Keith Olbermann Announces His Return to TV

He's baaack. Keith Olbermann announces his return to TV

Olbermann has not lost one sardonic step. His FOK News Channel (Friends of Keith) made the announcement yesterday, including the show’s new name and when it will air. All that I can say is: I feel bad for Lawrence O’Donnell.

[Here is the video, which may or may not be running at this time as it was out on our systems this afternoon – ed.]

What is wonderful about Al Gore’s Current TV being Mr. Olbermann’s new home is that he will be on the one network not under the thumb of the Corporatocracy.

Olbermann says in the video that his new operations will make better use of the web and web video. Hopefully they won’t be on Current’s flimsy website, which did not even post the FOK announcement on his show page, even today.

Thankfully there will be more comic relief from the all-too-unfunny political puppetry over at Fox News.

The biggest loser here appears to be O’Donnell, whose show is in Olbermann’s old slot at MSNBC and therefore right in his cross-hairs. The question remains whether they will sacrifice O’Donnell, who has been building something of a voice of his own, or one of the other hosts in their slate. My guesstimate: The one with the weakest ratings will be shown the door, which means that Schultz and O’Donnell are going to have their own version of sweeps month in May trying to avoid being on the receiving end of the Countdown debut by holding that slot opposite Mr. Olbermann.

It is not as if they didn’t know it was coming, though, and I don’t think either Schultz or O’Donnell has been inhaling next to Bill O’Reilly long enough to become that delusional that they think that the time slots opposite Coundown on MSNBC aren’t going to take a drubbing.

Mr. Olbermann appears rested, on his game, and ready to take a bite out of Sean Hannity after nearly half a year on the sideline. Perhaps, just perhaps, there is a hope that the days of the CBS/Paley school of broadcast journalism may rise out of Current TV, and that they might be able to woo away Rachel Maddow and a couple of the better folks who do their homework to the network.

Remember what MSNBC looked like before Olbermann got there?

Exactly.

My shiny two.

About Brian Ross

Brian Ross is a writer, screenwriter, political satirist, documentarian, filmmaker and chef. Ad hoc, ad loc, quid pro quo... so little time. So much to know!

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