If you didn't think Keith Olbermann could get any more insufferable, then you didn't watch his appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman last night. While he admitted, "I screwed up. I screwed up really big on this," and "It’s my fault that it didn’t succeed in the sense that I didn’t think the whole thing through," he discussed his $10 million/year salary (part of a $50 million/5-year contract he wants Current TV to commit to), "I didn’t say, ‘You know, if you buy a $10 million chandelier, you should have a house to put it in.' Just walking around with a $10 million chandelier isn’t going to do anybody a lot of good." more ›

In the wake of Keith Olbermann's dismissal from Current TV, The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz has obtained email correspondence between Olbermann's camp and the network's staff. Though there are no mentions of California Condor-egg omelets, Kurtz finds that shortly after Olbermann was hired last summer, his manager sent a list of 40 "deficiencies" that needed "immediate attention." more ›

We've spent the better part of today curled in a ball, surrounded by our hardcover copies of Pitchforks and Torches, wondering where it all went wrong. How could Current TV do this to Keith "Just a Regular Guy" Olbermann? Based on various reports, it sounds as if Keith didn't feel like working for a low-budget TV network—and that low-budget TV network, headed up by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, were tired of putting up with a high-maintenance talking head. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Current TV has suddenly axed Keith Olbermann, whose show will be replaced by a new program hosted by former governor Eliot Spitzer, starting tonight. In an open letter to viewers, Current's founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt wrote, "We’re very excited to announce that beginning tonight, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will host 'Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer,' at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. Eliot is a veteran public servant and an astute observer of the issues of the day." And his last TV show was such a hit, this one can't miss! more ›

Rachel Maddow will remain on MSNBC for years to come. more ›

Keith Olbermann returned to cable television last night with his Current TV version of Countdown with Keith Olbermann. The former ESPN anchor-turned-vocal libtard left MSNBC in January and announced his move to Al Gore's network in April. His show is pretty much the same as before, if only on a different channel, and he's still "madder than hell." His first "Worst Persons In The World" segment featured everyone's favorite "very well-educated" Metro-North rider, Hermon Raju (see video below), but to some MSNBC viewers, Olbermann is a Worst Person for running four minutes in the 9 p.m. Rachel Maddow hour! more ›

A new 700-page book takes an in-depth look at the rise of ESPN, with lots of stops along the way for strange anecdotes about the "glorified frat house." Check out some excerpts below. more ›

Three months after leaving MSNBC, number one libtard Keith Olbermann has announced his return to airwaves today in a video at his website, FOKNewsChannel, FOK being "Friends of Keith." The new show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann (hmm, that's familiar), will start on June 20 on the small cable network Current TV. He explained, "I wanted to go somewhere where i could expand upon and enlarge upon the work I'd already done...a place where journalistic integrity and analytical honesty would never be compromised by corporate synergy... I found that place at Current TV... where they gave me a title, an equity stake, and a PONY." more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Former MSNBC news host Keith Olbermann will announce his next move in just a few minutes. (There's a countdown clock here for all you Olberfanns.) But Media Decoder already knows the gist of what he's going to say: Olbermann is going to have a show on Current TV, the editorially progressive network founded by former Vice President Al Gore in 2005. Compared to 85 million MSNBC viewers, Current, um, currently has about 60 million, and unlike MSNBC, it doesn't come with basic cable. So if a liberal bloviates in the forest and only treehuggers are there to hear him, does really he make a sound? more ›

Keith Olbermann, the now-former MSNBC talk show host, has admired Next Media Animation's CGI reenactments as such moments as "Tiger Woods' car accident," but now NMA has given him his own video, which feature the Special Commenter with a golden parachute, being pushed by a NBC employee, replacing Parker/Spitzer on CNN and mopping up after Glenn Beck. more ›

Last night, Keith Olbermann surprised viewers by saying it was his last broadcast of his MSNBC talk show, Countdown With Keith Olbermann, saying he was “told that this is the last edition of your show." While MSNBC sources say the decision was mutual, the talk show host's and cable network's relationship apparently took a toll after Olbermann's political donations during the midterms—exposed by Politico—turned into a suspension for the 51-year-old, who then complained about it when he returned on air. According to The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz, NBC and MSNBC executives "began to talk [after the suspension] about how the channel was now on solid enough footing to survive without him." more ›

Call it the Olbermann Effect: After revealing that Keith Olbermann had donated to political campaigns (against NBC News policy), leading to his brief suspension from MSNBC, Politico has once again found out about the undisclosed political donations of another MSNBC personality. This time, it's former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough. Politico reports, "MSNBC said Friday that it is suspending 'Morning Joe' co-host Joe Scarborough for two days after he acknowledged giving eight previously unknown $500 contributions to friends and family members running for state and local offices during his tenure at the network, a violation of parent NBC’s ban on political contributions by employees without specific permission from the network president." So, is the show going to be called "Morning Mika" for those two days? more ›

So much for that unpaid suspension: The Daily Beast reports that feisty MSNBC host Keith Olbermann was actually paid for the days he was suspended, after not following NBC News policy regarding political contributions (employees are supposed to tell their supervisors; Olbermann claims he had no idea). The article adds that Olbermann is, shockingly enough, a diva—"his staff leave[s] notes outside his door rather than speaking to him"—but Gawker suggests that MSNBC is also a diva and both parties "need to get over themselves." more ›

