Opinion: O’Reilly threatens NBC…
He threw a big stone at NBC CEO Bob Wright last night over people picking on him…(via TVNewser)
But “Talking Points” is troubled by the behavior of NBC, which cheap shots FOX News on a regular basis and has been doing so for some time.
It is only a few people doing this, but NBC President Robert Wright allows it to happen. Wright knows exactly what’s going on, because he’s been made aware of it.
Now we understand that NBC has major problems. Its prime time programming is dead last. Its cable operations are ratings failures. And the network may lose Katie Couric to CBS, but that is no excuse for unprofessional behavior.
He then followed that up with a not so veiled threat…
But there’s something very wrong at NBC. And if it continues, “Talking Points” will go into greater detail about the problems besetting that network. We hope Robert Wright will right the situation and believe he has the power to do it.
If Bill O’Reilly thinks crying to Bob Wright is going to stop this, he’s crazy. And issuing threats isn’t likely to generate the desired response either. Man, Olbermann will have a field day with this…O’Reilly just opened a Pandora’s Box…
Up till now this tit-for-tat has been going on relatively un-noticed outside of a few internet sites and loyal Countdown/Factor viewers. But now with this new escalation, and if O’Reilly follows through on his threat, he is going to end up throwing all kinds of publicity on this spat and that will probably produce results O’Reilly neither intended nor wanted. Like for example, writers coming to Olbermann asking for interviews about why O’Reilly is such a target. And people reading those stories the writers end up writing. This could wind up being a bigger PR blunder than when FNC tried to sue to stop Al Franken’s book.
Bull’e Eye, Spud!
I am an O’Reilly fan, but I watched this unfold last night, and agree that it was pretty strong stuff.
It’s okay to bring facts and reason to the debate - even dueling interpretations - but creating conflict with Bob Wright where none may exist is questionable.
Score-settling is an unending game, and sometimes gets in the way of clear thinking.
Comment by Cara — January 31, 2006 @ 2:45 pm
If I was BOR part of me would let KO off the hook since he’s such a ratings disaster but on the other hand why should I let this little RAT talk s$%$&t about me day in day out. I don’t want to give him any press so I will let their boss do the dirty work for me. Let KO whine to Bob why it’s justified. Hahahaha
Comment by Lurker — January 31, 2006 @ 3:46 pm
What will have to happen to finally shut o’reilly up once and for all?!? He’s just a menance to the cable waves. One day, ONE DAY, he will meet his match and it will UGLY!!!
Comment by Hairy — January 31, 2006 @ 4:25 pm
I love Bill and support what he does but I personally would not give NBC the time of day. But then again, NBC is not attacking me either. So second thought, go for it Bill.
Comment by noelle — January 31, 2006 @ 4:46 pm
I agree Spud.
I had veiwed O’Reilly’s show once when I started watching Olbermann.
Since then I’ve watched it at least four times, all in anticipation of something happening with O’Reilly or the show, because I had seen Olbermann virtually promo O’Reilly’s show on Countdown.
I’m not an O’Reilly fan, but he needs to send Bob Wright thank you cards.
Comment by Cecelia — January 31, 2006 @ 6:14 pm
O’Reilly can dish it out but he can’t take it. What a wimp!
Comment by Becky in Ohio — January 31, 2006 @ 6:52 pm
NBC has really went down hill in the past few years and is slowly degrading any credibility it has left( KO comes to mind). I don’t know why Bill wastes time on a third rate network…
Comment by anonymous — January 31, 2006 @ 6:58 pm
Bill O’ makes me crazy but alas, I cannot miss his program as I agree with a lot of what he says. Keith O is a thumb-sucking jealous twit and anyone who brags about his show being #1 on MSNBC is nuts - #1 compared to what?? I am glad O’R finally fought back and now KO just needs to shut up.
Comment by Sophia — January 31, 2006 @ 7:02 pm
I don’t know why KO or BOR waste time on this stupidity. It makes them look like whiny brats. They both need to knock it off.
Comment by Goldfish — January 31, 2006 @ 7:41 pm
Bill O’Reilly is a cable news God, and Keith Olbermann is not even close.
Comment by Mia — January 31, 2006 @ 8:14 pm
Billy is concerned that MSNBC is starting to overtake CNN in the ratings… once CNN is out of the picture and in third place… MSNBC will start to creep up on FOX News… so what do you do? You character assassinate and send out vicious attack dogs to try and make them look bad. This is a sign that Bill O’Reilly feels threatened.
