O’Reilly afraid of Olbermann’s name…?
As noted earlier, after an all day advertising campaign on MSNBC framing Bill O’Reilly as being afraid of Keith Olbermann’s name (putting to rest the notion that Olbermann doesn’t have MSNBC and NBC’s backing), Countdown devoted Segment 2 to “Falafel Force/Bullied by Billy”.
Acknowledging that there was no way to know how much of the call got on the air, Keith played the portion that did make air and was posted on Bill O’Reilly’s website. Keith noted that it was subsequently taken down from the site. Next, Olbermann touched on Dusty Saunders’ column yesterday. This was followed by a radio clip of Howard Stern, fresh off his exclusive Hannity & Colmes interview, chastizing O’Reilly (”I think O’Reilly is…. getting crazy”) and giving listeners a lesson in Radio Call-in 101. Any bets that Stern doesn’t get another O’Reilly or FNC interview any time soon?
This was followed by an Al Franken radio parody of FOX Security, complete with A-Team theme music. Then came the main event. The interview with the mystery caller; who, after all was said and done, was still a mystery since only his first name was given and his face was obscured by a backlight.
So I guess it’s O’Reilly’s turn now to fire back. At some point this is going to become tedious and interest will wane in this story of the feud. But that point has not yet been reached as this thing keeps getting wider press coverage every time one of the two does something to the the other.
Looks like someone is turning MSNBC into a freak show network. Is it really news worthy?
Comment by Gabe — March 10, 2006 @ 10:13 am
Turning it into? A little late outta the gate, ain’t ya Gabe?
Comment by Roger C. — March 10, 2006 @ 10:52 am
Oh…and yes, Bill is “getting crazy” and has been for months and months. My man, Bill, is losing it faster and faster and doing so big time.
Comment by Roger C. — March 10, 2006 @ 10:55 am
Do you realize that Olbermann can’t get any publicity AT ALL without mentioning O’Reilly’s name? He has absolutely no charisma or star power on his own; he has resorted to incorporating O’Reilly (like him or not) into his “act”.
No one EVER paid attention to anything Olbermann had to say, but now that his primary focus is O’Reilly, he’s finally getting some attention. He’s written about in local newspapers, and now Brian Lamb of CSPAN is after him? Why would anyone care to interview him to begin with? And now CSPAN wants to talk to him, and they discuss Bill O’Reilly? There goes CSPAN’s reputation.
All you people who hate the tabloidization of news should be furious with this latest development. Olbermann can’t make it as a newsguy, but people want to talk to him about his harassment of O’Reilly. Very nice.
Comment by Missy — March 10, 2006 @ 11:01 am
Bull’s Eye, Missy! A perfect explanation.
Olbermann, the disgruntled loser, will do anything to shine a light on himself. I am shocked that CSpan would consider him worthy of their coverage. Perhaps CSpan bookers need stricter scrutiny.
Keith has exploited this conflict with B.O. to the fullest.
Bill handled it so well in the beginning, just by being indifferent to this relatively unknown gnat.
Comment by Cara — March 10, 2006 @ 11:44 am
Poor Missy. She actually thinks that because SHE doesn’t think Keith Olbermann has charisma or star power, that he lacks it. She just doesn’t get that such things are in the eye of the beholder…and a whole lot of people disagree with her!
The big irony is that she says “No one EVER paid attention to anything he had to say.” Not so! She did…even before all this began! The proof is in her past!
The only “tabloidization of news” that’s happening here is happening on Bill’s end…the more he falls into the trap of being upset by Olbermann, the bigger the spectacle he makes of himself. Meanwhile, Olbermann can do this AND still cover real news at the same time! Imagine that!
