Keith Olbermann Takes a Sanity Break

Image via WikipediaThe departure of Keith Olbermann from MSNBC was neither sudden nor surprising.  The sportscaster-turned-liberal firebrand has had run-ins with network executives before, and people in the know say that this move had nothing to do with Comcast taking over NBC.  Maybe not, but getting a brief suspension for making campaign contributions to Democratic candidates certainly greased the skids.

When "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" started eight years ago, its apparent premise was what would happen if a news channel did its own version of "The Daily Show", minus Jon Stewart and the studio audience.  By the end, it became a straight newscast with little room for snarkiness, but plenty of room for The World According to Keith.

Olbermann interviewed the same, like-minded guests (usually liberal journalists and the ubiquitous Arianna Huffington and Michael Moore), and his "Special Comments" became a cry for help.  In taking impassioned potshots at conservative commentators and Republicans, he became the type of person he was criticizing:  Lonesome Rhodes, a character from the 1957 film "A Face In The Crowd" played by Andy Griffith (please rent it, or catch it the next time it appears on TCM.  You won't regret it.).

The recent shootings in Arizona changed the way Olbermann did business.  His pledge to tone down the political rhetoric and challenging others to do so, and suspending his signature "Worst Persons In The World" segment (again) meant "Countdown" had to be kind and gentle.  Olbermann doesn't do kind and gentle.

Conservatives may be cheering over Olbermann's departure.  But while "Countdown" was the highest-rated program on MSNBC (putting that network on the map because now it had direction it didn't have before), the most recent ratings tell us that it only ranked fifth among cable news shows.  The top four, led by Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, belong to Fox News Channel.  And their audience numbers doubled those of "Countdown".

Contrary to popular belief, MSNBC is not all liberal, all the time.  They employ conservatives Joe Scarborough as a morning host and former presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan as a commentator, just to name two.  But the remaining progressives--Lawrence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz--will stay on the air as long as Comcast allows.

Olbermann?  It's hard to say.  Having crossed over to the dark side of news, it's hard to imagine him crawling back to sports.  It's also hard to imagine any other network taking him on, knowing what we know now.  Given what's been going on recently, maybe we all need a sanity break.