Is the End Near for Olbermann?
This article from JedEckert.com is so good, I wanted to put it up as a guest column. Please, post your comments.
Chaos at MSNBC
While the Olympics continue in Vancouver, we’re hearing that things continue to fall apart at “The Place for Politics.” Despite having Olympic lead-ins to their prime-time line-up, ratings continue to be abysmal. Keith the Stalker has not been able to get out of his ratings slump for almost a year, and his bizarre personal behavior has begun to worry some NBC execs. Nobody knows when or if he will actually even show up to host his own show for one thing.
Ratings picture is bleak:
- Looking at January 2009 compared to January 2010, Keith is down 27% whereas his hated enemy, O’Reilly is up 22%.
- In the much vaunted demo (ages 25-52) Keith is down a whopping 47%, O’Reilly is up 53%.
As we noted earlier this week, Keith has a propensity to blame absences on dead or dying parents especially when he doesn’t get his way, and his bosses have long suspected that he was playing the bereaved son card. They could even tolerate the sick father excuse to a point (apparently even when that said father was not be seen at the many Yankee games Keith was attending - one notable game was the October 9 play-off against the Twins!) But now things have really gotten creepy. In his special comment on Wednesday, in what can only be a cry for help or sign of impending mental breakdown, Keith talked about killing his father:
Now, many of us have gone through similar things with our parents, but I bet few would use the ordeal to score political points, and even fewer to use it to play hookey for days on end - especially when his prime seats behind home plate at Yankee Stadium can be seen on TV! It has been reported in the past that Keith would simply refuse to leave his apartment (or even his bathtub) after fighting with management. But this appears to be a new strategy.
Word is that the folks at NBC are now looking for a way out. Very informed sources tell us that they realize all his relationships with employers end badly. It is just a matter of degree. Add to that - his embarrassingly dismal ratings no longer appear to warrant his inflated salary.
On another note, we noticed that some of the more obscure Olympic events were actually playing better on MSNBC than it’s actual programming. On Wednesday, curling, yes curling, bled over into Keith’s hour. When he finally go on the air, viewers fled.
We presume that new tagline will be -MSNBC: “The Place for Curling!”
And even more bad news - we were just taking as look a David Letterman’s ratings for last week. That show tanked with last Thursday’s appearance of The Stalker - with the lowest ratings that week by far. We hope that Dave has learned his lesson.
You may also want to check out “Is Olbermann now a liability for MSNBC?” at Capitol Hill Blue.
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Bernie does need his own show. What a travesty that Olberman has one and Bernie does not. What a travesty that O’Reilly has one, and Bernie does not.
Bernie, will you be the first to diagram a hockey stick graph, showing the comparison of the CO2 spewed into the air from Icelands volcano versus that CO2 from all of the SUV’s manufactured to date? I want to see that kind of hockey stick graph, but alas, unless it has breasts, O’reilly won’t have it on his show.
Yes Bernie, It is time for your own show.. some fair and balanced pontifications to enlighten the great unwashed.. if you build it they will come.
Hey Fox ! Wake Up !
I don’t usually make up nicknames, but he was so creepy both in his content and demeanor that I just had to. I came up with “Heinrich Oberfuehrerman” because he reminds me of WW II German Nazis making speeches against Jews. NBC missed this because no matter how much you talk and look like a German antisemite, anti-Israel hate speech is always permitted.
I can’t stand him when he’s on sports shows. How many jobs can you have before someone realizes that air time is not you strong suit. If he’s the best MSNBC has then they have a real problem.
Every couple of years I watch about 30 minutes of Olbermann just to see what the “other side” is saying. Each time I do this I get so frustrated that I start making a list of sponsors that advertise during his show. I vow to avoid those merchants at all costs. I find it interesting that he is the only TV personality that creates such a negative reaction in me. Has there ever been a coordinated effort to avoid MSNBC advertisers in general?
I find it hard to believe anyone would waste their time watching Keith Olbermann or MSNBC for that matter. Seriously, will Olbermann ever stop blaming former President Bush for everything? Or will he ever control his obsession with Palin? Or better yet, will he ever stop kissing Obama’s ass?
I’m an independent and I tried watching Olbermann a few times but this guy is a nut case. When he gets pumped up and stares into the camera, I mean it’s scary. He’s a very weird guy. He’s arrogant, childish and mean spirited.
Why do people watch him? It’s 60 minutes of the world as Keith Olbermann sees it. Are you people who watch him all sheep? Can’t you think on your own? My God, doe she ever have anyone on who doesn’t kiss his ass? All his regular commentators are as left wing as he is. They all sit there and attack and belittle anyone who doesn’t agree with them.
I’ve stopped watching MSNBC all together, Olbermann swears on the air, is rude and arrogant and needs to be medicated. What’s even funnier is they attach Fox and the “Right Wing” elements of the media for being biased but for God sake MSNBC is even worse. It’s a network of left wing liars.
Olbermann inspires hatred and fear in his own right. How sad out nation has become that someone like Olbermann is allowed ot be on the air. What’s even sadder is people actually watch him. Why? He spews the same ridiculous garbage every night. He distorts the truth and really folks, he’s freaking weird. Seriously, watch his face at times, he’s really weird and getting very unstable.
Is the end near for Keith, MSMBS commentator? No! Not even close. He is recovering from his father’s death and is even more determined to point out the insanity of the far right in America and help steer this country from disaster, as much as a passionate, coherent newscaster can. He has a dedicated following of like minded Americans. I like his calling people out for their foolish comments including Bernie Goldberg.
No one claimed that he is the only idiot; just that he is an idiot. It only takes about 5 seconds to see that he is not worth watching. Ratings don’t lie. I hope he doesn’t lose his job since I surely don’t want to see him on any of my sports shows. I will not watch any show with that idiot on it. He should call himself out. Passionate does not imply intelligence or for that matter, decency. He has neither.
I wish Bernie had his own show on Fox; I would watch it.