Keith Olbermann profile…
The Hollywood Reporter’s Ray Richmond has a profile of Keith Olbermann…
An excerpt: “How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death, after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections?”
It was a devastating and lengthy commentary that last week became an immediate sensation in the video download universe (earning nearly 300,000 page views on YouTube alone). Coincidentally or no, Olbermann’s household numbers are up 73% in the first two weeks of September from August.
While there is no argument that Olbermann can at times be self-indulgent, somewhat arrogant, over the top and stridently passionate, he is also the most compelling news personality of his generation. Love him or hate him, he is a charismatic, righteously indignant force of nature who is inspiring fervent cheers and detesting jeers in equal measure.
UPDATE: I’ve gotten email questioning the 73% number. I don’t have the figures in front of me so I don’t know where that 73% is coming from. It does seem high but then I don’t know exactly what the 73% refers to.
I find those comments by Olberman so pedestrian they could only come from somebdody frothing at the mouth like a dog.
To make matters worse, Richmond’s fawning commentary sounds so obsequious as to make me believe he is the leading mouthpiece for this phony jerk. Just realize that fulsome praise comes from a Hollywood hack.
Comment by RGL — September 19, 2006 @ 9:11 am
Here is a “fervant cheer” to go along with the jeers that are no doubt to follow. Olbermann is “the most compelling news personality of his generation,” (correct), and all of the crying from the Fox troglodytes on this board will not change that fact.
Comment by Vaughan — September 19, 2006 @ 9:21 am
Vaughan, you’re confusing “fact” with “opinion.” Which, ironically, is something Keith does every day…
Comment by OverHere — September 19, 2006 @ 9:36 am
In spite of all the bluster and “buzz,” if you read the numbers compiled on this web page, there has been very little impact on Olbermann’s ratings.
There seems to be concerted effort in some quarters to push the myth that he is attracting new viewers. Other than an occasional one-day blip, he isn’t. He’s preaching to a very small choir.
Comment by William — September 19, 2006 @ 9:54 am
He is an offensive jerk and where they get this fiction that his numbers are increasing is beyond me. He is awful and he reminds me of a guy who doesn’t have any male friends and eats lunch all by himself.
Comment by sophia — September 19, 2006 @ 10:03 am
These idiots continue to get away with stating how his ratings keep “surging”? Yet they produce no data on his ratings whatsoever! Every time I ever look, he’s in a solid FOURTH place for his time slot, miles behind O’Reilly, and lagging behind Paula Zahn and Nancy Grace.
Again, LET’S SEE SOME DATA! As children, we would have been thrown out of our science classes for writing such conclusions with no data at all to back them up!
Comment by Missy — September 19, 2006 @ 10:17 am
Keith Olbermann is by far the freshest and most interesting person on cable news right now. He’s brought the excitment back to cable news.
Pedestrian, fawning, mouthpiece and hack? #1 RGL, you take it all so personally, why is that? You probably should examine that. Unless, of course, if you work for another cable news network, which would explain your anger about Keith’s major success.
Comment by Pete — September 19, 2006 @ 11:04 am
The most compelling figure on television? His numbers are so miniscule that this point isn’t even worth debating. If he was compelling, people would watch. He’s not, so they don’t.
Comment by Steve — September 19, 2006 @ 11:21 am
Major success? What? Being last in ratings?
Comment by spiffo — September 19, 2006 @ 12:10 pm
Pete, you can’t take the truth? Nothing personal, just an observation a lot of TV viewers would agree with. Olberman, having resided at the bottom for sometime, is the type of man who would act like a screaming ninny to call attention
to himself. You call that excitement, Pete?
Comment by RGL — September 19, 2006 @ 12:10 pm
So, he got another lib “journalist” to try and generate some buzz for the guy before MSNBC scraps him for good. You almost have to feel sorry for the guy. Dead-enders are so comically tragic.
Comment by spiffo — September 19, 2006 @ 12:23 pm
I watch Keith and appreciate his stating what a lot of us are thinking. According to Buch’s poll numbers, I can’t believe Keith doesn’t have an lot of fans.
Comment by ladyone — September 19, 2006 @ 12:59 pm
Some day I’ll learn not to even open these threads.
“So, he got another lib “journalist” to try and generate some buzz for the guy before MSNBC scraps him for good.”
Yeah, nets ALWAYS can the guy getting the net’s best ratings (for a live show). Of course, they COULD replace him with another Alcatraz special or kiddie porn sting show. Frankly, those are the only thing getting them any ratings these days.
Comment by Arthur — September 19, 2006 @ 1:18 pm
Best ratings on MSNBC isn’t saying much. Compared to the other nets, his ratings are deep in the crapper.
Comment by spiffo — September 19, 2006 @ 2:42 pm
That’s not my point, spiffo. If MSNBC were going to start canning people in an effort to bring in more ratings, they would start with their lowest rated live shows, NOT their highest rated. So if you see Tucker and Joe shown to the door, perhaps Keith should start to worry. As long as those two cellar-dwellers have a job, I think he’s pretty safe.
Comment by Arthur — September 19, 2006 @ 3:08 pm
The fact that he is on at 8:00 has something to do with Olbermann being the “highest rated.”
Look at the overall numbers: there are simply more viewers watching EVERYTHING at that time. On most nights, Olbermann actually draws a smaller percentage of the viewers in his time slot than Matthews or Scarborough.
Comment by William — September 19, 2006 @ 3:38 pm
Quick! This is a barf alert.
Some “rent-a-journalist” has called Olbermann the most compelling news personality of his generation.
That is the biggest jaw-dropper I have read in years.
This is the latest “I am stupid and I can prove it” moment for another Hollywoodenhead.
Comment by cella — September 19, 2006 @ 4:15 pm
this “rent-a journalist” is exactly right - you are proving his point. Any article/link Spud posts on Olbermann is guaranteed to generate a load of responses.
Yes, most are negative but the point still stands - he gets a reaction. I was in the UK until last week and he was making the news there as well.
Comment by Mr A — September 19, 2006 @ 4:32 pm
Somebody please GAG me! Gee a lovefest with Dobermann and surprise surprise he has nothing good to say about Ann Coulter who is in another league then Dobermann. Just do a search on this guy’s name and check out the second link on Ann.
Comment by Lurker — September 19, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
Arthur has it almost right. If they were going to drop someone, it would be the one with the lowest ratings. Or the one whose contract was up next. And no show is going anywhere until after the November elections.
William has a good point too.
And another thing to consider: Joe Scarborough and Tucker Carlson fill in for each other. I can’t see Olbermann or Matthews filling in for anyone on any other show. And Joe and Tucker have gone on the road to where the news is.
I can see Tucker doing any of the MSNBC shows. He could easily do a straight anchor position too. Didn’t he anchor the Olympics?
Comment by erljr — September 19, 2006 @ 11:08 pm