keith olbermann-related stories
Posted Jul 1st 2009 8:25AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: News, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Keith Olbermann! Come on down! You're the next TV celebrity whose death has been falsely reported on the Internet!
The MSNBC Countdown's Wikipedia page reported he had died earlier this morning, possibly due to complications from celiac disease.
I sent emails to two networks officials to confirm this jarring claim. Jeremy Gaines, MSNBC's vice president of communications, responded that he is certain the entry is a "hoax" and that he and other network officials were working to correct it. The section on Olbermann's death has since been removed from the page.
Continue reading Exclusive! Keith Olbermann is not dead
Posted Jun 26th 2009 6:12PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Reality-Free
The stunning news yesterday about the death of
Michael Jackson conjured up many memories of the singer for me, as I'm sure it did for most people. For many of us, there was never a time when the Jackson Five and Michael were not part of pop culture. Little Michael and his brothers on
The Ed Sullivan Show, their funky outfits when they sang on
The Flip Wilson Show (much cooler than the Osmond Brothers!), Michael as the Scarecrow in
The Wiz (a hideous movie, but he was quite good).
Well after leaving his brothers to become Michael Jackson, solo superstar, Michael hooked up with
Paul McCartney for a couple of songs, "Say, Say, Say" and "The Girl is Mine." The latter was okay, but the former was terrific. They co-wrote it and it reached #1 on the charts in 1983. Those were the times when
MTV really showcased music videos and the artists and labels invested in top-notch productions. It was, if you will, the golden age of music videos!
Continue reading Memories of Michael Jackson: Collaborating with Paul McCartney
Posted Jun 9th 2009 4:35PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Reality-Free
This clip from
The Daily Show pretty much summarizes what's wrong with the cable news channels. And no, Jon Stewart isn't just dumping on Fox News here, he also goes after MSNBC for being obsessed with Rush Limbaugh and CNN for their insane i-Report/Twitter reliance.
Posted Jun 9th 2009 1:02PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Late Night, OpEd, Reality-Free
Jimmy Fallon's first week on the job wasn't great, but it had some promising moments that showed the former
SNLer was capable of doing good if he could just get comfortable in his new pad.
Fallon's exuberance for the job shined through, but his nerves sometimes seemed to get the best of him. That's natural. If I was the face of a multimillion dollar television show beamed to hundreds of thousands of people every night, I would consider my work a success if I could get through each show with a clean pair of shorts.
The host has come a long way in the last three months. He seems less nervous and more comfortable as the captain of
Late Night, and it has made him and his show funnier. The cleanliness of his shorts are not known. I don't know anyone that close to Fallon's staff.
Continue reading Jimmy Fallon has started turning Late Night into his La-Z-Boy
Posted May 14th 2009 10:03AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Late Night, News, Reality-Free
Every year, C-SPAN looks forward to a sharp boost in ratings while the White House press secretary cringes towards a sharp drop in approval points in the long shadow of the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner.
It's a chance for the current administration to let their hair down and show everyone that they can take a good joke and stand some pointed criticism in the K-Street jungle. That should explain why the last Bush administration hired
Rich Little to do their show in '07.
Continue reading Sykes gives us a taste of her talk show, right cross
Posted May 13th 2009 6:09PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Video, Reality-Free
First let me say that this is NOT a "political" post. I'm posting this video because it concerns something that happened on television recently that has somehow consumed all of the local and national newscasts (and it's a
beauty pageant, of all things). It features MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and his take on the whole Miss California (Carrie Prejean) controversy. It's an interesting video essay. I think that Prejean can think whatever she wants to think and Perez Hilton is kind of a moron. I also think that Olbermann gets in a few good points.
Posted Jan 30th 2009 5:21PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Sports, Commercials, Super Bowl, Reality-Free
NBC is airing the
Super Bowl this year. Sunday's all-day telecast (several hours of pre-game and probably another four or so for the game itself) will feature a wide variety of guests. Which of these guests are not going to be seen during the broadcast?
Keith Olbermann
Sarah Palin
Tina Fey
Top Chef's Tom Colicchio
Matt Lauer
Al Roker
Bruce Springsteen
Bob Costas
Jay Leno
Conan O'Brien
Continue reading Everyone in the world will be on NBC this Super Bowl Sunday
Posted Jan 23rd 2009 3:00PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Celebrities, Reality-Free
While NBC is committing all its ten o'clock hours next fall to Jay Leno,
MSNBC is looking for a ten o'clock star. They want a show to secure stronger foothold on prime time by filling that hour with a new show.
Right now, it presents a rerun of
Countdown with Keith Olbermann, but that's not how it's going to remain. Phil Griffin, MSNBC prez, would like to develop a new hour to go along with
Countdown and
The Rachel Maddow Show, and presumably build on the audience
Olbermann and Maddow are generating.