It really has been quite entertaining following the comebacks of the anti-Olbermann crowd as they have to constantly adjust and readjust to the situation. First, they claim he doesn’t have the backing of his network and his ratings are pathetic and that MSNBC will fire him. Then, when it turns out that MSNBC is actually plugging his show and backing him 100%, they have to fall back on their old “MSNBC is a nothing network” arguments. It’s gotta be exhausting, having to constantly find new ways to spin and re-spin things in that “No-Spin Zone” of theirs…LOL…
Comment by tanne — March 10, 2006 @ 12:03 pm
I don’t see it as being about charisma or star power since they are both on TV. Obviously people thinks they have womething to offer. But Bill O’Reilly is seen by so may more people, and when one mentions Keith Olbermann’s name, Bill O’Reilly immediately comes to mind. That says a lot to me.
Comment by Linda — March 10, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
Olbermann is so pathetic that probably BOR’s 4 am repeat still has better ratings. Hahahahaha Seriously though this Olbermann is like a cockroach that just doesn’t go away. I know it’s hard for a guy like BOR to get bashed by some two-bit loser and just ignore it, He also doesn’t want to go all out on Olbermann cause that will just play right into his plan, Giving him free publicity/ratings. So what do you do with this cockroach? I think BOR should just suck it up and no even achknowledge Olbermann anymore. Sooner or later he’ll go back to his puppet theatre and paper throwing at the camera’s antics or is he still doing those things right now???
Comment by Lurker — March 10, 2006 @ 1:04 pm
Well Tanne, enjoy this freak show as you’re the only one called it “entertaining.” It’s ironic that she enjoy this stuff while accusing others for “tabloidization of news”.
Comment by Gabe — March 10, 2006 @ 1:05 pm
tanne, I just can’t believe how Olbermann, when given the opportunity to appear on a “respected” TV venue, would go on and talk about ….Bill O’Reilly! Doesn’t he have enough credibility in his own right to speak about what HE cares about? One would think he’d have his own issues, experiences or causes that may provide worthwhile discussion for CSPAN’s audience. If he goes on and rants about O’Reilly, he will just embarass himself. Maybe Keith should contact the National Enquirer; they may be interested in the “catfight” he is trying to initiate.
I actually did like Olbermann at one time; I can see that he did have some type of attraction to viewers at one point. But when I realized his presentation of the news consisted of his viewpoint alone, and that he’d only invite people on who would agree with that view, I pretty much stopped watching. I’ll still watch once in a while if I see him presenting a “general interest” story or something humorous; I still believe he does a good job at things of that nature. But I don’t trust him to present anything other than his own opinion on stories of significance.
And tanne, please explain to us once again how O’Reilly is at fault here. Johnny Dollar has counted about 70 instances of O’Reilly’s being slammned on Countdown, and O’Reilly has responded MAYBE 2 or 3 times, in a somewhat vague manner. Yet in your words, O’Reilly is “making a spectacle of himself”. Can you tell us how?
Comment by Missy — March 10, 2006 @ 1:14 pm
Missy and Gabe, Why are you trying to reason with one of the biggest radical left-wing nuts? They are like Terminators, they don’t listen to reason, their goal, Hate Bush, Hate Republicans and Hate FNC.
Comment by Lurker — March 10, 2006 @ 1:17 pm
Oh, now THAT is funny…I’m “one of the biggest radical left-wing nuts”? Let’s see, so far here I have posted pro-Olbermann and anti-O’Reilly, Rivera, Gibson, van Susteren, Cosby and such…and THAT makes me “one of the biggest radical left-wing nuts”? Now that is a laugh. If that’s all it takes, the bar must be set pretty low for being slapped with that label! LOL!
Lurker, I don’t hate Bush, I just think he’s incredibly stupid and that his actions as president have proved that out. I don’t hate Republicans, I only hate the hate some of them bring to what they do. Now, FNC I hate…but only because they put on trash and lies and call it “journalism,” which to me is hate-worthy.
I also find it interesting, Gabe, that you dismiss all this as a “freak show”…yet YOU are watching it too…so what does it all say about YOU?
