TVSquad

This reporter was thinking just a little while back, that what this country needs is another intolerant political loud mouth on the airwaves. It doesn't matter what political party they call home -- R or D, liberal conservative. No TV viewer seems able to go more than a few minutes without having some self-important gas bag named Matthews or O'Reilly, sporting one ideology or another, raging at a camera.

Fortunately, MSNBC brings us another fix -- the emerging show from Air America personality Ed Schultz. Resembling a sort of square-headed Rush Limbaugh, Schultz's politics run more toward Keith Olbermann. But, let's face it: None of these guys are on TV to discuss sensible politics on either side of the aisle. They're on the air to pontificate, yell, scream and (in Schultz's case) have a borderline Network-ish nervous breakdown on camera every night.

It's about 12 hours later and as I look back on MSNBC's Election Plaza broadcast, I can see things a bit more clearly now. Overall, the "place for politics" did a fine job covering the most historic presidential election in my lifetime. It wasn't the most dramatic, but it was living history.

History was in the making because we knew going in whether the Dems or the Reps won, an African-American or a woman would be in the White House by the end of the night. MSNBC captured that political reality with images and by letting the camera run long after Obama's speech just to watch the faces of the people -- including Oprah and Jesse Jackson, both in tears -- celebrate in joy.

The prognosticators and pollsters were all on target by choosing Obama/Biden as the winners, so that means nobody's at Gallup or Fivethirtyeight.com is losing his/her job.

If you're a regular watcher of MSNBC, the Election Night coverage feels like a suped-up version of the usual prime time line-up. They're calling it Election Plaza, overlooking Rockefeller Center, with giant screens, flags and -- my favorite -- the map of the United States on the ice skating rink.

6:30 The main desk is set with David Gregory center-most, Chris Matthews to his right, Keith Olbermann to his left. Yes, Keith is on the left. It some ways it looked like the last supper, only without the food.

6:45 My main problem with MSNBC is this framing device showing information on the right, the top and the bottom of the screen. This is what Lewis Black was screaming about at the Emmys in 2007. There's too much information on the screen. This reminds me of ESPN coverage of the NFL Draft.

In a move that can be considered either a turn back to neutral coverage of political events or a fearful tactic to curb further criticism on their network, NBC News has decided to dump Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as co-anchors of NSNBC's election coverage. Replacing them on the upcoming debates and election night will be White House correspondent David Gregory.

Some say the decision to drop the two most popular personalities on the network from the coverage stemmed from what critics both within and without the organization feared was the channel's perceived shift to the political left (though, many have said that MSNBC has always leaned left as opposed to FOX News that leans right. Apparently, none of their shoes have the same-sized heels.). Others say their demotion stemmed from numerous complaints that came after Olbermann's rant after a 9/11 tribute video was shown at the Republican National Convention. Then there are those who feel their on-air tiffs during the coverage resembled something out of Gossip Girl.

I'm sure a lot of you were scratching your heads over the weekend, wondering how Tim Russert's passing merited the all-encompassing, presidential-like coverage it got, especially on his home network of NBC. He's only a reporter, right? Why the wall-to-wall coverage? Well, first of all, it seems that by all accounts, Russert was one of the most well-liked people in the news business, so the outpouring might have been a function of people mourning a friend who was taken from them too soon. But, I have another, more off-beat theory as to why NBC did a broadcast version of sitting shiva for Russert: it was because they have no idea how to replace him.

Think about it: he wasn't only the longtime moderator of Meet The Press, where he took the venerable show and rejiggered its format, making him the face of the show. He was also NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the main political voice for the network. "It's going to take four or five people to replace Tim," CBS' Bob Schieffer told The New York Times.

For now, though, the immediate question is who will replace him on Meet The Press. Speculation is already underway.

Back on the night that Stephen Colbert announced that he'd be hitting Philadelphia, taking the show on the road for the first time, I had decided to go to bed early and just catch the rerun in the morning. My friend called me just as I began to doze off and immediately told me that she had gotten tickets for us to see Colbert in Philadelphia. I had no idea what the hell she was talking about, so when I hung up, I just shrugged it off as a late-night half-dream. The next morning, I watched the episode and it finally made sense: We were about to go on another Colbert Report adventure.

After last night's interview with Chris Matthews, I suppose Jon felt the need to reiterate the fact that he just disagrees with the "life is a campaign" thought. The self-deprecating jokes were a nice touch, kind of a sweet gesture to Matthews to show that Jon is an equal opportunity mocker.

"Private Benjamins": Rob Riggle stopped by to share his script, Dark Liquid, which is alarmingly close to the state of Blackwater right now. This was okay, I suppose. I did quite like the idea of being able to shoot blood diamonds and wear panda fur, though. The historical clip was kind of, sort of funny, but I was mainly distracted by how poorly done it was. Was there no professional graphic designer on hand? Come on!

"Is That Really Necessary?": John McCain wants to have a Christian president. We'll make it happen, McCain, we'll make it happen. FOR YOU.

"Here Comes the Grudge": On the first day of the Supreme Court's return, Clarence Thomas' book was released, chock full of revealing information on how much Thomas really hates everyone and thinks that John Roberts dresses too provocatively. I think Daily Show only brought this up because they wanted an excuse to crack all the "Coke and pubic hair" jokes that they've had stored up since the last time they've had the opportunity to make fun of Thomas. Senior Legal Analyst Jason Jones stopped by to say some things. I honestly lost all memory of everything else he covered when he said "furry pop-top". Eww.

Should MSNBC keep Joe Scarborough in primetime instead of giving him the morning slot?

MSNBC is showing remarkable growth in primetime for the third straight quarter. Scarborough Country was up 36% in the 9pm slot. Hardball with Chris Matthews was up 9% at 7pm, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann was up 54%. The network is up 49% in the 25-54 demographic overall in primetime, and 34% for the day total.