Current said on Friday afternoon that it had fired Mr. Olbermann — one of the nation’s most prominent progressive speakers — just a year into his five-year, $50 million contract. It was the culmination of months of murky disputes between Mr. Olbermann and the channel that he was supposed to save from the throes of ratings oblivion. – Brian Stetler, New York Times
“Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer” takes Olbermann’s “Countdown” spot.
After the firing, Olbermann did what Sarah Palin had to do after she lost her position of power, except his platform wasn’t Facebook, it was Twitter.
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. – Keith Olbermann
What in the world is wrong with this guy?
How can anyone choose to screw up a five-year, $50 million contract?
We switched our service to get Keith Olbermann on CurrentTV, so here’s hoping Eliot Spitzer can deliver. He’s been publicly humiliated, with the Democrats drumming him out of politics, so maybe he actually knows the worth of the opportunity he’s being handed and will treat it as such.
Did Olbermann actually believe there wouldn’t be fits and starts on CurrentTV, a network that had been waiting for a marquee performer on which to hang their reputation, after biding time for so long?
When the “disputes” began, anyone who has followed Keith Olbermann had to be thinking, here we go again. I know I was.
After watching Olbermann in front of a jet black backdrop, which mimicked Charlie Rose, but with Keith it only looked like amateur hour, there was no doubt something had gone terribly wrong.
Again.
Keith Olbermann broke his contract and fled MSNBC during the Lewinsky scandal.
Olbermann ended up back at MSNBC with a show whose format didn’t leave him open to hour-long programs about the political scandal of the moment. But he bailed yet again eventually anyway.
Then Olbermann was given another anchor spot and editorial power over the news at CurrentTV. But as the 2012 Republican primary season revved up, he was a no-show.
I’m just surprised it took CurrentTV so long to fire him. If MSNBC had any standards Keith Olbermann would have been sacked during the 2008 primary season, all of which I recount in my book.
Now, yet another news anchor job had become too much of a struggle for him.
It is a testament to Keith Olbermann’s talent as an entertainer that he’s been given so many opportunities in a business that is as competitive and unforgiving as it gets.
Kept aloft by his fans, it’s fitting he apologized to them.
One can only guess if he actually has a case against CurrentTV. Citing that it’s his next step, however, is a sign of desperation and perhaps also that he realizes he’s in professional trouble this time.
At least he still has Twitter.
Oh, and Dave Letterman, where he’ll be next Tuesday.
Oy Keith. Oy. It must have been pretty bad- hsi own staff is staying at current w/spitzer- interesting. This is kind of sad.
As little attention as I pay to television news, even I was expecting this to happen. I suspect Spitzer will be a good replacement, at least when it comes to delivering news worth broadcasting. Whether that will help Current or not is another question. I find it hard to believe that anyone with a functioning mind gets his news from television these days.
BTW, here’s Spitzer’s self-introduction, which was short and to the point. Olbermann probably would have spent several minutes saying the same thing.
I like Viewpoint already.
Sidenote: Is the visual editor missing for everyone? That’s the formatting toolbar with the buttons for bold, italic, linking, etc.
What visual editor?
Yes, changes have been made here. At least italics worked this week.
I never saw Keith on the Current network since I moved to a condo which does not allow satellite TV. I used to have DirecTV which included Current and Mark Cuban’s HDNET channel and was able to watch the Dan Rather show. I did enjoy Keith when he was on MSNBC but always thought there was something ‘off’ about him.
I don’t know if there is a landing spot for Keith, perhaps on Sirius radio.
I’m afraid that Current, with it’s recent hirings of Stephanie Miller and Bill Press, is going to become a pale reflection of MSNBC sans Joe Scarborough over time. Cenk “OF COOOOOOUUURRSE” Uyger is not one to carry a network, and Eliot Spitzer is a nice guy but his CNN show was one of the lowest-rating in cable history. I gave up on MSNBC because I was tired of the cheerleading for the Obama Administration; I will not give the time of day to Obamabot apologists like Miller and Press, who think that every Bush policy instantly became worth supporting the moment Obama became President and continued, or expanded, it.
Really wish there was a like button for posts
Personally have rarely been able to tolerate Olbermann. Good riddance.
I feel the same way whitepaw. He is a jerk. A misognist one at that. I can’t get Current, I don’t think. I have Charter and cannot get satellite. Living in the hills and hollars the signal won’t triangulate in my yard or something like that.
I like Spritzer and wish he would get back into politics. We need smart guys like him.He must have been a threat to establishment Dems for them to have drummed him out so fast.
Spitzer was a pain in Wall Street’s ass. Cuomo The Younger is their boy, and they know it. These assertions explain a great deal about New York politics of the last decade. Spitzer and Young Cuomo were political rivals, and look who came out on top.
Yes, good riddance. Slowly and surely.
Olbermann has had issues going all the way back to ESPN. Current would have been a good fit for him if only he could have put his ego away long enough to build a new progressive outlet. Spitzer can be very entertaining and in your face, just what progressives need, but people would have to forget the pricey escorts and all the hypocrisy.
How was he hypocritical? Did he go after prostitution as AG? I just don’t know enough about NY politics to know that. Otherwise it is not hypocritical to be a flawed person. Almost all of the greats in politics have been very flawed.
So it is said. Yet, in a quick search I can’t find a reference to any Spitzer-led jihads against prostitution. Wikipedia doesn’t mention any such thing, and in the two NYT profiles of Spitzer that were written when he was running for governor, there is no mention. It does not appear to be as prominent a thing as his well-known campaign against Wall Street corruption, which was mentioned in both profiles.
Take that for what little it’s worth.
It has nothing to do with prostitution, it has to do with ethics. He went after Wall street based on ethics and values. Regardless of how you feel about prostitution ( I feel it should be legal ) he showed a complete lack of ethics in not only using a prostitute while married but also while the AG of NY state. He was attacking Wall streets ethics while having none of his own. Finally, he was using state money and the state police to assist him in satiating his sexual needs.
Actually, and maybe I am a relativist but I see more integrity in just making infedelity a transaction rather than a extramarital love affair that brings pain to so many people and is so manipulative..
The production values at Current TV were second rate. Still, Keith is Keith and Al Gore should have known this. Perhaps, KO going after the Democratic establishment and President Obama became too much for Al to take plus KO’s idiosyncrasies. I think CNN should consider KO because they are both completely diffusional and, as the 1970′s Grace Jones hit sums it up best for CNN and KO: “I’m not perfect, but I’m perfect for you”.
Good – I’ll take Spitzer over Olbermann any day!
” What in the world is wrong with this guy?
How can anyone choose to screw up a five-year, $50 million contract?”
Easy to do when you have an ego the size of football stadium Ms. Marsh. Come on, we knew that this would all end in tears. Not a question of if, but when.
Can he send me just one of those millions? I’ll go on the teevee and do anything they want for that.
This dude has a really hard time holding down a job.