Frist!

It can cut both ways, my bloviated shadow-dweller. Why do the Republicans not care about overthrowing an "Islamofacist" regime that is committing genocide on its own people, a place which can be a possible safe-haven as was Sudan for Osama Bin Laden pre-9/11? What group do they not need to appease as a voting bloc, as this group has not helped the Republican party in the past?

That's right. Like that logic?

Hahaha the fat turd got owned on national TV.

I am a HUGE Olbermann fan, but I have to say that this was an extremely disappointing hour. All the commentators seemed to be more interested in making snarky jokes than anything resembling insight; the Bush manual about squashing protest is too important a story to have Mo Rocca making, frankly, unfunny cracks about it -- and there was nothing else to the report BUT Rocca. McHale was breathtakingly snide and witless, and even Keith's line about Paris Hilton's brain being a vast black hole was juvenile and obvious. I expect significantly more from a "Countdown" show, and I can only imagine the millions of broadcast viewers who've never seen it before asking themselves what the big deal is.

Kieth was basically rubbing salt into the wound that earned Rush LimpBough's early departure with the NFL.

The local Denver NBC affiliate (Channel 9) chose not to air Keith. They have received two emails (one from me and one from my wife) castigating them for their choice not to air Countdown. I know the West Coast didn't get it either, but I have no idea why it wasn't aired in Denver (other than being bumped for local news pablum).

I like to say that the difference between Iraq and Darfur is that the black is in the ground in Iraq, but in Darfur, it is the color of their skin. Thanks to Rush for confirming my suspicions about how REPUGS really feel about others.

Overall, I thought the show was on the weaker side of the usual nightly edition. Collingsworth was very descriptive of what we face as Democrats; how could Rush be the worst person in the world? A Repug sense of humor if I ever saw one!

Yeah, 14, he changed the subject to football, because that's what the football segment was supposed to be about - football.

I hope that Olberman makes a permanent move to network, and off cable. I love him and it would be a great thing for there to be someone on television who bothered not only to point out the lying that has become the Republicans alternative to debate, to policy, to actually doing anything at all in the service of the country as opposed to the service of their donors. Imagine the fun we might have had if he had been there in 2000 to point out the lies told about Gore? I wonder if they'll let him stay, though. After all the worst lies about Gore weren't told by Fox News, but by so-called "main-stream" journalists like Maureen Dowd who created the BS story about Nascar. There are too many to list.

Whenever I see Judith Miller being pilloried for shilling for Bush, Cheyney, and Rove, I wonder when we're going to wake up and realize that the worst crime was the campaign against Gore without which Judith Miller would have had nothing to write about. The fact that we don't even seem to remember that is profoundly worrying. It means we still can't sustain our focus on the real issues. If we don't wake up, we'll have Rudy or Mitt for 8 years and more.

7 David,

Do you regularly watch Countdown? The last part of the show is always fluff stories that, as KO puts it "my producers make me cover" Mo Rocca is perhaps KO's most regular guest. I agree the final segments often suck IMHO and I'm no fan of Rocca, but I'm more glad that they predictably put it at the end so I don't have to watch it (thank god for tivo).

All that said, I think it was good idea to dumb the show down a little with "Oddball" and celebrity news stuff and all, especially on a Sun right before an NFL game. It's still a ratings game and you gotta play to your audience, and that's an audience KO knows better than anyone else in the msm today. Hopefully he lures a few sports fans to tune in regularly who normally don't give a rat's a$$ about news with some of that fluff and he can learn them something important at the beginning of each show.

Countdown will be on at 10pm for the left coast crew. The live Countdown broadcast would have started at 4pm, and that's where the local affiliates are airing Nightly News and the local news. Doubtful that the affiliates would have been too happy with pushing their news broadcasts back to 3pm.

The blast on Limbaugh was brilliant given how Rush flamed out on ESPN because he played the race card, and here's Keith starting up his studio gig with Sunday Night Football only a few days after Rush's latest bit of race baiting (which is pretty much the norm on his radio program).

