Countdown

  On Thursday’s Countdown show on MSNBC, after guest Howard Fineman of the Huffington Post predicted that Republican Congressmen would be reluctant to extend unemployment benefits, host Keith Olbermann asserted that, referring to congressional Republicans, "They don't live in this world. They don't live in this country. And I think we'd be better off if they didn't live in this country."…

 On Wednesday’s Countdown show, Keith Olbermann featured a "Worst Person" segment for the first time since indefinitely suspending it over two weeks ago as the MSNBC host decided to go after Pamela Geller, whom he called a "buffoon"; Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller, who committed the sin of lumping MSNBC in with FNC while criticizing cable news; and frequent target FNC’s Roger Ailes. In…

Ed Schultz on Tuesday ratcheted up his anger over Rush Limbaugh's "Driving Miss Nancy" comments basically calling for the conservative talk radio host to be fired. For the second time in the last three "Ed Shows," Republican strategist Ron Christie was there to add some sanity to the discussion pointing out the "double standard about applying racial outrage when it deals with black Democrats…

Keith Olbermann's ratings have plummeted since his post-suspension return to MSNBC. As NewsBusters previously reported, MSNBC's "Countdown" saw a 35 percent rise in viewers last Tuesday when the host came back after his brief suspension over his campaign contributions. By Monday, he had given up all of this bounce and then some:

 On Monday’s Countdown show, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann used his latest "Special Comment" to respond to former ABC anchor Ted Koppel’s inclusion of him and MSNBC in his recent Washington Post op-ed criticizing the modern news industry. After praising former news man Edward R. Murrow for taking a stand on Senator Joseph McCarthy and Walter Cronkite for doing the same on the Vietnam War and…

Keith Olbermann and the heads of NBC - including former Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw - are apparently  in the middle of a civil war over the "Countdown" host's recent campaign contributions that resulted in his brief suspension. According to the Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz, the deepening sense of anger and frustration with Olbermann's behavior could lead to his eventual departure from MSNBC:

Ted Koppel on Sunday published an op-ed at the Washington Post wherein he claimed that opinionated television personalities like MSNBC's Keith Olbermann represent the death of real news. The "Countdown" host apparently isn't taking this lying down for he tweeted the following Sunday evening:

Keith Olbermann's suspension hype ratings bounce has almost completely vanished in only two days. As NewsBusters previously reported, MSNBC's "Countdown" saw a 35 percent rise in viewers Tuesday when the host returned after his brief suspension over his campaign contributions. By Thursday, the number of viewers had plummeted to almost what it was the day before the scandal broke:

If MSNBC were consistent, Keith Olbermann would not have been the only on-air personality disciplined for making political contributions. For those who don't watch his "Countdown" program (which would be most of the country), Olbermann was suspended "indefinitely" after it was learned he donated money without approval from management to three Democratic congressional candidates. The problem…

Comedian Jon Stewart on Thursday scolded Rachel Maddow for using the word "teabagger" to describe members of the Tea Party movement. Appearing on "The Rachel Maddow Show" for an oftentimes quite interesting interview, Stewart also criticized others on MSNBC for taking this vulgar joke way too far (video follows with transcript  and commentary):

As NewsBusters reported Wednesday, Keith Olbermann's return performance ratings bounce was less than spectacular at a 35 percent increase over his pre-suspension show. In his second night back, the "Countdown" host lost almost 40 percent of this gain:

"Think of a caged rat, a cornered rat. What does a cornered rat do? It instinctively goes for the jugular. That's where the media are going right now," following the November 2 elections, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Ernest Istook in a radio interview. The  Media Research Center founder appeared by telephone on the November 11 edition of Bill Bennett's Morning in America, where…

  Since Republicans won control of the House of Representatives last week, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann has recited at the end of his Countdown show a new sign-off each night he has hosted noting the number of days since the GOP victory and mocking Speaker-designate John Boehner by sarcastically asking, "Where are the jobs?" At the end of Wednesday’s Countdown, he ended the show: "That's November…

With all the hype about Keith Olbermann's brief suspension and his triumphant return to MSNBC Tuesday, one would have expected his ratings to explode as first-time viewers tuned in to see what all the fuss was about. When the dust settled, the "Countdown" host's total viewers rose 35 percent from last Thursday's show before the controversy began, but most embarrassingly, Rachel Maddow…