O'Donnell: 'Olbermann Invented Op-ed TV...No One Has Ever Done Anything Like It'
It was to be expected that MSNBC commentators would publicly wish Keith Olbermann well after his surprise exit last Friday.
But the nonsense that spewed out of Lawrence O'Donnell's mouth Monday evening - "He invented op-ed TV...For eight years...No one in television history has ever done anything like it" - was so sycophantic and factually bereft it was almost sick-making (video follows with transcript and commentary):
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: Consider what Keith [Olbermann] invented and taught us to do: Op-ed TV. The incomparable Maureen Dowd is a friend of mine. I know if I told her I want her to do five op-ed columns in a week, she would tell me that is impossible and ask me if I know how hard it is to do even one. I do know. I've done a few, very few.
That's why I marveled, as any writer must, at what Keith was doing - five op-eds a week, each of them much, much longer than the standard 800 words. This is the only place in television where people are surprised if you leave after eight years. In the entertainment division of this company, if a show like, say, "The West Wing" wins every possible award and runs for seven years, everyone just applauds an extraordinary show for an extraordinary run. I saw -- I saw exactly how exhausted the great Aaron Sorkin was after delivering 22 episodes a year of “The West Wing.”
Well, Keith delivered 20 a month. 20 A month. Hundreds of episodes a year. Hundreds of op-eds a year. Year in and year out. For eight years. I have no idea how he did it. None of us do. No one in television history has ever done anything like it. No one knew it could be done before he did it.
So Dowd thinks it's tough to do one 800-word op-ed a week? Maybe that's why her stuff is such garbage.
With the advent of the internet, there are hundreds nay thousands of writers today publishing numerous pieces every twenty four hours.
Without dislocating my shoulder to pat myself on the back, folks like Ed Morrissey and me typically write three pieces a day, seven days a week. If Dowd's feeling challenged producing her two columns every seven days, maybe it's a sign she really has become a dinosaur.
As for O'Donnell's awe concerning Olbermann having an eight-year run, does he know that "Meet the Press" is now in its 64th year? Or that there are 25 television shows that have run for forty years or more?
O'Donnell also seems to forget that the man largely responsible for creating this television genre, Larry King, ended his run on CNN last month after 25 years.
Yet O'Donnell went gaga over Olbermann's almost eight?
Also preposterous was crediting the "Countdown" host with inventing the concept of op-ed television as history will certainly bestow this honor on David Brinkley whose nightly commentaries on the renowned "Huntley-Brinkley Report" were the thing of legend.
Needless to say, unlike Olbermann, Brinkley didn't need to defame and debase people he didn't like with falsehoods and half-truths in order to make his point and win over his audience.
As for soloists in this genre, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly was doing op-ed TV more than five years before "Countdown" started and is now in his fifteenth season.
This ignores the many talk radio hosts in our nation that are on the air for three hours a day, five days a week offering their opinions to audiences O'Donnell and Olbermann can only dream of.
Rush Limbaugh, for example, is now in his 23rd year, and I say with great confidence that what folks like him do is far more demanding than what Olbermann did.
Add it all up, and O'Donnell's gooey sentiment though understandable given his esteem for his colleague was as factually-challenged as, well, most of his reports on virtually any subject.
So I guess we shouldn't be too surprised.
- Noel Sheppard's blog
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Comments
Uh Huh.
Submitted by Ashrak on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:08am.
And Gore Invented the Internet.
giant sucking sound
Submitted by MidAmerica on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:16am.
Methinks o'donnell is sucking up to what he hopes is a few of olbermonsters fans still watching and try to get them to keep watching his show.
"Hundreds of op-eds a year.
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:20am.
"Hundreds of op-eds a year. Year in and year out. For eight years. I have no idea how he did it. None of us do."
Yes, we do. olbermann just opened his mouth and let the lies and bile pour out.
Well, K(icked)O(ut) invented
Submitted by killa37 on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:21am.