I love how some of the wingnuts are getting all riled up about Keith, saying that he's too politically biased to be working a football telecast. In fact, Olbermann is infinitely more qualified than either Rush or Dennis Miller to be on Sunday Night Football given his many years of experience as a sports reporter and sports anchor. For those who don't regularly watch cable news, Keith Olbermann is still better known as an anchor from Sportscenter. No matter how his politics have come to the forefront on Countdown, no one can objectively look at his experience and deny that Keith is qualified to work a sports telecast. OTOH, Rush and Miller were clearly out of their element working a football broadcast. Obviously, it did not take long for Rush to revert back to being Rush on ESPN's Sunday Night Countdown. (Oh, the horror of finding out that racist bloviating that works with an audience of dittoheads doesn't work quite as well with a more diverse audience) And the less said about Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football, the better.

I would have preferred Ted Nugent's recent rant get Worst Person in the World.

Yeah, what Woochifer 21 said. Every word. Too true

....it's how we got stuck with Chimperor in the first place.

WBAL in Baltimore (I believe a Sinclair channel) did not air this Countdown.

kbass @ 14:

I liked when Collinsworth called KO out on the worst person, and he changed the subject really fast!

Yeah, Collinsworth acted shocked. He must be a Repub. And, I think he thought KO meant Limpdick was the worst person ever, not just today. Costas corrected it though(just barely).
I'm sure KO was aware it was primetime(not cable) so he didn't elaborate on it. Pretty good show though, good for Keith(and America).

I live in Houston and was frankly shocked that the local NBC affiliate not only ran it, but put it in the proper time slot. Nothing that liberal has appeared on the corporate owned media here in many, many moons.

I was a bit surprised that some (purported) KO fans were carping about various aspects of the program. Right out of the box, Keith mentioned that the Petreas report won't be written by the General - a fact I have never heard spoken on any MSM outlet - and I watch NBC nightly and the Newshour along with various talking head programs. How much subversive do you guys think he can get away with on broadcast TV anyway?

I wonder how many viewers Keith had tonight? Hopefully 3 times more than BillO ever had. I bet the attack machine at fixed news are working overtime and BillO has steam coming out of his ears. Good for Keith and America.

I have never felt compelled to comment on a blog before, but seriously, if someone in the management of NBC actually thought that Pittsburgh would consider Keith Olberman more important than (even a preseason) Steeler game, then that person should be mopping floors at mickey Ds.
I for one have the best of both worlds, netsurfing w/ Steeler game on. Oh and a beer.

At least once a month I think 'there's no way Rush can top this'! He proves me wrong all the time!
What a maroon!

Wordsmith @ 32:

Thanks.....since Keith's show won't be on until 9:00 pm our time, Mountain Time, thanks for the details. /snark/

Shall I still watch?

Yes.

I know I am also guilty and actually tried to avoid specifics until everyone had a chance to see it. Considering that C&L has already posted the "Worst Person" and the amount of nitpicking that has already taken place here, if you want the show to surprise you, you're probably too late.

I do have to agree with David @ #7 about the Rocca segment, however. That one fell completely flat to me.

So, is this some kinda' test for NBC to see which way the political wind is blowing? They'll count up their viewership. Pour over the e-mails and letters they get either for or against Keith, and see how they should schedule their fall line up? Hmmmm, perhaps everyone should e-mail NBC to tell them how much they love Keith before the 28%ers figure out how to turn on their computers.

In all fairness, the way I understand it is that the west coast affiliates won't be getting the Countdown feed until 10pm PDT. Like I said, the Nightly News came on at 4pm PDT, which is when Countdown aired live back east. Airing the 7pm and/or 8pm prime time programming after the conclusion of a prime time football game is standard practice on the west coast, since Monday and Sunday Night Football begin at 5pm or 6pm and this is no different.

Also, if people agree that Countdown's ratings are important, then it's understandable why the Pittsburgh affiliate would choose to air pregame coverage, given that the Sunday Night Football telecast was a Pittsburgh Steelers game in Pittsburgh. This would have happened in any NFL city with the local team playing a home game on national TV. What I would take more issue with are any other eastern and central time zone affiliates that preempt Countdown altogether under pressure from astroturf e-mailing campaigns or just plain censorship by station owners.

#43 Strawberry,

Great point, we need a guy like Keith on before Football or just a nationally run show, instead of the normal scared to death to cross this administration. This may swing a "Red State" or two our way.

[...] House Countdown On NBC: Worst Person In The World - Comedian Rush Limbaugh » This Summary is from an article posted at Crooks and Liars on Sunday, August 26, 2007 This [...]

