Olbermann's Boss Praises Him — "The right person at the right time..."

[NYCGirl]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3invDY7O%2FFa2fpNWIR%2BdEawA%3D%3D

Things are looking up at MSNBC, with the channel registering double-digit gains in viewers and adults 25-54 for October while Fox News Channel led all news networks for the 250th straight week.

Leading the charge was "Countdown With Keith Olbermann," which jumped 67% in viewership and 61% in the adults 25-54 demographic compared with October 2005. "Countdown" averaged 637,000 viewers (including 233,000 in the demo) for the month, according to data released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. It's nowhere near "The O'Reilly Factor" (which led all of cable with 2.1 million viewers) but it beat CNN's "Paula Zahn Now" in the demo and narrowly missed tying it in viewership.

"Keith Olbermann is the right person at the right time, and doing it in the right way," MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams said.

MSNBC was up in viewers total day and primetime as well as in the demo in both total day and primetime. "Scarborough Country" remained behind Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" and CNN's "Larry King Live," but was up 13% in the demo. The 7 p.m. edition of "Hardball" was up 27% in adults 25-54 and up 5% in viewers. MSNBC's "Imus in the Morning" simulcast gained some ground on "American Morning," averaging 324,000 viewers last month compared with 425,000 for "American Morning."

[xultar]

1. Abrams...let's see if you can continue hold off the Bush Admin

[Jane Austin]

2. How about the big three nightly newscasts?

Anybody know how Ms. Couric is doing these days?

[MADem]

4. Not well. CNN had a crying article about her ratings.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/01/nielsens.ap/index.html

Despite her newsmaking interview with Michael J. Fox last week, Katie Couric's goal of taking the "CBS Evening News" to the top is getting further out of reach.

Her average audience of 7.3 million viewers left the "CBS Evening News" 1.1 million behind ABC's second-place "World News." It was the biggest gap between the two broadcasts since the week of February 6, according to Nielsen Media Research. NBC's "Nightly News" led the way with 8.9 million viewers last week.

Couric scored the attention-getting interview with Fox on Thursday after he was criticized by Rush Limbaugh for supposedly playing up symptoms of Parkinson's disease in a campaign ad. But it caused no appreciable jump: Thursday's broadcast had 7.4 million viewers, Nielsen said. (Watch a visibly-ill Fox in his interview with Couric -- :32)

CBS and Couric have tried some new things with the evening newscast, including longer interviews and a "Free Speech" segment where guests offer opinions. In the light of the ratings, they will likely face pressure to head to a more traditional format.

Couric's average of 7.3 million was identical to the Bob Schieffer-anchored newscast during the same week a year ago, Nielsen said.......

[Jane Austin]

12. Thanks for that info. n/t

[MADem]

3. Well, Dan needs to dump O'Donnell. Really. And find out who the douchebag

is who puts phrases like "Defeatocrats" into questions asked by presenters. FWIW, comments can be directed to [e-mail] -- they need to understand who's watching their asses.

[kcass1954]

5. Those bosses only care about the money, not KO's message. n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

6. A K & R for Keith! Some do want to hear the TRUTH. n/t

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

7. Been watching since May 04

when he exposed the WH's e-mail attempt to spin any interviews with Joe Wilson after his book came out.

-snip-

When Wilson appeared on MSNBC's "Countdown" to talk about his book, Keith Olbermann held up three identical e-mail messages from the White House and explained that the "talking points" they contained were calculated to poke holes in Wilson's book.

from a NYT article by John Dean 5-23-2004

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800EEDB1F3CF930A15756C0A9629C8B63&sec=&pagewanted=2


Keith Olbermann has been the right person for a long time.

[The Truffle]

8. Wonder how Glenn Beck and Li'l Tucker Carlson's shows are doing?

Really, we've reached a market saturation point with these right wing bloviators.

Oh, and Candy Crowley can go jump in a lake.

[Cameron27]

14. You're absolutely right

I've been watching KO for a looong time, and he's always been saying the right things at the right time. It's good to see him finally getting recognition.

It's also a relief to know that he hasn't put himself in jeapordy by speaking the *gasp* truth on a national news show.

[Lugnut]

9. K&R

Keith is filling a need for the truth.

[SoCalDem]

10. Too bad Ole Dan's not smart enough to make changes

in the complete lineup.

I REFUSE to watch Joe-dead-aide-in-my-office Scarborough on principle.

He needs to give Keith another hour (for guests & discussion) and he should hire MORE progressive types.

A second hour of keith would put Larry King in 3rd place,and might put Falafelboy in 2nd..

A smart guy would notice that viewers are watching because it's DIFFERENT from the white house-fax-journalism of CNN & Fox.,

Buy a clue, Dan :)

[NYCGirl]

11. Two hours? I think Keith would have something to say about that. He

wouldn't have the time to do his afternoon gig with Dan Patrick on ESPN.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

15. Sometimes we watch a few minutes

due to sheer inertia, as we often eat dinner during Countdown and are just too logey to change the channel. ;)

And sometimes Scarblow's lead story looks good. But then up pops Pat Buchanan and we say Fuck This Shit and start searching for the remote.

[upi402]

13. k/r n/t