Continue reading MSNBC looking for a new star at 10 o'clock
Posted Dec 16th 2008 3:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, House, Celebrities, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, The Big Bang Theory
Do you think when Neil Simon created the character of Felix Unger in
The Odd Couple he knew that he was spawning a generation or two (maybe more) of Felix Unger wannabes? Today, over 40 years since Felix became part of our movie/TV collective conscience, there are lots of people and characters that bring to mind
Tony Randall's alter ego.
It's Tony's Felix that I think is etched in our minds. He made Felix all he could be, and week in and week out -- opposite
Jack Klugman's Oscar Madison -- he typified the ultimate neat freak, persnickety, hypochondriacally, impossible-to-live-with, supercilious know-it-all that made us cackle with laughter.
So, as I was watching TV -- an occupational requirement -- recently, it occurred to me that there are quite a few Felix Ungers on screen right now. Most are fictional, like
Two and a Half Men's Alan Harper and, most obviously, Adrian Monk. But there are a couple of Felixes in real life on TV, too, like MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and ESPN's Mike Greenberg.
By my count, there are seven "Felix Ungers" currently on TV.
Continue reading Modern-day Felix Ungers: Seven TV neat-freaks - VIDEOS
Posted Nov 11th 2008 11:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Here's some news that's bound to equally thrill and displease readers.
MSNBC has given Keith Olbermann a new four year deal, ensuring that
Countdown with Keith Olbermann remains in the cable's primetime lineup. For fans of Olbermann, the prospect of Keith's continued commentaries and his clever interpretation of the news is a good thing. For those who loathe the man -- and there are just as many detractors as fans -- this is one more reason to be ticked off with MSNBC.
The fact is that TV success doesn't depend on having everybody love you. There are many stars, in fact, who are polarizing figures. Either you love them or you love to hate them. The point is that you don't ignore them. So,
Keith Olbermann will remain a part of the public discourse and that means the best media feud of the decade goes on -- Olbermann versus Bill O'Reilly.
Continue reading Keith Olbermann inks a new four year deal
Posted Nov 5th 2008 10:14AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, OpEd, Reality-Free
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.
Continue reading Election Night: MSNBC (final thoughts)
Posted Nov 4th 2008 8:45PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, OpEd, Reality-Free
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.
Continue reading Election Night: MSNBC (Part 1)
Posted Nov 3rd 2008 1:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Video, Reality-Free
If you watched
Saturday Night Live this past week (or caught up with the show online), you know that they finally decided to skewer
Keith Olbermann and the self-important tone he uses... well, just about everywhere. One major problem: the impression, by guest host
Ben Affleck, stunk on ice. In the far-too-long sketch, Affleck spent the entire time trying to get a hold on how Olbermann sounds, alternately making the
Countdown host sound like a British lord of the manor and a man with clogged sinuses. It didn't help that the sketch was all over the place, mocking the entire
Countdown show rather than one particular segment, Olbermann's oh-so-mockable Special Comments.
But one comedian,
Michael Terry, completely nails the Olbermann impression in the video after the jump. In it, he doesn't attempt to ape the entire show; he just makes a Special Comment complaining about how he got cheated on his Subway sandwich. "Double meat, sir, as any Ritalin-addled eight-year old will tell you, means twice the amount of meat." It's hilarious, and it puts Affleck's impression to shame.
Continue reading Guy in his kitchen does a better Olbermann than Ben Affleck - VIDEO
Posted Nov 2nd 2008 12:00PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S34E07) Although I have fond memories of Mango and Ben Who-fleck working
Saturday Night Live together back in the day, I was pretty disappointed by this episode. I think someone told Ben Affleck that he's pretty all right on
SNL and it got to his head, because he was trying way, way too hard. It was almost to the point where it was unbearably awkward. If not for Senator John McCain's appearances, this episode would have been wholly unremarkable. I mean, apart from its super-weakness.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Ben Affleck/David Cook - VIDEOS
Posted Nov 1st 2008 12:33PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Saturday Night Live, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Ben Affleck is the host of
Saturday Night Live tonight, which will also feature an appearance by Senator John McCain. No word on what McCain is going to do on the show, but it would be fantastic if he could appear in the sketch where Affleck plays Keith Olbermann.
Yup,
Politico.com is reporting that the NBC show is finally going to spoof the MSNBC host. In fact, they are going to portray Olbermann as (and I quote from the article) "a deranged person living at home with his mother." Sources on the set say that somehow the real Olbermann got past security yesterday afternoon and watched Affleck and the cast rehearse the segment. Olbermann says he liked it and thought it was funny.
This is going to be must-see TV tonight. Actually,
SNL has been pretty all must-see this campaign season. I can picture Affleck as Olbermann. He has sorta the same shaped hair and head. Maybe one of the other guys can play Bill O'Reilly.
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