#47

I remember in 04 during Monday night Football he (Al Michaels) said something to the affect of get out and vote for GWB. I don't remember the context but that was the jest of it.

Rush qualifies as the worsterest in the universe with that bit of hoof in mouth.

justabill @ 34:

Phej Omatic @ 29:

*could somone tell me what "blogwhoring" is??

Blatantly linking to your own blog, especially off topic but not always, instead of actually contributing to the conversation on the thread. I think that about describes it.

What is a "concern troll".

[RP, ever heard of Google? -- Sitemonitor]

OH usage not USE sorry poetry man

There's good football fans and then there's obsessed football fans. Steeler fans are overly obsessed.

Dolpfan,
I was hoping you wouldn't take offense to my comment. It was not my intention to be anything resembling a "word trooper" ... I just thought it was funny as is, intentional or otherwise. :>)

No, at first i did take offense, then i reread your post and found it amusing. I've never liked when people tear apart peoples posts for misspellings, etc. Unless there a Troll of course.

the NBC affiliate in Scaifetown should be ashamed of itself

"Keith Olbermann made the most of the nationwide, broadcast debut of “Countdown.” Thankfully, NBC chose not to water down the show for the masses and let Keith be Keith. Tonight’s Worst Person In The World winners were as follows: Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell gets the worse award..."

Logan, you don't want commas between nationwide and broadcast debut nor in front of Mike McConnell's name. Let's show them the left can kick ass on punctuation, at least!

By the way, dolpfan, I agree with the troll bit (no pun intended)...

KO was not in Philly tonight either. Since the Eagles were playing, they ran some stupid Eagles pre-game crap. Ugh!!!!

NBC will chicken out, For some reason the Bush WH is off limits to most journalist. In the 90's it seemed like everything the Retug Congress spewed was reported on the nightly news as facts or "under investigation".

Just look at Rove last week, he lied about everything under the sun and not one News anchor called his ass out that I seen. Without honest and investigative media Dems will never win the WH again.

I love Keith. I was actually listening to Rush (insert insulting adjective here to substitue for his last name) when he said that stuff about Darfur. I almost wrecked my truck. I almost dislocated my jaw. My dog almost jumped out of the truck, thinking I had lost my mind. WTF? Anyhow, we need Keith. He ALMOST keeps me sane.

My old man asked tonight who Olbermann was. Is he the guy who used to be on ESPN?
Dad watches Billo religiously.
I told him Keith was the guy Billo is aiming his attacks on when he refers to "NBC News".
And that he is Edward R. Murrow and Jim McKay rolled into one.

Kenji:
OT
I'm with you about the puncuation thing. My mother was an english teacher. Let's keep it intelligent and educated. We ain't stupid, you know! Did I spell any of that correctly?

Bill O'Reilly: first just batshit insane, now batshit insane and innumerate

And as for Rush Limbo: well, let's just say he is still dredging the bottom of the cesspool for dumbass things to say.

Billo won't show, he'll have Malkin or some other Hack on to thash NBC.

I only hope Bill is on Monday with his "Great American Culture Quiz".
It's the only thing he does to clense the palate.
Via this feature I found out we have common ground.
He liked the Turtles!
I'm sure Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan would pants him were he to show up backstage.
But the fact suggests Bill once had taste. At a time long ago, Bill was within reach of the times, the masses and the will of the American people.

Here in the Philly television market, we didn't get Olbermann's show, we got an hour long local Eagles pregame show. I bleed Eagles green, but I was mad I couldn't watch Olbermann.

I did not see local news in Salem, Or. What we got were the same infomercials in the 4:00 hour that we did in the 3:00 hour. I don't know if Comcast had news in Portland and commercials for investing here or what, but imo running the same infomercials again is quite the insult. Grrrrrr.

whizkid @ 92:

Otay
I bet Bill yousta stick windowpane on his eyeballs.
Like W, he makes his coin as a sellout.

Really? I'm guessing Bill was like Rove - a misanthropic misfit. Someone who looks back at those times just wishing he were part of it.