Well, K(icked)O(ut) invented a LOT of bulls**t that he tried to pass off as some kind of important opinionitis............I think what he maybe will be remembered for (and I DO think he will re-appear somewhere) is being a conceited, bombastic, self-important asshole.............regardless of whether he was discussing sports or politics or society..........
→ What an idiot
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:23am.
Socialist Larry doesn't remember Rush Limbaugh's late night television show?
What was that, Larry?
CA, Come on, when was the
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:30am.
CA,
Come on, when was the truth ever important at MSNBC?
I know, Chris
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:36am.
It's like Ashrak said above.
"And Al Gore invented the Internet"
It's just that these losers want so badly to proclaim, with all the humility they can muster, that they stand on the broad shoulders of those who came before them.
Turns out that the top 12 News related shows on TV are all FOX, including a rerun of "Oreilly Factor"
Those aren't Keith's shoulders, Larry. They're his hips, but that's a very good "giddyup cowboy" you've got goin' there, buckaroo.
CA, I know. I was really
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:40am.
CA,
I know. I was really just kidding you. They can say anything they want on their shows and their slobbering-over-liberal-red-meat viewers will never stop to think, in their feeding frenzy, that they could be wrong or just making stuff up.
The Real Problem....
Submitted by GeneralAl on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 8:49am.
The real problem for Bath Tub Boy is the same problem the Libs experienced in the last election. That is, he failed to get his message out clearly and people just don't realize how much good he was doing for them! [Yuk, Yuk, Yuk!]
"Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away"!
Olberman didn't invent op-ed.
Submitted by KyWriter on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:28am.
However, he did bastardize it.
The chicken or the egghead ...
Submitted by metaphorsbwithu on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:31am.
Yeah, and 60 Minutes ripped off Saturday Night Live's "Point/Counterpoint" segment with Jane Curtin and Dan Akroyd, the Marx Brothers ripped off the Beatles comedy antics who'd ripped off the Monkees, Jack Benny stole Johnny Carson's bemused deadpan expression, Walt Disney stole Walter Cronkite's mustache and ... well, you get the idea.
I have come to the eerie
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:37am.
I have come to the eerie conclusion that olbermann really does see himself as the real life "Howard Beale". He even wore a rain coat like him for PR pictures like it was a joke - but it probably really wasn't. Creepy...
But you know what?
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:39am.
Nobody does Howard Beale like Glenn Beck.
And I mean that in the most respectful sense. He's wild and logical at the same time.
I agree, but, sometimes, I
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:41am.
I agree, but, sometimes, I wish Beck would back it off just a bit. I find him exhausting.
→ Me too
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:07am.
But I don't think Beck could tone down the ridicule if he tried.
I could do without his emotional tone, for sure.
I know he has his hardcore
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:09am.
I know he has his hardcore followers, but I like "Funny Glenn" a lot more than "Impassioned Glenn".
glenn's radio show
Submitted by john t on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 8:32am.
i am a conservative but also cannot take glenn for one hour on his tv show even though i think that he is probably correct on his assertions. no doubt glenn could be a turn off to the needed independants. It is interesting that his radio show is so different and i find it much more entertaining. fox would do well to move red eye up to a decent hour on the east coast to convert more 'younger' voters.
If I don't have to listen or
Submitted by marpel on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 10:44am.
If I don't have to listen or watch Glenn, I find myself agreeing with him. But, he's too much of a drama queen for me. I don't like the childlike crying...that goes for Boehner too...MAN UP, DUDES!
I'm less emotional, and I'm a girl...
"Deep within my heart lies a memory. A song of ol' San Antone..."
You go, girl!
Submitted by Newsbubba on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 11:19am.
"There's no crying in baseball," or politics!!
If MSNBC is finally through with the Olberfuhrer...
Submitted by Dave. on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:49am.
...then that is good enough for me, as I was through with this freak of nature long ago.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
May he never appear on another NB thread - unless he happens to drown in his momma's bathtub, in which case a brief mention on an OT will be more than enough.
