Olbermann in the NY Times — "MSNBC's Star Carves Anti-Fox Niche"

[NYCGirl]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/arts/television/11keit.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

He is either the leading man of MSNBC or its leading agent provocateur, but Keith Olbermann has no problem embracing either role.

“You can’t spell momentum without Olbermann — or something like that,” he said in a telephone interview, with a typical sprinkle of wry in his voice.

—snipped—

That a rabid audience can be built for a political discussion show from the left, as it has so effectively been done on talk radio and on some of Fox’s programs from the right, has not been demonstrated before, unless you count the fake news shows on Comedy Central. Mr. Olbermann said the administration had created enough disaffection to keep both his ratings and his outrage up.

“The country gave this president every imaginable benefit of the doubt,” he said, about the period following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. “He abused it. You know what Lincoln said: You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of time. But it looks like you can’t fool all of the viewers all of the time, endlessly.”

[wicket]

1. I love the picture that accompanies the article:

[Sydnie]

2. Alright ... who is in the pictures on his walls?

That would be very interesting to know too.

[NYCGirl]

6. The "Wally Ballou for Mayor" poster is amazing (and probably very

valuable)! Ballou is a character created by the wonderful comedy team, Bob and Ray — they're Olbermann's heroes, he quotes them all the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_and_Ray

[me b zola]

24. LOL. Look at his mousepad---

:rofl:

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

52. Who is it?

Who is it?

[malaise]

4. Go Keith

You are MSNBC!!

[Scout1071]

11. That's funny. My credenza has a bobblehead collection as well.

I think I need to marry Keith. Or at least date him.

[wicket]

15. I think I need to have his children

;) :rofl:

[Jo March]

16. Could he be any more handsome?!?

Wow. Good looks and intelligence. What a catch that man is!

:loveya:

[wicket]

17. To paraphrase Wayne's World:

"He's a babe! SCHWING!!!!"

:D

[Jo March]

55. LOL! I do so love Keith

I have since he was on Sports Night on ESPN.

:loveya:

[wicket]

56. Me too!

"Neidemeier! Dead!" :rofl: He and Dan made such a great team, but I'm glad Keith has got his current gig :)

[Clark2008]

18. Cute and smart

No two better worlds collide. :loveya:

[wicket]

19. General Clark fits that description too

:D

[PegDAC]

46. Keith and Wes

Can we pair up the two of them as often as possible?

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[PegDAC]

47. I love Keith

AND Wes!!!

[wicket]

48. Works for me!!!

:D :loveya:

[progressoid]

26. Looks like he has the talking Stewie !!

Like this one:

http://www.hollywoodempire.net/familyguy.htm

[gkhouston]

39. He *is* the talking Stewie, IMO. n/t

[longship]

45. Wally Ballou!!!

Gotta love Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding. Way ahead of their time.
Sadly Bob Elliot is no longer with us.

[Rose Siding]

3. "Hasn't been demonstrated before"

Except that it has. Phil Donohue was canned when his ratings were higher than Hairball's.

[blondeatlast]

22. Excellent point.

Still, Olbermann has a with that Donahue just doesn't have.

[Virginian]

50. "Buchanan and Press" was canned

When they both agreed that the Iraq war was a bad idea.
We can't have both parties AGREEing, now can we? Especially agreeing to disagree with the Bush machine. We must be polar on every issue, like crossfire! :sarcasm:

(Ahem, Crossfire went off the air.)

I was sorry to see Donahue go,
I was sorry to see Buchanan and Press go,
I was sorry to see Rita arrive. She reported on Katrina from Aruba so she could keep the Natalie Holloway story alive. I guess they brought her in to cover the continuing saga of Natalie for a year or so. I guess no one else disappeared in that year. oh, wait! There were other news stories about disappearing people that year; A tsunami and a big hurricane hit during that time and many, many people vanished. Some of them were even young white women.

Lately (Maybe since Katrina), I've noticed that Scarborough hasn't been in lockstep with the President.
Just tonight, it sounded like Tucker wasn't drinking the Kool Aide either.
What gives? Is MSGOP looking to scoop up ratings from the unserved opposition party?

Tweety is another story. He was all in support of the President when Iraq started and now he acts like he always opposed the war. Tweety was even handing out the Kool Aide in 2002. I guess he blows which ever way the opinion polls tell him.

edited to add quotes to the name of the show for clarity.

[go west young man]

53. And Lou Dobbs has gone all anti-Bush these days when he was

one of the biggest cheerleaders for the war. Still no apology from that gasbag.

[wicket]

57. I was wondering what ever happened to that show

I really liked Bill Press.

[Kolesar]

5. discussion of NYTimes article in Media Forum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x26596

[gatorboy]

7. "rabid"?

Is that the "liberal media's" way of sneaking in a snide remark about the left?

