The Year of The TV Personality

[Keyser Soze]

Very harsh little take on KO, Carlson and Anderson Cooper... Not very nice at all. Makes some good points, but takes some unnecessary cheap shots.
[url=http://citybelt.typepad.com/citybelt/2006/12/stewpot_news_st.html]City Belt's Stewpot[/url]

[Keyser Soze]

I didn't know it was possible to sound this condescending in print.

[chicating]

I do think there will be one bad network "Countdown" because the suits won't get that Countdown is written the way it is because it's the way Olbermann thinks(imo) rather than "Young people love that wacky shit."
So the copy will tank.

[OlbermannBuiltMyHotRod]

I didn't know it was possible to sound this condescending in print.

then you must not read The Rude Pundit. man, i just love that dude!

seriously, i kind of feel sorry for her. i guess not every progressive can have the brains to be grateful to Olbermann. she's a sad little commentator, isn't she? pitiful.

[Keyser Soze]

Rude pundit is funny.The little I've read was hilarious. This chick doesn't seem to be even trying for sarcasm. Sounds bitter and condescending. Very unfair to KO. IMO

[chicating]

Yeah, cause every asshole in a blazer quotes Shakespeare, Edith Piaf, and Abraham Lincoln...um, yeah. Uses words like "quotidian" in the course of a news broadcast.(eyerolling)
KO got me to rent the Manchurian Candidate this week. I thought it was great, but I'd always been intimidated before...his analogy was fairly apt, btw.
Not that anyone here is surprised to read that.

[Michael]

Countdown in particular barely tries to conceal its desire to be The Daily Show. This is pitiful. Emulating your own parody is surely a recipe for failure,

Extreme snark, agreed. I haven't made up my mind about this column yet. I think I have to tease away my respect for Olbermann and his work from my contempt for the marketing people at MSNBC, who ARE making Keith sound like he is imitating a parody show on Comedy Central... the MSNBC ads have said that Keith is "funnier than the Daily Show" and they call that pathetic branch of the MSNBC Message board "Olbermann Nation"!

I don't think this is Keith's doing at all--I think it is the suits trying to spin him.

[OlbermannBuiltMyHotRod]

i agree with you. suits suck.

[Keyser Soze]

It seemed to me that the show was being attacked and dismissed more than the way the show is being pushed by MSNBC. I agree MSNBC is not doing the show any service by the weird little ads (and they do the same to every show with the exception of Matthews... it seems to me). But this writer seems to be going after the content of the show, on top of how MSNBC is trying to sell it. I was genuinely bothered by the Special Comment ads. But, this writer, seems to me, dismisses the whole show based on the way it is being packaged, and some of the segments. I don't think she finds a redeeming quality. (need to read it again...)...

[SusieQ]

I didn't want to say this when Dan Abrams took over as general manager of msnbc because I really hoped that he would find a way to make the network better..........but.... Didn't anyone else find him to be more about sensationalism on his show than most on msnbc? He seemed to like covering stories that had a sensational twist to them and I had a hard time watching when he had the opposing sides just bickering away about whether the Duke kids should be tried or not, etc.... He has to be bringing some of that mentality to msnbc........nothing like how Countdown works though. I just really hope that he doesn't mess with Countdown, the show. By putting up the message board, I have a feeling msnbc is trying to attract the younger viewers.

[Keyser Soze]

I just finished reading Jeff Cohen's book "Cable News Confidential."
Cohen founded FAIR and was a senior producer on the Donahue show. In the book he said something which floored me. He felt more free to say his peace at Fox (he was a panelist on the Fox News Watch show) than when working on the Donahue show at MSNBC.

Check out this interview with him. He talks about Abrams and his experience while at MSNBC.

[url=http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4264]Interview With Jeff Cohen[/url]

[SusieQ]

Hawkish Abrams? What a revelation. Well, I only started watching him around June of this year, and he seemed to be against the war then. Must have done a turn around. What a hypocrit. Something is also wrong when Murdoch throws parties for Hillary. Not sure what to think of that. I suddenly feel very depressed.

[Kathy]

It seemed to me that the show was being attacked and dismissed more than the way the show is being pushed by MSNBC. I agree MSNBC is not doing the show any service by the weird little ads (and they do the same to every show with the exception of Matthews... it seems to me). But this writer seems to be going after the content of the show, on top of how MSNBC is trying to sell it. I was genuinely bothered by the Special Comment ads. But, this writer, seems to me, dismisses the whole show based on the way it is being packaged, and some of the segments. I don't think she finds a redeeming quality. (need to read it again...)...

I agree that this blogger appears to have mistaken the network's advertising for Keith's own self-promotion and does not appear to be able to mentally separate the two. She's also way too condescending and hipper-than-thou for me, even when she makes good points.

Also--and this is fatal--note that she's one of those people one finds so often in the blogoverse, people who think that THEY DON'T NEED NO STEENKING FACTS TO BACK UP THEIR OPINIONS, BECAUSE THEIR OPINIONS STAND ON THEIR OWN AS VALID WITHOUT THE NEED OF STEENKING FACTS! Observe her response to "Cato"'s comment.

And bloggers are always wondering why journalists look down on them...at least journalists know that opinions aren't worth SHIT without FACTS to support them. They know that without facts, your "view from the couch" and a dollar will, and should, not buy you much more than a cup of coffee--and don't expect it to be from Starbucks!