Maybe even too much.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Dave, I have the unsettled
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:56am.
Dave, I have the unsettled feeling that we have not heard, by a long shot, the last from olbermann. Like Bill Maher resurfacing on HBO, olbermann will be back - and more bilious than ever.
Chris,
Submitted by Dave. on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:04am.
I have the same feeling, but I'm hoping it's a TV channel that is so lame that I won't have to de-program it on my Comcast remote.
LOL - And even better, I'm hoping it's one that Noel can't get.
IYKWIM.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Can you imagine The keith
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:22am.
I know what you mean. I think I was down to something less than twenty channels programmed on my remote just before I finally got rid of the whole damned cable thing and went with a Roku box.
Can you imagine The keith olbermann Show on The Outdoor Channel? I can just hear their viewers, expecting The Bass Fishing Show saying to each other, "Who in the hail is this idjot?". :)
C'mon Give Olbermann The Credit He Deserves
Submitted by Boil It Down on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:59am.
I sincerely believe that Olbermann should be praised as having the highest body count in terms of character assassination of anyone ever on TV. I actually think he has outdone Don Rickles.
→ boil it down
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:05am.
Your claim presupposes he was ever successful to any measurable degree.
Palin and Bachmann grew mightily while he was pointing his popgun at them.
Yes Lawrence, your spooning
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:20am.
Yes Lawrence, your spooning buddy, Keith invented Op - ed TV..and Al Gore invented the internet, the Ass Clown is the first post partisan president, and yes it's perfectly normal you for you to hear so many voices in your head Larry, nothing to worry about..you're just fine.
PS: O'Reilly and Limbaugh don't count because they're conservatives....everyone knows that silly......
Barack_Must_Go.....
More coprologies.
Submitted by The Vet on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 7:08am.
If this guy gets to continues his vulgarisms and profanities day after day, I get to continue to point out his collected 250+ coprologies. Including ---
250 - he has been doing this for 14 weeks, that is 2 a day. And he has had 2 posts deleted by the admins already.
And he is not ever slowing down. He is still doing it more than a week after I started pointing out his nastiness to the community here.
Troll Alert -- The most vulgar profane troll NewsBusters has ever seen - Barack_must_go
I'm surprised you had time to
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 7:40am.
I'm surprised you had time to scratch my ass between SLAPPING WOMAN AROUND, ( your own confession ) then bragging about it while taunting them about doing so on other threads.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself, but instead you just troll away ( loud & proud ) unrepentant just like the rest of the cowardly bullies in your ' Mean Girls ' malitia.........
Barack_Must_Go.....
Awwww. Poor trollie. The word bully won't stop, will he?
Submitted by The Vet on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 7:58am.
The word bully types words on a page and that is the equivalent of physically abusing the weaker sex.
And yet another vulgarism - scratching my ass
Still having problems with singular and plural case. It is either women or a woman Retard.
Whoops. Looks like Bracky the ScatBoy understands every profanity known to man but has problems with common words.
slap 3: to assail verbally : insult
Oh dear the word bully assailed verbally a lying female user with words on a web page. Bracky needs to get all a worried about that. You worry Bracky the ScatBoy. You worry hard. The Vet verbally assailed a female user that was lying. LIKE YOU.
So in your mind,
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 8:04am.
So in your mind, your verbally assaulting of women is perfectly acceptable behavior, as long as no one can prove you've physically abused any of your victims. Is that correct V?
Barack_Must_Go.....
Yes. Retard. You lie on a website. You get slapped.
Submitted by The Vet on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 9:05am.
It is a simple well known concept. You are not very bright are you?
Oh Bracky the ScatBoy, the word was assail not assault. You are not very bright and words are hard aren't they Bracky?
assail : to attack violently with blows or words
Words, Bracky, words. Really, you are not very bright are you?
Is everyone catching this? Bracky the ScatBoy drops every vulgarism imaginable, going on 300 now, including descriptions of sex acts with children. But say slapped and Bracky the ScatBoy pops a rivet.
