Keith Olbermann Fired By Current

[swillh2k2 203]

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/current-tv-fires-keith-olbermann-replaces-him-with-eliot-spitzer_b119230

No big surprise. He's burned bridges every single place he's been--ESPN, Fox Sports, MSNBC (twice), and now Current. There is literally no one that will hire him now.

EDIT: He's threatened to sue on Twitter. This is going to get ugly.

http://twitter.com/keitholbermann

[24994J 5577]

There is literally no one that will hire him now.

I don't know...if he can cook Food Network is almost always hiring, and I don't think Nickelodeon has found a host for the resurrected "Figure It Out".

[swillh2k2 203]

...

[bammy9 26]

and I don't think Nickelodeon has found a host for the resurrected "Figure It Out".

 

Actually they have. I hope he strikes a deal to co-host the Dan Patrick Show with his "tag team partner"

[Jess 1115]

...and he's being replaced by Elliot Spitzer. Oh, goodie.

 

Can't say I'm shocked. As one ESPNer said, "he doesn't burn bridges, he napalms them".

 

So, uhm, what's next? GSN?

 

Redacting my earlier reply after reading the article, because I have something a little more profound to say.

 

It's this paragraph in Current's "don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, Keith" press release:

 

We are moving ahead by honoring Current’s values. Current has a fundamental obligation to deliver news programming with a progressive perspective that our viewers can count on being available daily — especially now, during the presidential election campaign. Current exists because our audience desires the kind of perspective, insight and commentary that is not easily found elsewhere in this time of big media consolidation.

 

Okay, okay. I get they have a "vision", an "obligation to deliver news programming with a perspective". I think they're flat wrong. You know what we need?

 

We need a 24 hour news channel.

 

...I know what you're saying. "We have news channels! We have too many of them!" Wrong.

 

You know what I get when I tune into a "news channel"? On CNN, I get the execrable Brooke Baldwin, my least favorite news anchor of all time (and I've lived through Sharon Reed), and some dumb gimmicks like "Reporter Roulette" and "YOU CHOOSE THE NEWS!!!1". HLN is infected by Jane Velez-Mitchell and Nancy Grace (who should have been fired about nine times already) presuming guilt until found innocent. Fox, of course, has anchors fresh from the Blonde-O-Matic 3000 doing stories that somehow twist to a right-wing view, and then blowhards like O'Reilly and CAVUTO. MSNBC does stories that somehow twist to a left-wing view, tries to do the blowhard thing all day, interspersed with Dateline NBC filler, and they employ Jesse Jackson who is currently railing about the whole Travon Martin thing. And when I tune in to any of them, I'm more likely to hear about Rick Santorum taking a dump than I am about serious things, like what the hell is going on in Iran and a rebellion in Mali.

 

These aren't news channels. They're news commentary channels. And that's being kind - I'd personally call them drivel.

 

I am an avowed BBC News watcher. Part of that is because I believe they are legitimately the best at what they do. But part of that is also because I know I can turn the channel to BBC World News at the top of the hour and know what the top stories are, see cogent reporting on them, and occasionally a brief discussion about it. By the time their bulletins end - they only do news for the first half of each hour - I'm more informed than after watching three hours of a US channel. CNNI is a little closer to the US feel, but they also seem more focused on news than CNN Domestic is. You know what's happening when a program begins or when it's the half hour. And the anchors are much better. In both cases, I'm not getting lame gimmicks, "personalities", and extended dialogues on Lindsay Lohan's latest probation meeting. I'm getting the news.

 

Now, I'm not calling for a canned format. Headline News was nice but it got tiring seeing stories updated only every three hours. I think there's a place for personalities, long-form coverage, and even people like Bill-O and Keith-O. But the focus has to be on the news, on keeping the viewer update to what's going on in the world. It can be done, and it can be done in a fun, lively way.

 

Come to think of it MSNBC had a great news show a few years back. It ran from 2003 to the middle of 2005. And it was called "Countdown with Keith Olbermann".

 

...cleaned up the drink you just spat out? Good.

 

When that show came on the air, it was a breath of fresh air. Here was a show that had an irreverent SportsCenter guy "counting down" the news. Five news stories, covered in depth, over the course of an hour, with the joke being that #5 was the biggest story and #1 the most trivial. Occasionally Olbermann would deliver a "special comment", sometimes devastating and true, that would get people talking, but he kept it straight or just slightly askew. But alas, it didn't last - the "middle of 2005" was about the point where he did one Special Comment too many, the show became his bully pulpit against Bill O'Reilly, and it became just another ideological garbage hour.

 

If Current wants to reinvent itself, it shouldn't do the Countdown with Keith Olbermann that he brought over. It should do the Countdown that he originally hosted, the informative, funny, sometimes enlightening one. But mostly it should just hire good anchors, good reporters, and get cameras and send them all over the world.

 

Because we need a news channel.

[trev57 46]

+1 HulkieD

[mre29 1523]

+1 HulkieD

 

Make that +2.

 

 

[stevieboy247 42]

I'd say he'll probably end up on either terrestrial or satellite radio, or maybe both. Because radio is pretty much the only option for Mr. Olbermann at this point.

 

I know Glenn Beck does it both ways, and perhaps Keith could do the same if he's able to do so.

[Weeters 1916]

I'd say he'll probably end up on either terrestrial or satellite radio, or maybe both. Because radio is pretty much the only option for Mr. Olbermann at this point.

 

I know Glenn Beck does it both ways, and perhaps Keith could do the same if he's able to do so.

 

He could always be like Glenn Beck and start his own internet TV channel.

 

"Olbermann TV: At least we're not CNN!"

[LoadStar 364]

I was just saying elsewhere that I think his best, possibly only, option is to self-fund and self-produce a television show, syndicate it, and hope enough stations picks it up. As it stands, I think after being fired this many times, I can't imagine anyone would want to hire him.

 

I don't think radio is a good fit, looking back at the miserable track record that liberal/progressive talk radio has had in this country. He could probably do a syndicated radio show as well as the TV show for the very few progressive talk stations there are left, I suppose.