Rachel Maddow is so Keith Olbermann's protege, she's supposedly trying to get people fired. Just like her mentor! "Maddow tried to replace all the staffers who work on the 9 p.m. time slot, which she takes over on Monday, but management refused," claims the indefatigable Page Six. This would be, of course, Dan Abrams' former team at Verdict. And ya know who Olbermann can't stand? A one Dan Abrams, who for a time played MSNBC general manager, and thus, Olbermann's boss, but the two never clicked, and neither wanted to pay mind to the other. You'd expect, then, that the 9pm producers are Abrams loyalists — aside from the Olbermann camp, Abrams is well liked at 30 Rock — and won't be too keen on any of the serial in-fighting Team Keith motivates.
And therein lies the problem:
Maddow is also well liked at MSNBC. Producers enjoy her; camera guys (and even interns) are said to be fond of her. Those same people, however, don't feel that way about Olbermann. So she can either stick with the man who leveraged his own power at MSNBC to secure her the 9pm hour and attract some of his in-house ire, or forge her own way and stay in the good graces of staffers. Our gut tells us she might be able to manage both. She'd be foolish to abandon Olbermann; he's not only her biggest cheerleader, he's her ratings lead-in. She needs him. But she doesn't necessarily have to inhabit all of the angst staffers feel toward him. While Olbermann stirs up well-hidden negativity inside 30 Rock, Maddow can play good cop.
Editorial Director
KEITH OLBERMANN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CABLE "NEWS"/TELEVISION COMMENTATOR SO FAR THIS CENTURY. HE IS UNIQUELY IMPORTANT TO THE POLITICAL TALK SHOW CIRCUIT AND SPEAKS UP FOR MILLIONS OF VOICELESS PEOPLE WHO ARE OTHERWISE BULLIED BY CREEPS LIKE BILL O'REILLY AND KEITH SHOULD BE SUPPORTED AND NOURISHED AND ABOVE ALL WATCHED AND LISTENED TO. HE IS A TRUE PROGRESSIVE WHICH IS HARD FOR ALOT OF PEOPLE TO HANDLE..THEY WOULD PREFER SOMEONE WHO FALLS INTO PLACE AND DOESN'T MAKE WAVES. THAT'S WHY KEITH GETS SO MUCH ATTENTION BECAUSE HE SHAKES THINGS UP AND GETS THE FOLKS A'TALKIN'. I HOPE KEITH OLBERMAN STAYS ON TELEVISION FOR ANOTHER 50 YEARS. I LIKE RACHAEL MADDOW TOO AND HOPE SHE HAS A LONG REIGN AS THE CABLE TALK SHOW QUEEN..OR IS THAT KING….? THANK YOU KEITH OLBERMANN….AND THANKS RACHEL TOO FOR ALL THT YOU SAY AND DO.
All of the on-air people at MSNBC and Fox News need to resign today–effective immediately. They're nothing but a bunch of egotistical blowhards who report very little news, yell too much, have inflated egoes, get things wrong all the time, do very little real journalism, act like morons most of the time, talk to people with very little intelligence, act dumb, and waste time, money and resources, as well as practice very little real journalism, just to note that important point again. It's time to completely retire both MSNBC and Fox News–just retire them completely. The world will be a much better place.
No. 1, take your meds. No. 2, if you add ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN to the list, you have a valid point.
No.1, is that really you Chris Matthews? You can stop yelling now and don't forget to take your head out of Olbermann's ass. We're tired of looking at the bottoms of your shoes.
"KEITH SHOULD BE SUPPORTED AND NOURISHED"…that obviously didn't happen after he was born.
He is nothing more than a TV news entertainment show host partisan hack.
Olbermann should be getting down on his knees every night praying for a McCain victory or else he will be relegated to showing an hour's worth of Oddball videos for the next four years if he doesn't get fired before then.
Okay let's all take a deep breath here and try to separate politics from Olbermann's actions off-camera. No matter what your political bent, you shouldn't be allowed to bully, intimidate, threaten, harass or otherwise piss off your coworkers. And if his coworkers are complaining in any and every venue it can about him there has to be some fire to the smoke. It has nothing to do with his politics and everything to do with him being a Grade A Asshole.
Why shouldn't Rachel have her own production staff? She knows the kind of people she needs to support her style of news/opinion delivery.
She works tremendously hard to research each and every progam that she does on the radio.. and she uses her production staff to help her with that research. Having a staff who you can easily communicate with (the kind that can finish your sentences and you can finish theirs) would be of great importance for the kind of program Rachel is likely to have on the TV.
Regardless of anyone's political bent, you must recognize that wanting to bring on people who you know will do the job for you right out of the starting gate, is just good business.
But is it necessary to fire all the techies too? I don't think so.
First of,, please consider the source: The New York Post, and page 6 in particular has turned Olberman-bashing into a sport. That's not a political comment on my part, just a fact. But even "the source" of this story does not say that Maddow tried to fire cameramen, key grips, secretaries, etc. A lot is being inferred from a short item.
athena1955 is right though. If YOU had been hired to produce a prime-time TV show, I suspect you would want a core of producers and researchers around you that you knew were top-notch, and that you could trust.
Um, isn't it a good idea, when you're doing a TV show, to have a crew of people who already know how to put on a TV show? As opposed to bringing in a bunch of radio people who don't know jack shit about the format?
Let's dispel a couple of myths here: There was nothing wrong with the Abrams show, from a ratings or production viewpoint. "Verdict" was getting solid numbers, more than holding its own against very tough competition. And it was a solid show from a production stand-point, tight and well-produced with good writing and good elements. It was canned because Olbermann threw his weight around it wasn't holding on to enough of the lead-in because Abrams played it closer to the middle. I like Rachel and am sure she'll do a good show, but let's not presume that the baby should have been thrown out with the bath water.
Rachel will have a complete change in her show to the center. Guaranteed. She seems smarter than the leftist rants that she professes. Her show could become good if she has more Buchannan back and forth.
I hate to say it, but Keith comes off as such an asshole, it doesn't matter what he is trying to say. If you don't share his opinion you cna just get out. He doesn't invite guests who disagree, he hisses at the screen. I watch him just to see how far he will go, but his rage against all-things-not-olberman must go, or I must, so I go.
Page 6? We are expected to believe page 6 which comes for a rag mag that has been proven to just make shit up in order to trash their competition.
You do realize that News Corp owns the NY Post?
This isn't gossip, its bullshit.