***UPDATE*** Looks like Bracky the ScatBoy got punchdrunk from getting slapped around here and ran off to post somewhere else. Yep, he is not very bright at all.
Vet.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 11:30am.
I see that you're a "Veteran of the Psychic Wars."
I've got a feeling you may have lost, bubba.
Really?
Submitted by The Vet on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:16pm.
I lost? I lost a Psychic War? I am confused.
For the record --- The only Psychic War I ever lost was trying to pill a cat.
Looks like I am going to have to wait awhile to hear Newsbubba's logic.
~*ahem*
Submitted by Wrathful Brunette on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 4:47pm.
Pardon me, gents. If y'all are about to square off I don't mean to step between the pugilists, I just thought I'd share a few thoughts as a woman posting on the boards.
Goos evening Bru
Submitted by cocodrie on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 5:03pm.
You're as beautiful and tough as you were in your previous life.
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
~Awwww, coco
Submitted by Wrathful Brunette on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 5:06pm.
I love you too, darlin'. I'm glad to see you're back posting more often. Check your PM's in a minute, I'm going to send you some pics of the latest addition to my brood.
Newsbubba, Barack_Must_Go started out as a---
Submitted by matthewdean on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 2:05am.
reasonably thoughtful conservative poster, and then went rapidly downhill by opting to use language that crossed over the line in most of his posts.
This was pointed out to him by a number of posters.
I was not one of those because I am smart enough to realize that would have been hypocritical in the extreme, coming from me.
BMG's postings started to closely resemble those of a couple of past problem children, and when he was advised of that fact, chose to ramp up a feud rather than either acquiesce with grace or look inward while listening hard in an attempt to understand what he was being told.
His call.
His choice.
His account now reads "Access Denied".
He ended up as a victim of his own chutzpah rather than as some poor little victim of The Vet.
In the time I have been here, I have yet to see The Vet initiate an attack by unfairly insulting someone out of the blue.
He has, however, put paid to many accounts of those who went after him all out of proportion to the original chiding he laid on them.
The Vet is a good man, Newsbubba; as are you, judging by your posts, and while not everyone may agree with his style, he is a world-class counter-puncher, he is on the conservative side, and he takes no crap from liberal trolls.
Just my nickel's worth.
Take it or leave it. :o)
MD
http://newsbusters.org/about-
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 01/26/2011 - 2:46am.
http://newsbusters.org/about-barackmustgo.html
Vote for the American in November
Oh Mr. Newsbubba.
Submitted by The Vet on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 12:36am.
What gives here? What exactly were you referring to?
Newsbubba: I've got a feeling you may have lost, bubba.
I am simply confused about that statement. The troll was banned for his offensive posts. I explained that the term slapping is normal when applied to trolls.. What is up with the total non-response here?
*****UPDATE****** I give up. Looks like another ckc1227. Take a swipe at The Vet and then run like hell. Can't keep looking back here for a response that will never come. I PM'd the guy twice. Begged him to explain his logic here. Whatever his logic, his silence is a loud and clear admission he was dead wrong.
he does have a point
Submitted by Injest on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:16am.
But the nonsense that spewed out of Lawrence O'Donnell's mouth Monday evening - "He invented op-ed TV...For eight years...No one in television history has ever done anything like it" - was so sycophantic and factually bereft it was almost sick-making (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Well he does have a point.
Prior to Uberidiot, OP-ED shows were restrained by that old axiom “You can have your own opinion but ya can't have your own facts”
Uberidiot was never concerned with “facts” or “reality”.
“much, much longer than the standard 800 words.”
LOL, where to start? Hum? Without that whole “facts or reality” thingy to worry about, 800 word psychobabble is not difficult to produce. Some thing about “a room full of monkeys and typewriters”!
800 words? That might be impressive in high school, but in real life, the point of communications is to communicate.
Example: MSNBC is ranked 28th out of the top 30 cable networks cuz MSNBC sucks.
