Keith Olbermann has come a very long way since his days as a Groucho Marx lookalike ESPN SportsCenter anchor. After leaving sports media to focus on broadcasting current events news, he developed into this generation’s Edward R. Murrow, and he even copied the legendary Cold War era broadcaster’s sign-off.
Olbermann stepped up to become the first leftist talking head on cable news television to try and balance out the extremely far right positions of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity.
But now, he’s moving on to other things. Other things than hosting Sunday NFL on NBC.
According to the AP:
MSNBC host Keith Olbermann announced Friday that he is leaving the network and has taped his last “Countdown” show. MSNBC issued a statement that it had ended its contract with the controversial host, with no further explanation. Olbermann hosted the network’s most popular show, but his combative liberal opinions often made him a target of critics.
Olbermann did not explain why he was leaving. A spokesman said Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s president, would not comment on Olbermann’s exit. Spokesman Jeremy Gaines would say only that the acquistion of NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval this week, had nothing to do with the decision…..
Olbermann’s prime-time show is the network’s top-rated. His evolution from a humorous look at the day’s headlines into a pointedly liberal show in the last half of George W. Bush’s administration led MSNBC to largely shift the tone of the network in his direction, with the hirings or Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell in primetime.
Other than “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Countdown was my favorite “newsetainment” program. I use that word because there is so little cable or local television news these days from which I actually learn anything of relevance. The news value is so low across the board, might as well be entertained, right?
I’ll really miss the “worst person in the world” bit. It was funny.
“Good night and good luck”
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
He does a weekly radio segment on Chicagoland Sports Radio.com and Cleveland.com
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