After his two-day unpaid suspension for making political donations without alerting his superiors, Keith Olbermann was back on MSNBC hosting Countdown. It was, as ever, a Keith-fest. He seemed awed (or smug) about the reaction, saying, "You know, when there is a petition supporting and it winds up being signed by 300,000 people, you get 21,000 Tweets in a 72 hour period, and you are invited to be on television because you aren't on television because they want you on 'Good Morning, America,' and 'Larry King' and 'Letterman' and you break records on the Huffington Post and you're on the front page of the New York Times without being dead or in jail or Charlie Sheen or something. For me, it was a surprise. All I can say is I'm stunned and greatful and it still feels like a universal hug." more ›

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann will be back at his Countdown anchor desk tonight, after being suspended without pay for making political donations without notifying his higher-ups, but he wanted to clear everything up before then. Last night, he released a statement thanking his viewers for their "extraordinary and ground-rattling support" and complained that while he made a mistake (and had no clue about NBC's "inconsistently applied" policy about news employees and political donations), he was "suspended without a hearing, and learned of that suspension through the media." more ›

After being suspended without pay last week—for failing to inform management about his political donations—Keith Olbermann will be back hosting his MSNBC show on Tuesday night. MSNBC president Phil Griffin said, "After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy. We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night." more ›

Yesterday, MSNBC suspended Countdown host Keith Olbermann without pay after Politico reported that he made donations to three Democratic candidates during this midterm election cycle. Rachel Maddow took up the topic during her MSNBC program, explaining, "The reason that resulted in Keith’s suspension is that, here at MSNBC, there is an explicit employee rule against hosts making contributions like that. You can do it if you ask in advance and management tells you ‘O.K.’ That’s what I understand what happened with our morning show host’s political donations in 2006 under previous management. But if you do not ask in advance, you are bound by the rule." And then she tore into Fox News: more ›

This morning, Politico revealed that MSNBC star Keith Olbermann made campaign contributions to three Democratic candidates...and now the cable network has suspended him without pay. (NBC has a strict policy about that.) Olbermann confirmed the donations, adding, “I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level." This comes on the heels of (Olbermann's criticism) of News Corp. donations to Republican causes, but as Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf told WNYC's Azi Paybarah, "Who did people think [Olbermann] was going to give money to....the tea party?" more ›

The Muslims living on a sheep farm in the bucolic upstate town of Sidney are used to people throwing rocks at them, blaring their horns when driving by, and calling the cops to report suspicious "people with turbans." But have the local hillbillies finally gone too far? Now they want the Sufi group to dig up the bodies buried on their property. Not because they're Muslim, mind you, but because of an obscure technicality in New York State law that must be enforced to avoid cemetery chaos! more ›

Oh, Rush! Controversial right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh decided to pay tribute to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner during his show by espousing Steinbrenner's capitalist tendencies, "That cracker made a lot of African American millionaires."—uh, what about the white millionaires—"George Steinbrenner, the classic capitalist. Everyone around him became wealthy... And at the same time he fired a bunch of white guys as managers left and right." Hear his clip below. more ›

MSNBC talk show host Keith Olbermann may be incredibly polarizing, but his tribute to his mother, who passed away over the weekend, is rather sweet. He said that Marie Olbermann was the person who made him love sports, "It was Mom who introduced me to the game, and in my teenaged years when we went nearly every day, it was she who trundled me and my sister to the ballpark. It was on her tv that I came to love the sport, and by her side that I began to understand it. And, sitting next to her, that I began to understand that I was not going to be any damn good playing it and if I wanted 'in' - maybe I'd better try talking about it." more ›

With less than 48 hours left before the election, John McCain stopping into Saturday Night Live to perform in a couple of sketches seems like it should be huge news. But with so much attention being showered on the show this year throughout the campaign season, somehow it just felt par for course at this point in a period that Tina Fey for one calls "the weirdest time in my life." more ›

Last week's Republican National Convention sparked passionate debate over the qualifications and treatment of Sarah Palin as well as John McCain's poaching the message of "change" from the Democrats the week prior. Possibly lost in the shuffle was the relatively small amount of airplay given to the 9/11 attacks, especially when compared to how central a theme they were throughout the previous RNC held here in New York. Even Rudy Giuliani didn't spend a great deal of his speaking time hearkening back to 9/11 in comparison with his usual rhetoric. more ›

Photoshop skills are necessary in the bitter cable news wars. more ›

The headline for the above-the-fold NY Times story about presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk, doesn't quite prepare readers for the juicy insinuations waiting for them in the second paragraph. The first sentence notes that during McCain's 2000 presidential campaign advisers were worried because...

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

Yet another example of foot-in-mouth syndrome due to the hours of punditry on TV, followed by an apology and suspension! Yesterday, while referring to Chelsea Clinton's campaigning on behalf of her mother, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster commented, "Doesn't it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" Yes, he totally said that. Or, as the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz writes, "Using a prostitution metaphor for the daughter of a presidential candidate is a surefire way for a journalist to get into trouble." more ›

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