Al Sharpton Is On Your TeeVee, Sayin' Stuff

Not too long after the NAACP ripped CNN and others for their lack of black prime time anchors, Rev. Al Sharpton, Civil Rights activist and sayer of uncomfortable things, has been made the new afternoon host of some random news program on MSNBC. He's replacing Cenk Uygur who was kind of terrible in the same slot. Sharpton, while not a polished broadcast journalist, brings a much more unpredictable sense to the program, as conservatives, barely able to contain their disgust, attempt to have a debate with him on air.

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On Current TV, Keith Olbermann's Second Verse Is the Same As the First

Opening with "As I was saying ..." and ending with Markos Moulitsas gleefully tearing into the alleged tears of Keith Olbermann's former MSNBC cohort, Joe Scarborough, the "new" Countdown on Current TV was almost exactly like the old Countdown Olbermann originated on MSNBC. Only with a dash chintzier graphics and a pound more "cat fight."

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Keithy Comes Back: Olbermann's "Countdown" Returns on Current TV

Controversial Liberal media demigod Keith Olbermann returns to television tonight! Olbermann was fired/forced-out/torepedoed-off-a-burning-bridge from MSNBC earlier this year after he went to war with management over many things, including a brief suspension due to some campaign donations he made to progressive candidates. His new show on "Internet-founder," former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV is part of a "re-launch" of sorts for the little-watched Current, which says it's ready to be a major player in the cable news market. It's repositioning itself to be a direct competitor for MSNBC. (Cue theme from Godzilla intro on Pharoahe Monch's "Simon Says.") Of course, I'm wondering if everyone even gets Current TV? I do, but I also get Putin's fav cable newser Russia Today, the actually-pretty-good-not-at-all-American-flag-burning Al Jazeera, BBC America and several other international news networks. Most folks just get FOX News with a light MSNBC/CNN chaser.

That all being said, will you be watching? Did you miss Keith? He's coming on at 8 p.m. EST tonight on Current. Check The Snob blog tomorrow for my thoughts on Keith's comeback.

The State of the Union On An Olbermann Free TV

President Barack Obama is delivering the State of the Union address tonight. In the past, I enjoyed watching MSNBC coverage of events like these -- not so much for the slant -- but for the hope that Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough would be forced into a small room again to talk to each other, then try to eat each other's heads while Rachel Maddow pleads for peace. Because, that's just more fun. The chin-checking and unchecked ego is simply better TV, than watching Katie Couric be clip and dry when she really wants to be chipper and funny as everyone sits around a table at CBS and tries to divine meaning out of whatever the First Lady is wearing. I'm just not feeling that. I want my quasi-lefty blowhards. I want my bloviating Keithy.

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MSNBC and Keith Olbermann at "war"

This Howie Kurtz penned round-up of all the fall out at MSNBC over their "star" news pontificator Keith Olbermann makes one thing pretty clear -- no matter what MSNBC's Phil Griffin might threaten, no matter how many bridges Keithy may have burnt there, the network and Olbermann still need each other. And MSNBC can't exactly act like anyone else on the roster now, besides Rachel Maddow, comes even close to what an angry Olbermann brings to the table.

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Keith Olbermann Gets Nice, Publicity-Filled Four Day Weekend

Keith OlbermannIn today's hyper partisan version of entertainment news, it's become pretty common to find talking heads who are avidly backing, supporting, vouching for and donating to political candidates and their causes. Sean Hannity has done it. Joe Scarborough has done it. And neither are known for keeping their opinions to themselves. But for some reason, MSNBC's Phil Griffin panicked over the revelation that his No. 1 infotainment star had donated money to Democratic candidates and suspended him "indefinitely."

But ... never mind. He'll be back on the air tonight.

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O'Donnell, Hardy Put It Out There On Wilson's Heckling of Obama

MSNBC contributor Lawrence O'Donnell didn't listen to Rush or Hannity about the president getting called out as a liar during his address to the joint session of Congress Wednesday night. Nope. O'Donnell tuned into some black talk radio and reported to Keith Olbermann on Countdown that shock o' shocks black folks are pissed about this latest offense towards the President of the United States. Especially given that he happens to be the first black president and unlike previous presidents the amount of disrespect he's received has finally reached a boiling point among black folks. But O'Donnell wasn't the only person reporting this on MSNBC.

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Keith Olbermann: Ain't No Chains On Me!

Contrary to what the New York Times (and Glenn Greenwald) sez, MSNBC's #1 yakker doesn't have any muzzle on him and he was more than happy to prove it Monday night while dolling out his "Worst Persons" awards. He cracked on Bill, he cracked on the Times. Everybody gotta taste. Even Rupert.

Silence of the Blowhards: Did Corporate Heads Shush Their Biggest Mouths? (FOX News and MSNBC)

Have Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann reached a truce via their corporate bosses told them to "shadditup" because the network bashing was "bad for business?"

From Glenn Greenwald's column:

(T)he chairman of General Electric (which owns MSNBC), Jeffrey Immelt, and the chairman of News Corporation (which owns Fox News), Rupert Murdoch, were brought into a room at a "summit meeting"forCEOs in May, where Charlie Rose tried to engineer an end to the "feud"between MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Fox's Bill O'Reilly.According to the NYT, both CEOs agreed that the dispute was bad for the interests of the corporate parents, and thus agreed to order their news employees to cease attacking each other's news organizations and employees.

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