MSNBC dumps Hayden hearings for Countdown re-run…
When I heard that Countdown would be re-run on MSNBC at 9 am, my first question was “What would MSNBC do if a scheduled news event happens during that time period?” Well I got my answer this morning. At 9:30 the Hayden confirmation hearings began. CNN and FNC covered it. MSNBC chose not to interrupt the Countdown re-run. In fact, they were doing a news update with Norah O’Donnell live at the hearings the moment the hearings began and then went back to Countdown. Unbelievable…
UPDATE: TVNewser suggests that MSNBC would call this counterprogramming and points to an uptick in the Demo numbers. My response to that would be what is the point of counterprogramming a breaking news live event of national significance if it drives news viewers who want to see that event to other channels?
What? They’ll automatically come back to MSNBC when Countdown is over and they start up coverage (which is what MSNBC did near the end of Countdown)? Bzzzt! Wrong. They’ll stay with whatever channel they are watching because all the channels look the same at that point so there’s no need to switch.
It is truly unbelievable. I just flipped to MSNBC to check this out! And sure enough they were showing promotions for The Most, men’s prostate problems, and hair coloring.
Then we had the awful Keith discussing the McCarthy divorce,
when,instead, we should have been listening to the intellectual debate about national security.
Is it any wonder that this joke of a network is continually in the cellar? MSNBC will never take the podium.
Who will take the blame for this programming decision?
Comment by Cara — May 18, 2006 @ 9:54 am
This is unbelievable, you are right on. And it cements the fact that MSNBC is not to be taken seriously as a news network.
By the way, in case anyone’s watching, TVNewser is silent on this. The kid would never embarrass his beloved MSNBC, especially if it involves Keith Olbermann.
Comment by benllv — May 18, 2006 @ 1:24 pm
He posted the item about 30 minutes after he was called out on it, FYI. ;-)
Comment by benllv — May 18, 2006 @ 1:57 pm
And he still managed to give his bff, who he would never harm, a big wet french kiss at the end.
Comment by Caroline S. — May 18, 2006 @ 2:53 pm
What is it with you people? This is Inside Cable News. Not Inside TV Newser…
Comment by Spud — May 18, 2006 @ 3:42 pm
With all due respect, you just edited your post to respond to TVNewser. Why shouldn’t we do the same?
Comment by benllv — May 18, 2006 @ 4:00 pm
Why is the tv newser blog using 9am ratings from Monday when there are more recent ratings to use? That’s seems fishy to me.
Comment by Caroline S. — May 18, 2006 @ 6:33 pm
#6 makes a good point…you spend so much time refuting TVN, Spud. THEN you get mad at us for bringing TVN up. WTF?
Comment by Anonymous — May 18, 2006 @ 7:21 pm
Well, Spud, you can see what’s happening here as well as I can, can’t you? It’s really pathetic and sad. The anti-Olbermann, anti-MSNBC, anti-TVNewser crowd wants to take over your blog and make it their little playground. And they won’t be happy until they do.
I knew that if the time ever came when a Countdown rerun took the place of anything live during the day–even if it was an update on Britney Spears’ latest baby blunder–that bunch would be squealing like pigs. “How DARE that miserable network MSNBC show us that horrible Olbermann show when we COULD be watching Britney strapping her brat into the car LIVE!”
I mean, you know and I know this is not really about this bunch wanting to see the Hayden hearings live. They just wanted to be able to beat up on MSNBC for giving Keith Olbermann any more airtime than he already has…especially given that they don’t REALLY want him to have ANY airtime at all. They’re extremely upset that his show hasn’t been canceled yet for the abysmally low ratings they keep saying it has. And now it’s being RERUN in the MORNING?!? The world is ending! The world is ending!!
And of course, because he doesn’t hate Keith Olbermann sufficiently, Brian from TVNewser is their new enemy. Not only do they have to make jokes about them being boyfriends, they have to use up space in YOUR blog beating up on SOMEONE ELSE and HIS blog.
I guess it’s your choice. You can either take back your own blog and ask people to keep their comments focused on actual cable TV news programming and not comments directed at other blogs covering cable news programming–so that you can at least restrict them to attacking Olbermann, and make them leave Brian alone.
Comment by tanne — May 18, 2006 @ 7:29 pm
I don’t think that’s true, Tanne. I’m watching KO now. I’d much rather see MSNBC cover live news during the day than run the previous night’s repeats. KO’s first story is the hearing that MSNBC skipped this morning to re-air his broadcast. Ironic.
Comment by Goldfish — May 18, 2006 @ 8:04 pm
Tanne,
Here is a litte advice for you…Read the Constitution….I believe there is this little thing called the FIRST AMENDMENT…Which i believe allows you and others the freedom to say what they want… If you dont like what is written, go get a job and stop reading blogs…
Sincerly
Keith Olbermann
Comment by JR — May 18, 2006 @ 8:47 pm
Tanne - you’re attacking readers of this site for saying “how dare MSNBC air a repeat instead of a live news event,” yet the first person to raise the issue was Spud, and you’re acting like you’re on his side somehow. Your post is full of contradictions so big that even Keith Olbermann might spot them.
