me.
I’ve been embarrassed for them since JFK ran his version of the economic imperialist two-step and all the libs lined up behind him and marveled at how good lookin’ he was.
Please.
“Progressives?”
When have they ever really won anything!!!???
Please.
AG