Olbermann's "Countdown" grows: 5 years after his last full-time sports gig, he makes the news go pop

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Keith Olbermann's 'Countdown' grows
The former sports host makes the news feel like pop culture.
By Paul Brownfield, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 7, 2007



More than any other news show on cable, MSNBC's "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" is us.

This has less to do with the host than the format, which is all about ranking things and listing things, prioritizing information in the way we've become acclimated to consume it: as somebody's -- anybody's -- best-of.

Olbermann, the host of "Countdown" since its inception in 2003, tonight moderates a Democratic presidential debate in Chicago sponsored by the AFL-CIO amid a year of improved ratings for "Countdown" that has seen one of its competition (no, not Bill O'Reilly, but CNN's Paula Zahn) drummed out of the race.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the former sports guy comes from a world of list-obsession plays of the day, players of the year and teams of the decade. Five years after his last full-time sports gig at Fox Sports Net, Olbermann has come to symbolize the quirky omniscience that broadcast news might very well demand in the future....

***

Olbermann has used the list to create an arch-nemesis, Fox News' O'Reilly, whom he perennially trails in the ratings but regularly baits, with the kind of sardonic aggression liberal talkers find hard to pull off.

In the process, Olbermann has developed a new brand -- the leftist firebrand of cable news, taking on O'Reilly (in rhetoric if not ratings) and the Bush administration in verbose, breathlessly written editorials that get passed around like munchies on various TV news websites....

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-ontv7aug07,0,7373684.story?coll=la-home-entertainment

[NewJeffCT]

1. good article, and I hope a year from now

People are talking about how Olbermann's ratings are challenging O'Reilly...

[rurallib]

4. I think one of the big problems with that is that a lot of cable systems

simply do not carry MSNBC but do carry Fux. So it is hard to watch KO if it isn't offered. People can beat on their cable systems to carry MSNBC but cable systems are not real responsive.
I got DISH so I can watch Amy Goodman also.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. This is true -- and I never see it mentioned. Thanks! nt

[cspanlovr]

2. Glad you posted this. I didn't realize the AFL-CIO debate was tonight!

I assume it will be on MSNBC. Do you happen to know?

[DeepModem Mom]

3. It will be on MSNBC, starting at 7 Eastern. nt

[cspanlovr]

6. Thank you! Keith!

[drbtg1]

7. Something they failed to mention this morning on the Today Show

Amidst the stories about Jim Cramer (with an on screen graphic about how he's on sister network CNBC), the Tony Snow interview (plugging NBC Nightly News and David Gregory), and an interview with Gingrich was a blast at Sen. Clinton by Andrea Mitchell (of course) and a mention of tonight's event. But NO mention of MSNBC broadcasting the event and certainly no mention of Mr. Olbermann.

So much for corporate synergy.

[WA98296]

8. "This has less to do with the host than the format,..." B.S. We LOVE K.O.!

ALWAYS disappointed with the show when it has substitutes.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. True! nt