[NYCGirl]

8. But they use "rabid" about the right as well. NT

[gatorboy]

9. Yeah, but they ARE rabid!

:P

[NYCGirl]

10. It's equal opportunity rabidity!

:evilgrin:

[Joanne98]

41. "You have Al Franken and we have Hitler". Fair and balanced

[Skidmore]

12. Too funny. KO on an appearance on Sci Fi's "Surface" just now.

I just happened to be on the channel while reading this thread. I'd forgotten that I'd moved this and Countdown music started with KO's voice about a creature sighting. It took me a second to orient because I'd seen Countdown last night and there was no such story. LOL!

[Cha]

13. THis is Wonderful!

Keith's little Niche! People are starved for good mental nutrition after being saturated with hog shit for years!

[AX10]

14. kick

[young_at_heart]

20. Not ALL seniors watch O'Reilly

MY husband and I (both over 65), NEVER miss Countdown with KO. I can't imagine anyone with a discerning mind choosing O'Reilly over Olbermann!

[NYCGirl]

21. Well, then you have the PERFECT screen name!

:hi:

[Lugnut]

32. This senior doesn't either

I love Keith. :loveya:

[gully]

23. MSNBC is really embracing Olbermann and promoting his program

now that Abrams has taken the reigns.

[melissinha]

29. I agree, are they putting Scarborough after him so

Scarborough can ride his coattails?

I recently reacquired cable so I don't know.

[gully]

37. I think they are trying to be "provactive" and give some of the

other shows a shot. Also, I supposed it's "fair" to have a left leaning show followed by a "right wing" view point?

I think MSNBC is going to be an "interesting" station when all is said and done?

[go west young man]

54. They need to can Scarborough and hire Stephanie Miller!

That show is the funniest thing on Sirius satellite radio. Wake up MSNBC the country wants smart news not drivel like Carlson, Scarborough or Crosby.

[Norquist Nemesis]

25. It's NOT anti-Fox; it's serving an completely UNSERVED

niche. Idiots!

Why they choose to characterize things like this is beyond belief! Same thing with the Lieberman/Lamont campaign. All I keep hearing from them is that 'it's all about the anti-war far left extremist faction of the Democratic Party'.

Well, NO. How about: It's all about how Lieberman keeps trashing and demeaning people who belong to the Democratic Party. :banghead:

[PennyK]

27. Thrilled to see the story about my Dream Man BUT...

...I wish that they had focussed a bit more on his political slant than on the O'Really stuff. After all this IS The New York Times, and this is the only news and commentary show on TV that puts forth similar viewpoints to The Times' editorial page.

[melissinha]

28. He appears in my Nielsen journal

I will try to get a few more shows in my journal before I have to return it....

Question, what the HELL is this Headline News crap? They are as bad as Faux News!!!!!!

[SoCalDem]

30. Off topic, but who is that girl in your sig pic?

:shrug:

[tiptoe]

36. It's the "cute" Ronaldinho of Brazil's World Cup team :)

"Laaaa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laaaaaaa...Bra-ZILLE!"

[Critters2]

33. Cool!

I've never actually met a "Nielsen family". Push Keith!!

[bklyncowgirl]

35. Wow, you're a Nielsen person--I thought they were a legend

Sort of like Bigfoot.

Seriously I've never met anyone who did the Nielsen ratings thing--how did they find you?

[SaveAmerica]

31. What do you think I should ask him for as payment for advertising

here at DU:

[Catherine Vincent]

34. His good looks doesn't hurt either!

;-)

[Mabus]

38. I've always had a weak spot for intelligent eye-candy

It's what attracted me to my husband. ;)

[PegDAC]

49. [Sigh}

<drool>

[Catchawave]

40. I sent this thread to the Countdown staff....

...it's on the Home Page too :patriot: :applause: :applause: :applause: :woohoo: :woohoo: :applause: :applause: :patriot:

You can send more love here: [e-mail]

[earthboundmisfit]

42. Sweet! "MSNBC's Star"!

(And it ain't YOU, Tweety!!!!)

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

43. Look at his mousepad!

Not sure what is says, but it has * in the flight suit.

[lenegal]

44. Love Olberman

Keith, you have made cable news worth watching again.

Good looking, intelligent, hysterically funny.

YOU GO KEITH!

[Fermezlabush]

51. The Spin Room, Crossfire, Donahue were all ratings winners!

"There's no market for liberal ideas" was a RW think tank talking point , curiously conflicting with the "liberal media" moniker that they also launched.
The only way Faux was increasing audiences was through new markets aquisitions and echo chamber lies about its success.

[Clark2008]

58. In reading this thread, I have discovered that there seems

to be a major correlation between Keith fans and Clarkies. :7

Must be the intelligence AND good looks. :hi: