Countdown: More than a feud?
The San Bernardino Sun’s David Kronke writes about the Olbermann/O’Reilly feud but says there’s more to Countdown than just that.(via TVNewser)
“There are two conflicting schools of thought” about O’Reilly’s attacks, Olbermann continues. “Some have been trying to get him to calm down, which they tried (when he raged against) Al Franken, and that obviously didn’t work. And others are saying, ‘No, Bill, you have to respond.’” That O’Reilly hasn’t mentioned Olbermann in a couple of weeks, however, perhaps suggests a new strategy at Fox.
O’Reilly did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. While not disputing an observation that O’Reilly seems to have ceased his pokes at Olbermann, a Fox News Channel spokeswoman declined comment.
But there’s much more to “Countdown” than a silly feud.
Yes, I know the writer is incorrect about O’Reilly mentioning Olbermann at all. He never has mentioned him by name.
Aw, Spud, don’t split hairs here. Sure, O’Reilly has never mentioned Olbermann BY NAME. But when he mentions the guy who hosts the show in the 8 PM ET weekday time slot on MSNBC, that counts as mentioning him. You know it does. I mean, if I made reference to “the controversial radio morning show host who moved his program from terrestrial radio to Sirius this year,” you would know exactly to whom I was referring. It would be disingenuous of me to say to you “I never said I said I was talking about Howard Stern. I never mentioned the name ‘Howard Stern’!”
Comment by tanne — April 3, 2006 @ 3:30 pm
Hahaha this nut is comparing the King of All Media which everyone knows without saying his name to some schmuck loser with like 300k-500k viewers depending on the night that no one knows on MSNBC. Come on tanne we’re in the No Spin zone here….Hahahahaha
Comment by Lurker — April 3, 2006 @ 3:35 pm
countdown finished third in the 25-54 demo on thursday and last in total viewers. these are “ratings gains”?
Comment by benllv — April 3, 2006 @ 4:15 pm
It goes to show the power of FOX. Bill mentions Obermann and people check him out. Hannity and Greta came to Larry Kings defense. FOX is not worried about viewers going to Obermann or Larry King. If viewers were going to go there they would of already went.
Comment by Noelle — April 3, 2006 @ 5:01 pm
Countdown finished last across the board on Friday. More evidence that MSNBC’s spin (and the promotion of his ratings by numerous blogs like this one and TVNewser) is a complete sham.
Comment by benllv — April 3, 2006 @ 5:25 pm
Aw, Spud, don’t split hairs here. Sure, O’Reilly has never mentioned Olbermann BY NAME. But when he mentions the guy who hosts the show in the 8 PM ET weekday time slot on MSNBC, that counts as mentioning him. You know it does.
Of course I know that. I just said that because if I didn’t say that then I get a bunch of comments from people pointing out that O’Reilly never mentioned Olbermann’s name.
Comment by Spud — April 3, 2006 @ 6:03 pm
First, Lurker, I never compared Olbermann to your “King of All Media.” I was simply using him to make a point. Spud, you shouldn’t knuckle under to these idiots who insist on splitting hairs by saying “Bill O’Reilly never mentions Keith Olbermann’s name.” Who the hell cares? Everyone knows who he’s referring to! And how babyish and childish is it to refuse to use his name. Who is he–Voldemort?
Second of all, it looks as if the same pathetic losers who tried to make Olbermann’s ratings look as if they were trending downward because of TWO DAYS are back here trying to create the same mischief. Two days is not a trend, people, two days is not a trend…just goes to show how desperate some people must be.
As for Fox not being worried? You bet they’re worried. That’s why O’Reilly is such a blowhard against Olbermann in the first place. They’re scared of losing the money demo to him. And it’s happening…two days last week notwithstanding. They’re quaking in their boots. Bashing him with all kinds of ridiculous putdowns, while at the same time constantly bashing his allegedly pathetic ratings, just like their fans. So, which is it, folks? You can’t have it both ways. Either his ratings are so bad he’s not worth talking about (in which case, why are you talking about him?) or he’s got good ratings and he doesn’t deserve them because he is EEEVUL. Make up your minds, flying monkeys.
