Olbermann Angling for Return to ESPN
The television personality Keith Olbermann was in Los Angeles on Friday being deposed for a reported $70 million lawsuit he filed against his most recent employer, Current TV, with the trial expected to begin in May. Whether the court rules in favor of Olbermann or the network, the verdict will put an official end to a one-year stint at Current that was supposed to last at least five.
But as one door closes, another has been quietly approached. At various times over the last year, Olbermann and his representatives have expressed interest in his return to the employer that made him famous: ESPN.
Read: NYTimes
“How long ago did you leave MSNBC to go to the Current TV show?” Letterman asked. “It’s over a year, right?”
“I don’t know,” Olbermann said. “I have to consult my notes because after a certain point, I can’t keep track of where I’m working. I don’t have any idea.”
Letterman then proceeded to give Olbermann an “adjustable business card.”
“I’d like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV.
Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I’ve been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff. Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract.
It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently. To understand Mr. Hyatt’s “values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty,” I encourage you to read of a previous occasion Mr. Hyatt found himself in court for having unjustly fired an employee. That employee’s name was Clarence B. Cain.
In due course, the truth of the ethics of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt will come out. For now, it is important only to again acknowledge that joining them was a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one. That lack of judgment is mine and mine alone, and I apologize again for it.”
Olbermann out!
h/t Nick of Time
The Keith Olbermann Saga’s Starting to Get Kind of Sad
Read —> The Atlantic Wire
Keith Olbermann: Brad Drake An ‘Asshole,’ O’Reilly A ‘Psycopath’
Keith Olbermann visits Occupy Wall Street
via @GottaLaff
Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibbi appeared on Current TV’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann to discuss the “Occupy Wall Street” protests. “The movement is growing organically,” Taibbi says, “because people know there’s something to protest now.” He adds that Occupy Wall Street could spur reformers and legislators to act because “the public won’t take it anymore.”
(via Rolling Stone)
h/t PPG
“Where is the outrage over these great hypocrisies? Do you expect it to come from a corrupt and corrupted media? For whom access is of greater importance than criticizing the failure of a politcal party or defending those who don’t buy newspapers or can’t leap website paywalls or could not afford cable TV.” - Keith Olbermann rails against the debt deal and the media’s lack of “outrage” over it.
“Mr. Olbermann’s new home, Current, is much smaller than MSNBC, so the channel’s executives expected Mr. Olbermann’s audience to be much smaller than it was at MSNBC. Indeed it was much smaller — but the early ratings for the first week do suggest that some of Mr. O’Donnell’s viewers did choose to watch Mr. Olbermann instead.
“Countdown” on Current averaged 354,000 total viewers in its first week, and 131,000 viewers ages 25 to 54. “The Last Word” on MSNBC averaged 794,000 total viewers, and 203,000 viewers ages 25 to 54, a drop of about 20 percent from Mr. O’Donnell’s second-quarter average.”
“You have an African-American gentleman married to a white woman who is in cahoots with a group that has a lot of racists in it. Is that Stockholm syndrome on his part? What’s going on?”
“As I was saying.”
began Keith Olbermann, who has been off the air since departing MSNBC Jan. 21, on his relocated and modestly retooled Countdown With Keith Olbermann, when it premiered tonight on cable’s tiny Current channel. And indeed, the liberal commentator picked up pretty much where he left off, tearing into the usual conservative targets and then some.
Continue reading… ‘Countdown’ to Keith Olbermann’s return ends - USATODAY