Comment by Nobody — January 31, 2006 @ 8:21 pm
KO is so pathetic, Didn’t he beg his viewers to vote him sexiest cable guy in Playgirl or something? Sheesh
Comment by Lurker — January 31, 2006 @ 8:26 pm
I’ve never seen anyone try harder to provoke a response in my life. Will KO be around to enjoy the end of this spat? Or will he be at home posting on blogs?
Comment by Terance — January 31, 2006 @ 8:34 pm
Nobody = Know nothing
KO is s%$t talking about BOR constantly. No one wants to be S#^%t talked by some doofy looking twit that throws paper balls at the camera without a fight, But engaging with KO on air will just fall right into doofy’s plans, getting free air time on the highest rated cable news show. So just let the boss handle this out of control RAT. Brilliant!!!
Comment by Lurker — January 31, 2006 @ 8:34 pm
I am amazed. Just amazed.
Bill O’Reilly goes off the deep end and starts making threats against NBC–note, NBC–threatening to somehow expose some deep dark secret of theirs known only to his paranoid mind…and all of a sudden this becomes a discussion of how pathetic KEITH OLBERMANN is and how bad his ratings are and how he badmouths O’Reilly all the time and is thumb-sucking and jealous twit and is ruining *NBC*????
Incredible. The O’Reilly nuts can take ANY piece of news–no matter how bad–about Bill’s behavior and turn it into another Olbermann slam. Even though Olbermann is on MSNBC, not NBC! (And yes, it does matter–Bill has never hesitated to mention MSNBC specifically when he has problems with them in his own mind.)
Gee, what’s up, Billy-boy? Did Brian Williams dis you now? Did David Gregory pee in your cornflakes? What is it?
Wow. The men in white coats could be taking Bill away in a straitjacket, and his loyal nutbars would be saying, “It’s all Keith Olbermann’s fault! Olbermann drove him around the bend. He should be sent to prison for this.”
Comment by tanne — January 31, 2006 @ 8:56 pm
Funny how everybody above misses the obvious including Hairy in Australia who has likely never seen O’Reilly.
Mr. Bill is sending Bob Wright an obvious message: seize and desist with the personal attacks, I know plenty of inside poop on your people at NBC and MSNBC and won’t hesitate to embarrass y’all, big time!
Comment by Ira — January 31, 2006 @ 8:57 pm
tanne, please comeback to reality and stop drinking the Kool-Aid
To make you feel better turn on FNC at ( pm and hear our President address the nation and also be on the look-out for our new SCOTUS Sam Alito
Hahahaha
Comment by Lurker — January 31, 2006 @ 9:29 pm
Oh, so O’reilly speaks and we’re suppose to stop and join the crusade? Bill talks about a no spin zone when in fact he is the spin master. I wish he would take his own advice and SHUT UP!!
Comment by Anon — January 31, 2006 @ 9:58 pm
Olbermann did some damage tonight… after his latest attack, every guest he had (including Chris Matthews) commented on it……..
Comment by Nobody — January 31, 2006 @ 10:08 pm
That was probably a condition of their appearance. Back in the 1940s, Fred Allen and Jack Benny staged a feud that lasted for years. It was in fun, and everyone knew that, but just pretending that it was real boosted the ratings of both programs.
Comment by johnny dollar — January 31, 2006 @ 10:18 pm
Olbermann is a perverted old man. Someone needs to dig a little deeper into his personal life.
Comment by Zsa Zsa — January 31, 2006 @ 10:45 pm
Like O’Reilly’s not? I think we’ve got $10 million dollars worth of proof that he is and Andrea Mackris laughed all the way to the bank over that one.
Comment by Mia2 — January 31, 2006 @ 10:49 pm
The Kool Aid drinkers need to step back and assess the situation from the perspective of the vibrator-using Far- Right Traditionalists. (Not to be confused with the pure ancestral Traditionalist whose mind’s haven’t been agitated by the devices.) Bill was KO’ed. Simple as that. He’s now 0-3. The “Silver Fox,” Phil Donahue, left Bill muttering incoherently to himself, IMO, and then David Letterman delivered a (legal) Late Night hit that Bill seems to have never really recovered from. And today K.O. plowed into him like Bo Jackson into Brian Bosworth (Brian where are you now?) leaving Bill on the turf whining petulantly about a cheap shot, when it was delivered fair and square. The vibrator-using Far-Right Traditionalists have lost their leader,IMO. Nobody likes a loser (o-3), and O’Reilly’s a turn-off-even to them, IMO. (And how disgusting to take a poll of his audience about whether they believe too much media attention has been paid to the severely injured journalists while they are fighting for their lives!)