Comment by benllv — May 18, 2006 @ 9:23 pm
First of all, JR: I never said that people weren’t free under the First Amendment to say whatever they want. That’s not the issue, and you know it. WHERE they say it, however, is always subject to restriction.
Spud has the right, if he CHOOSES to, to restrict what people post to his blog. It’s not a democracy, it’s his blog. If he wants to can your post, he can can it–poof! And you can’t sue him for infringing on your Constitutional rights, because no one is stopping YOU from getting your OWN media outlet and putting in it whatever YOU want to say.
And that, because you apparently didn’t pay attention during 12th-grade American government class (and Keith Olbermann did), is how the Constitution REALLY works. That is, if you’re even going to assume the Constitution applies in the government-free world of the many Internets.
Now, benllv…I never said I was on Spud’s side about what MSNBC aired. I disagree with him about it being so bad to put on a Countdown rerun instead of the hearings. I never said I didn’t. However, when it comes to wanting to see him keep this forum “Inside Cable News” and not “Inside TV Newser,” I am on his side. What he seems to have forgotten is that HE has the power to make that happen by asking people to stop posting crap about TVNewser and to keep their comments to people and things on cable TV, rather than on what other blogs have to say about it. He can get rid of your posts, he can get rid of mine, if we don’t. He’s in charge here…not us.
And that, folks, is how it is entirely possible to agree with someone on one point and disagree on another. Believe it or not, people unlike yourselves do it all the time, and there’s nothing contradictory about it at all. Then again, if you equate liking someone or agreeing with someone on one point to blindly agreeing with everything else they say no matter what, you may find that concept a bit difficult to grasp.
Comment by tanne — May 19, 2006 @ 6:49 am
Dearest Tanne,
I can say in seven words what you attempted to say in 5 paragraphs…..
“Blah, blah, blah and yada, yada, yada……..”
KO
Comment by JR — May 19, 2006 @ 7:25 am
Isn’t it funny how when FOX or CNN ignores a news conference or skips a story, all the attack dogs are mysteriously not around? But once MSNBC makes a mistake… holy crap the world is ending! You can’t take them seriously! They are horrible! and on and on and on. People can watch CNN, FOX News or C-Span. When I turned MSNBC on a little before 10am yesterday, they were covering it… so as far as I am concerned, they did a decent job.
Comment by Nobody — May 19, 2006 @ 7:50 am
#6 makes a good point…you spend so much time refuting TVN, Spud. THEN you get mad at us for bringing TVN up. WTF?
First of all I don’t spend anywhere near as much time refuting TVN as some people here spend bashing it.
Second, there’s a difference between my response and the others. I questioned the notion that MSNBC could call it counterprogramming with a straight face. Benllv just attacked him for not mentioning the article in a quick enough time frame for him/her. You won’t see me bash TVN just because he writes something I don’t like or doesn’t highlight a story I do (or visa versa). That’s the difference.
Comment by Spud — May 19, 2006 @ 9:50 am
Spud, TVNewser gets caught doing that type of stuff all the time. Earlier in the week he posted this ridiculous rant asking why the networks are airing a presidential address from the Oval Office. He started getting attacked for it on here, and after about 30 minutes he caved and pulled his entire post down. The kid obviously reads this site between final exams, and since a lot of your posts are similar to his (the same Walton Q & A was leading this site at the same time as his this morning, for instance), this is a good outlet to respond to his ideological and slanted pro-MSNBC coverage.
The difference between you and that kid is that you have the guts to allow comments on your site.
Comment by benllv — May 19, 2006 @ 1:18 pm
Ever wonder why there are SO many olbermann hate posts? Oh, could it be that ol Johnny Dollar just so happens to be the main contributer to the olbermann hate blog? I think it just might. And spud for some reason gives Dollar the nod. I praise TVN for NOT posting every little thing.
Comment by Tim — May 19, 2006 @ 9:59 pm
This is a classic. Now I get blamed for a thread I haven’t even posted in! Next I’ll be blamed for global warming and the stale meat at the deli.
Comment by johnny dollar — May 20, 2006 @ 1:25 am
First of all, JR–you’re the one who’s guilty of writing blather here, and then signing it with Keith Olbermann’s name and actually thinking I’m dumb enough to be fooled. Yawn…
Second of all, Spud is right. But things will never change around here unless he TAKES BACK HIS OWN BLOG and lays some rules down.
Third…I wouldn’t be the least surprised if Johnny Dollar DID cause global warming and the stale meat at the deli. LOL, but Tim has a point. Johnny Dollar’s Olbermann hatred, along with that of Bob Cox, doesn’t just border on the pathological…it IS pathological.
Comment by tanne — May 20, 2006 @ 10:51 am
The bottom line may be that the decision to start airing “Countdown” reruns at 6:00 AM Pacific Time weekdays may be as much an economic decision as it is a ratings decision.
Comment by Bob — May 21, 2006 @ 4:03 pm