Billo, Rove, Rush and W are doing more dope right now than you've ever seen.
Catch O'Reilly and tell me he doesn't have the last stash of Orange AS.
The other three are coked to the gills on Oxy.
(Was Cobert and his wrist a sendoff)?
Note: The only documented information we have about any of them back
in the day was that Bush made one nostril out of his nose with cocaine.

While Bill Clinton was not a cigarette smoker he did not know how to "inhale".
So he did not know and therefore "did not inhale" weed.
We know Rush knows how to chew pain killers.
We know the president knows how to snort blow.
On topic?

I liked the first half of the show tonight, but as another person previously mentioned, I was disappointed that Mo Rocca was the commentator for the whole Bush Administration stifling political protesters issue. If he's going to parade out a bunch of people to commen on stories, he should focus on the people with something more serious and interesting to say.

I understand that Countdown likes to have a lighter side of reporting with Oddball and Keeping Tabs, but I really wish Keith could do away with Keeping Tabs or at least save it for when there's something truly funny or out-of-the-ordinary thing that a celebrity is doing (e.g., another episode of Mel Gibson's verbal diarrhea or Kanye West speaking some truth about Bush). There's just something that makes me uneasy watching middle-aged men make snarky remarks about famous 20-year-olds' drinking issues or sexual histories, and frankly, it's just not interesting. Keith has been a refreshing voice against our government's and the media's ineptitude, so I really hope he could give that stuff up. I'm sure there's probably a lot of pressure from the higher-ups to keep it in there, but I think it has started to take some weight away from the insightful things he has to say.

That being said, I greatly appreciated his remarks about Micheal Vick that he was called into the previous newscast to comment on. Keith said what I've just been steaming about all week: why is is so easy to get people so enraged about animal cruelty when they seem pretty ambivalent to heinous acts against humans? There's understandably a little more compassion for dogs, and what Vick did was awful, but so many other professional athletes have been put on trial for domestic abuse, rape and other forms of violence, and people have either defended the athletes or ignored the issue. (And the same group of people creating the outcry about the murdered dogs doesn't seem to have a problem eating meat from factory farms...but that's another story...) I understand there's always an investigation that needs to be done, and the justice system needs to give the defendant a fair chance to make his/her case, but this whole Michael Vick thing just seemed to go quite swiftly compared to most cases involving pro athletes, and no one was defending him or claiming that he was set up.

Does the comedian talk about Keith on his show or is he also 'He who shall not be named' and is Rush "he shall scrub off callers who mention his (KO's) name? I had not listened to the Excrement In Broadcasting since the last century, only sound bites that bears his voice but never a mention of Keith. How does the comedian deal with this?

I don't have cable but now I know why Kieth has millions of viewers. His show is the best on Sunday night's list. If the NBC executives want to get top ratings they should keep his on prime time now they can drop Chris Matthews. I now know where Osama is thanks to Keith's show. Osama is in the basement of the White House chained up until the GOP needs to use him to trick the public into voting Republican. No wonder Bush said he didn't think much about Osama anymore he knew all along where he was.

I saw the Stones twice. They entertained me.
I saw the Turtles once. They made me nearly pass out I was so entertained.
Every time I see Bush I vomit into my mouth.

Keef, was great tonight as usual...Am in hopes NBC will make Countdown a regular Sunday night experience...

keith goes national. the content of the show must have been quite a shock to middle america who is used to listening and believing all that o'reilley and rush have to say. now they can start listening to keith and have a real basis for discerning the truth.

the first show had to be discarded by those same one-toothed bush supporter in the mid-west as garbage. but this is a start. if he can keep going, the more they listen the more they will understand. but there is always the possibility of cancellation, because those mindless clones will vote as a block.

Ahh. Limbaugh is such an asshat. I can't wait for his career to swirl down the drain along with his party.

It was not shown in Philly last night either. WEAK.

I live in Pittsburgh and was disappointed Keith wasn't on, but not surprised. The local stations always preempt network programming for a pregame show (whether the game is on NBC or CBS). Usually, they air the preempted show at some ridiculous hour, like 3 am or something. I didn't turn the TV on right at 8:00 last night so I don't know if they announced KO airing later or not.

If WPXI had aired KO instead of Steelers pre-game, they would have a massive shit storm on their hands. That was not an ideological decision, folks, it was purely giving the locals what they want. The Steelers are the most important thing in this town and literally nothing short of a serious terror attack would have been enough to prompt the pre-game show. Sad but true.