Comment by Juan — February 1, 2006 @ 12:21 am
^
Biggest Kool-Aid drinker of them all
BOR made Letterman look like a dope and he even admitted he wasn’t smart enough to go point by point with BOR. Haha what a clown. Only 0-3 in Juan Williams eyes when in fact it was 3-0 for BOR
and Geeeeeezzzzz, You see these RATS replies??? Look how long the rants are, They must be sooooooo miserable hahahaha
Comment by Lurker — February 1, 2006 @ 12:34 am
OK, Juan, you made me literally laugh out loud. I wish you would have mentioned “vibrator in the rear orafice far-right traditionalists,” though, just to be a bit more accurate. I’m happy that finally one of you far-left secular progressives (let’s call them SPs for short) didn’t resort to that “falafel” canard. We all know how hard it is to tell a loofah from a falafel.
Can you imagine what will happen if BO and KO start tossing around personal informtion? It might be the biggest thing to happen in cable news since OJ.
Comment by moi-meme — February 1, 2006 @ 1:51 am
What do you mean he’s a “perverted old man” in terms of his personal life? You leave a comment like that and don’t even bother to explain yourself Zsa Zsa. Details please.
Comment by Lee — February 1, 2006 @ 8:55 am
NBC has problems? Thats hilarious. Fox is a disaster, with exactly 2 hit shows on its sad channel, American Idol and 24. Everything else stinks up the joint and battles it out with UPN and the WB for bottom of the ratings honors. NBC news does what, 9-11 million viewers a night? FNC cant come even close to that, with O’Reilly barely cracking 2 million on a good night, and thats their highest rated show. Factor in the Today show, Meet the Press, MSNBC, and all of NBC’s other ancillary nets & syndicates, and they have a reach that so far surpasses FOX/FNC that comparison becomes ridiculous.
O’Reilly’s on crack.
Comment by spud_jr — February 1, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
Last time I saw a full season rating, CBS is the most watched network, closely followed by ABC and FOX. NBC is far behind. NBC is a free-to-air network, FNC is a cable network. Your comparison is rather pathetic. I wonder who is really on crack…and on Kool-aid…
Bill put up the talking point that one night, and he has yet to talk more about it since. Obviously, he’s not “taking it on” like the Jessica’s Law or the Vermount case. It seems like only those on MSNBC are “all over it.”
Comment by Gabe — February 1, 2006 @ 5:02 pm
Why are RATS like spud_jr so stupid?? He’s comparing broadcast tv to cable tv. Hahaha FNC is the #1 cable news channel and isn’t it like somewhere between 3-5 place as the most watched cable channel??? BOR can’t can barely crack 2 million on a good night? Geeezzz, Now you can’t even read??? Go look at those ratings again. Oh yea looks like Fox broadcast will also be the ratings winner again this year and quit your whining that we have American Idol Hahaha We also have House, 24, Prison Break and Bones. God, This spud_jr just like a typical RAT, Lie and spinning the story. LOL
Comment by Lurker — February 1, 2006 @ 6:26 pm
I’ve yet to find out what O’Reilly is talking about. What exactly did NBC do to attack FNC?
Comment by Mississippian — February 1, 2006 @ 6:52 pm
Lurker: Good post. Spud Jr. also can’t read ratings data. NBC Nightly News, ABC and CBS news gets about 8 to 10 million PER WEEK, only 2 to 3 million nightly.
And on most nights, Big Fox is close to the top in the 18 to 49 demo.
Comment by Ira — February 1, 2006 @ 8:44 pm
The broadcast networks AVERAGE 7-10 million per week. They never only get 2-3 million per night. (total viewers)
Comment by Terance — February 2, 2006 @ 9:52 am
Keith Olbermann is more of a real newsman. Bill O’ Reilly is more of an ideological driven commentator and entertainer, sort of like Maury Povich, but with better showmanship. Both are good, Keith is good for dealing with the real issues; Bill is good for entertaining people. I used to watch Bill O’ Reilly when he was with Inside Edition, so I am a little partial to him. I do watch Bill a little more, I’ve just always enjoyed tabloid type TV shows since the 1980s, but I’ll turn Keith on if some real issues are going on.
Comment by G.B. — July 5, 2007 @ 3:46 am