"Olbermann uses gimmicks that work" (Houston Chronicle)

[Catchawave]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/entertainment/3217297

June 9, 2005, 10:37AM

By MIKE M C DANIEL
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle


When you're No. 3 in cable news, you have to try much harder. You have to set yourself apart. You have to do something original.

May I direct you to Countdown With Keith Olbermann, an hour-long MSNBC show that rivals Jon Stewart's Daily Show in entertainment value while also serving up smart takes on the news of the day. Heck, some days it even makes news.

Each edition of the weeknight show (7-8 p.m., MSNBC) uses gimmicks, but they are gimmicks that work, from its central "countdown" theme to "Keeping Tabs," tracking celebrity news, to a hilarious daily segment called "Oddball," a video News of the Weird.

The show is helmed and largely written by a guy once famous for being an ESPN SportsCenter anchor, which might give the unfamiliar some pause. It shouldn't. Countdown is as smart as anything on TV, including its time-slot rival, Fox News' O'Reilly Report, and Olbermann's the reason.

There's no reason to expect he will ever approach the reach of O'Reilly, which has nine times Countdown's audience, but Olbermann can take solace knowing his is the most popular show on MSNBC. On occasion it beats CNN's Paula Zahn Now among the target news audience, viewers 25-54.

Ratings are important in the television business, but they're not Olbermann's overwhelming concern.

... much more :loveya:

Edit to include: [e-mail]

I'm going to send him a thank you note :bounce:

[Clark2008]

1. It's so great to read that he beats Paula Zahn

in the ratings (even if only "on occasion).

When one considers that MSNBC isn't in nearly the markets CNN is, that's more than just nice, it's amazing.

KeithPower!! :loveya:

[crispini]

2. GREAT article

hopefully KO :loveya: will get more viewers in Houston. GK, did you happen to put the writer up to this?

Won't see ya'll again tonight... more volunteer stuff. Maybe on the rerun! :hi:

[Berry Cool]

3. So delighted to see this!

GO KEITH! :loveya:

[gkhouston]

4. nope. If I had, I would have instructed him to

eschew the word "gimmick", which to my mind implies that Keith's popularity is due to some sort of trickery rather than intelligent reporting, tight writing, and a wicked sense of the absurd.

[Berry Cool]

5. I was a little worried about it too, but it draws you into the article...

as implied criticism often does...and then you see he's not criticizing him for it at all. On the contrary, he's saying that Keith is popular because of...intelligent reporting, tight writing and a wicked sense of the absurd.

Which is actually quite clever, because it mimics what Countdown itself does. Even Keith will admit that the entire concept of having a "countdown of the top 5 news stories of the day" was a gimmick designed to get people to watch in the first place. But once he's got 'em in the tent...that's where the gimmicks end and the substance takes over.

There is nothing wrong with tricking people into watching a show when what you appear to be offering them is fluff and what you actually deliver is substance. What's wrong is with the other way around...promising substance and then delivering only fluff. Or teasing people with salacious and sleazy-sounding garbage and then actually offering them something quite tame by comparison. Or actually OFFERING the sleaze...

No, I was much more bothered by the fact that the reporter said Countdown was as smart as anything else on TV, including O'Lielly's show! (Talk about damning with faint praise!) And by the fact that someone on the copy desk was asleep and didn't spell "principal" right in the reference to MJ Puppet Theatre...

But with all that, I'm delighted that yet another journalist is singing the praises of this largely undiscovered gem.

[Catchawave]

6. Well stated Berry, also.....

This part of the article was very enlightening...

"Is he liberal or conservative?"

"A lot of my personal world view is unmistakably sympathetic to things in a liberal play book," he said, "but honest to God, I have been called a reactionary by some on the far left, a liberal by some on the far right and I'm insulted by both terms. My point of view is about delivering information and context. It has nothing to do with a political point of view."

Honest to gosh journalism ! That's what I love about our Keefy

:loveya:

[Berry Cool]

8. Just another one of the things I like about our man.

He's not committed to some political ideology, right or wrong. He's committed to what he believes in, and being consistent with it.

And you know, they say you know you've balanced things out well when extremists on both sides think you are working for the other one.

[RevCheesehead]

7. So Keith doesn't write "Oddball" -

That doesn't surprise me. But I'm sure he has a hand in editing, and probably adds his own snark (and the toss of the papers). :)

That was one terrific artice. Thanks, Catch!