Don't you get a fuzzy feeling when you here the truth?

"Limbaugh: “…..Democrats want to get us out of Iraq, but they can’t wait to get us into Darfur.” He continued: “There are two reasons. What color is the skin of the people in Darfur? It’s black. And who do the Democrats really need to keep voting for them? If they lose a significant percentage of this voting bloc, they’re in trouble.” A caller responded, “The black population,” to which Limbaugh said, “Right.”"

How about THIS stat: THERE ARE ZERO (COUNT 'EM, ZERO) BLACK REPUBLICAN SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone know if it played in the DC area? I was building sets...

As for Pittsburgh... Go Browns!!!! But I'm not shocked at all that the Steelers show took precedence in that market...

Marion Young Says: It was aired at 10P last night in Los Angeles (MAJOR city!), long after most everyone goes to bed on a Sunday night.

You're kidding, right?

What dis Collinsworth say?

By the way, Republitard radio host Laura Ingraham was whining about Keith this morning. Bitchin'!

Big Dan @ 122:

"Limbaugh: “…..Democrats want to get us out of Iraq, but they can’t wait to get us into Darfur.” He continued: “There are two reasons. What color is the skin of the people in Darfur? It’s black. And who do the Democrats really need to keep voting for them? If they lose a significant percentage of this voting bloc, they’re in trouble.” A caller responded, “The black population,” to which Limbaugh said, “Right.”"

How about THIS stat: THERE ARE ZERO (COUNT 'EM, ZERO) BLACK REPUBLICAN SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure Senator Barak Obama and Congressman John Conyers and Congresswoman Barabra Lee (just to name a few) would be surprised to know they are not black.

miss_kitty @ 131:

Diane @ 129:

It was on the schedule for 10:00 pm and never showed. Instead, the regular CSI Miami was played. I'm in eastern Washington and I think my local is a Seattle station. I even stayed up late for it!!

No Diane. KING showed it. CSI Miami is a CBS offering. Olbermann was on NBC.

In my city CSI Miami(Weekends) is in syndication on my local NBC affiliate after midnight.

StirFry @ 65:

If NBC is testing the waters with KO, I think they'll be presently surprised. Most Americans believe that there's something wrong with America right now. They may not know who, what, or why, but KO will fill them in. If he goes network, that'll be a nightmare for BillO and the like. I can't tell you how many people I hooked with Countdown. But who knows, network might be too pussy for KO. I remember when Bill Hicks got banned for criticizing the first Iraq conflict from Late Night with David Lettermen when it was still on NBC. But KO's show is generally entertaining even with the non-political bits.

I think this week's Countdown was a one-and-done deal, or at least through the end of football season. For one thing, when would Countdown air on NBC's schedule? During the season, the Football Night In America pregame show airs prior to the Sunday Night Football telecast and this week the program schedule had an open space in that 7pm EDT time slot. Keith got a special showing of Countdown for probably the following reasons:

1) First and foremost, the time slot was available. It made no sense to do the usual hour-long Football Night In America pregame show this week, because this is still preseason football where the games don't count, most of the games are played earlier in the week, and fans have already seen the highlights.

2) This is Keith Olbermann's debut with NBC Sports, and his reacquaintance with those sports fans who still know him better as the sports anchor on ESPN and Fox Sports Net than as the Countdown host. What better way to promote both shows and Keith Olbermann as the new guy on Sunday Night Football than to feature Keith on two shows on the same night, since NBC had an open program slot to fill anyway? Many of those sports fans who don't care at all about cable news shows will still be glad to welcome Keith back as a sports anchor.

3) Olbermann won't get a bigger audience than as a lead-in to an NFL telecast. Even preseason NFL games get more than 10 million viewers, while a typical nightly showing of Countdown still has an audience of less than 1 million viewers. With multiples like that, this is great promotion for Countdown if even a fraction of the NFL audience starts tuning into Countdown as a result of the national broadcast.

Aside from the reasons for Countdown airing this week, I don't see Countdown as a regular fixture on NBC, because for one thing it's setup as an eclectic recap for the news of the day. The format is perfectly suited to cable news, but it's probably too quirky for the big network.

LONG LIVE COUNTDOWN.........................................................!