And Missy: You know as well as I do that Olbermann spends plenty of time talking about what he cares about. That’s because it’s not an either-or proposition: he can talk about what matters to him and STILL do this. Why? Because calling the far right out on its hypocrisy DOES matter to him, as well it should. And he didn’t initiate the “catfight”: Fox did, by being so nasty to anyone else who is trying to compete with them. They didn’t begin with Olbermann; they have been doing it since day one. It’s how they operate, and he knows it; that’s why he calls them on it. He knows how they try to personally slur and defame anyone who makes them feel threatened. The difference is, he’s not intimidated and he’s not afraid to call them on it. And when you prove you will stand up to a bully, that bully loses power over you.
Your damning of Olbermann with faint praise also fails. It’s obvious from what you say about his never presenting anyone who disagrees with him that you don’t even watch his program.
And you’re taking JOHNNY DOLLAR’s biased word for it that Olbermann slams O’Reilly way more than O’Reilly slams Olbermann? That’s like taking Satan’s word that Hell is actually, contrary to popular belief, cold! LOL. And I can tell you precisely how O’Reilly is making a spectacle of himself, if you haven’t yet figured it out: by doing things like starting that stupid petition to get Olbermann fired and replaced with Phil Donahue, which has become a joke, because the only people signing it now are Olbermann fans using fake names having to do with loofahs and falafels…and he’s doing it by cutting people off who call in to his radio show who say Olbermann’s name. This really does make him a laughingstock to normal people who are not his mindless sheep-fans. Too bad you can’t see it.
Then again, if some of you were not mindless sheep-fans, you would have lost all taste for O’Reilly the day the Mackris revelations came out. Boy, they sure don’t make your idol look too good, do they? What was his response to them? To pay the woman off and hope it would all be forgotten, rather than to fight to clear his name. That tells us all we really need to know: he couldn’t fight to clear his name, because his name was not clearable! Nothing says “guilty as sin” like paying off someone who accuses you of sexual harassment in an embarrassingly public way. You can call it blackmail all you like, but people who are not guilty and really want to clear their names stand up to blackmail and don’t let it win…they don’t just throw a lot of money at it and hope for it to go away! And frankly, that’s all I need to know about Loofah O’Falafel…or care to. Stay on the side of the fools who go on believing in Bill no matter what, if you like. I’ll stick with Olbermann.
Comment by tanne — March 10, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
Tanne - I mean Keith - you’re so obvious. Go work on your own show right now! If you improved your content and ratings, maybe you wouldn’t have to use other hosts from successful networks to gain popularity for yourself.
Comment by LAS — March 10, 2006 @ 2:01 pm
“And you’re taking JOHNNY DOLLAR’s biased word for it that Olbermann slams O’Reilly way more than O’Reilly slams Olbermann?”
That’s pretty much the truth though. Olbermann started picking on O’Reilly long before O’Reilly started shooting back.
Comment by Spud — March 10, 2006 @ 2:20 pm
LOL, tanne is finally right on one thing by saying: “starting that stupid petition to get Olbermann fired and replaced with Phil Donahue, which has become a joke,…” Well, not exactly correct but close enough. It is meant to be a joke!!! It’s on Bill’s Most Ridiculous Item of the Day, which lasted maybe half a minute at most, compared to KO dedicating a segment, according to the report. It’s ironic again that she’s calling people “sheep” while she is one.
There’s no need to attack the other guy personally even though he beat your guy in rating 5 to 1 or worse. We all vote through the remote, and we will continue to make our choice. Talk is cheap, action speaks louder than words, and the audience voted every night.
Comment by Gabe — March 10, 2006 @ 3:51 pm
Forget the ratings, look at the demo-while O’Reilly wins in sheer numbers, his ratings are sliding as Olbermann’s rise…and when did ratings mean anything anyway? Phil O’Donohue was canned when he had the highest rated show on MSNBC because the “liberal media” that owns NBC was afraid his show wouldn’t rah-rah this stupid war we are in.
Comment by Blue — March 10, 2006 @ 4:44 pm
The TV newser blog has the 25-54 ranker from February, and The O’Reilly Factor was #1 and Countdown with Keith Olbermann was #16 for the month, 454,000 vs. 163,000. I don’t see anything that O’Reilly has to worry about.
Comment by Craig — March 10, 2006 @ 7:55 pm