Comment by tanne — April 4, 2006 @ 7:22 am
Get it through your radical left-wing nut head. NO ONE knows who Olbermann is. If I was to walk the streets of liberal New York City and asked 1000 people who anchors the 8 pm show on MSNBC I am willing to bet 980 of them wouldn’t know. Hahahahaha. Your dilusional radical nut head is giving that loser more fame than he deserves. OMG, Giving an example and throwing out Howard Stern to that loser? Man, What kind of a nut are you? lol
and what drugs are you on thinking FNC gives a rats *** about that loser? If it wasn’t that loser craving for ratings and fame and trying to bait BOR into a feud which he stupidly took, there would be no story here cause that loser is nothing to FNC.
Geez left-wing nuts like you are unbelievable, always spinning the story. You see, Liberals in general believe there can never be any reasonable position on any issue that differs from theirs. Therefore they have no choice but to conclude that anyone who disagrees with them is either a Republican shill, A Faux News worshipper or a Bill O’Reilly fanatic.
Comment by Lurker — April 4, 2006 @ 11:24 am
Hey benllv — your best friend Keith beat CNN in both demo and TOTAL viewers on Monday. This is why quoting limited ratings don’t make sense. Of course, if you look at Q1 you’ll see that KO beat CNN for the entire average period. So your assertion that the ratings growth is a sham just makes you look uniformed.
Comment by WestCoastBlogger — April 4, 2006 @ 9:33 pm
Get it through your radical right-wing nut head, Lurker. I don’t care who else knows who Olbermann is or doesn’t. I know who he is, and that’s all I care about…and I like him. Of course, aside from that fact, you’re factually wrong. About a lot of things. For example, you assume that I’m a radical left winger just because I like him. Not so. And it doesn’t matter how many names you call me, or him, I’m not going to stop watching his show. And neither are a whole lot of other people. Know why? Because, guess what: They don’t care whether you call them names or call him names. They know that’s a playground game. They will watch him regardless, and there’s not a thing you can do about it! He will get the admiration from us that we feel he richly deserves–and you can’t stop it. Just keep calling us nuts or whatever name you like; it won’t stop us!
You’re also twisting my words. I never said as many people know Olbermann as Stern. What I said is that if O’Reilly refers to the guy who anchors the 8PM ET show on MSNBC, there is no one else he could possibly be identifying but Olbermann, and it’s ridiculous to think that there could be anyone else. To say “But he didn’t say his name” is ridiculous.
No, wait, don’t tell me. You and O’Reilly are both engaging in some kind of “magic thinking” in which, if you just never say Keith Olbermann’s name, nobody else in the world will ever know or find out who he is! Oh my gosh, what a joke. Do you guys think you’re the only two people in the world? Guess what–you’re not. Other people are discovering Keith Olbermann…psst…pass it on. And you can’t stop it.
And if FNC didn’t care about him, why would they waste any time talking about him at all? Why would Bill waste the time? One doesn’t waste time talking about someone one doesn’t care about–even obliquely. No, they care all right…because he is gaining slowly in audience share in the money demo, and that scares the crap out of them.
As for ratings and fame, Olbermann doesn’t care. He just likes telling the truth.
And as for “always spinning the story,” you seem to be doing an excellent job of that yourself. You’re sounding like the one here who believes there can never be any reasonable position on any issue that differs from yours. Why? Because if you weren’t, why would you even give two hoots about Olbermann, and feel the need to knock him down and call everyone who happens to like and watch his show a “liberal left-wing nut”? You’d be willing to live and let live, not bothering yourself about such a marginal guy “nobody knows” who has such “low ratings.” But nooo. He scares you, because his ratings are improving and more people are finding out who he is. Therefore, to you he’s a threat and he must be stopped. Well, guess what…nothing you can do about it, again. He’s not going to be stopped. No amount of ridicule or name-calling from narrow-minded idiots is going to make anyone who likes him stop watching him. So you’re wasting pixels even trying. LOL!
Comment by tanne — April 6, 2006 @ 7:07 am