See? Don't need 800 words to tell the truth.
You DO need 800 words to hide the truth.
→ Injest
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:18am.
I was thinking Rosie O'Donnell was around before Keith.
→ No, wait
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:18am.
Maybe I was thinking Rosie was bigger around than Keith.
Or manlier than keith?
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:22am.
Or manlier than keith?
→ Goes without saying
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:27am.
And the thought of either, huddling fearfully in a bathtub, is grotesque.
Woudn't they make it a "bat"
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:41am.
Woudn't they make it a "bat" tub? :) And, by the way - yuck.
A few “teabaggers” too many for Comcast
Submitted by politicalpaw on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:31am.
Question 4 @billmaher: how’s the “teabagger” slurs workin out? @keitholbermann http://tinyurl.com/4qhvctp @davidshuster http://tinyurl.com/4r5fzrg
Note to degenerates: do not share these vids at next ?? job interview
btw, Love the ghoulish pauses in LarryO's eulogy
How many people here think
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 1:38am.
How many people here think Lawrence O'Donnell will be MSNBCs "new keith olbermann"? He's liberal enough. He's dishonest enough. Occasionally he has shown flashes of nastiness that compare with olbermann's. But, will he prove - er - "worthy" - enough to sit in the bath tub that was keith olbermann's throne? Or, will he be just a cheap, pale imitation of the original?
I think Larry is much crazier
Submitted by marpel on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 10:55am.
I think Larry is much crazier than Keith...and that's saying something. Larry is prone to inciting violence...look at that Tucson Shooter-type smirk he has on his face continuosly. He's one of the creepiest individuals I've ever witnessed....and he gets paid for his mental illness...just like Keith. MSNBC is an asylum, no doubt.
"Deep within my heart lies a memory. A song of ol' San Antone..."
Yes, Chris.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 11:30am.
Larry is "sponge worthy" to most of the lib audience.
It's so hard to crib from DailyKos and Huffpo every day!
Submitted by OxyCon on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 3:56am.
Lol...O'Donnell...what a doofus. Everyone with a functioning brain knows where Olbermann got all his material.
Finally It Speaks - Olbermann Comes Out From Under His Rock
Submitted by im41 on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 4:59am.
Bathtub boy, sulking in silence after his departure from MSNBC has taken his thumb out of his mouth long enough to post a tweet.
http://conservativeblogscentral.blogspot.com/2011/01/finally-it-speaks-o...
Props to "O'Really"...............
Submitted by Tomorama on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 10:19am.
I am here to applaud O'Reilly last night for his segment ON Olberdouche while NOT even mentioning Olberdouche by name.
Goldberg also get's a gold star.
If you missed it, should be on the internet somewhere (THX to Al Bore)......
Not mentioning Olby by name...
Submitted by SickofLibs on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 11:00am.
That's also a John Gibson thing.
I'm sure it's always driven Olby insane. OK, more insane.
"Olby delivered hundreds of episodes a year"
Submitted by SickofLibs on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 10:56am.
At least Crazy Larry got one thing right.
O'Donnell's analogy
Submitted by Galvanic on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 11:56am.
It may have been a Freudian slip that ol' Lawrence compared Olbermann's preps for nightly shows to the fiction scripting of Aaron Sorkin on "West Wing."
Is he suggesting they are similar?
More apropo would be comparing Olbermann's task to that of a news anchor, with one major difference: regradless of how accurate the anchor intends to be, the anchor must address the headlines of the day. Olbermann was free to deliver whatever rants popped into his head.
The Last Word: Lawrence O'Donnell's Teachable Moment
Submitted by StewartIII on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:03pm.
ChickaBOOMer| The Last Word: Lawrence O'Donnell's Teachable Moment
http://chickaboomer.blogspot.com/2011/01/lawrence-odonnells-teachable-moment.html
msnbc standing tough
Submitted by telecaster on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 12:26pm.
Out with the Grinder, in with the Monkey....nothin ever changes in lefty land.