From NYT:
Olbermann on NBC
“Countdown With Keith Olbermann” the highly rated cable news program, will be shown on network television on Sunday before a preseason NBC football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since Mr. Olbermann will have a regular role in NBC’s football coverage once the season begins — appearing as a co-host on the pregame show “Football Night in America” on Sundays — this weekend’s appearance of his cable show will give a wider audience a look at what he has been up for the last four years. “ ‘Countdown’ is rocketing right now over at MSNBC — its ratings are going through the roof,” said Phil Griffin, senior vice president of NBC News. (In July Mr. Olbermann’s show averaged 721,000 viewers, an increase of 88 percent over last July, according to MSNBC.) Mr. Griffin added, “The world has changed, and I think people have come in line with the smart, focused approach he has on the show.” No immediate plans for additional network appearances of “Countdown” have been made, but Mr. Griffen did not rule them out. “It may be the first of several times you see Olbermann on the network,” he said.
I can only hope he does not inherit the Billy Penn curse. Maybe we should insure he is sitting below the hat.
The brutha never should have quit his ESPN gig back in the day. He was on top of his game then.
He still is, its just for him the game has changed.
ya, olberman’s a keeper…he & dan patrick were cool together on espn tv years ago…
…& now, good ratings or not (& he is getting great ratings),the man is interesting, informative & doesn’t pull his punches…his little diatribe directed at bush & the war effort recently was succinct, outraged & ballsy…
…& while jon stewart has been the ‘hip’ benchmark for years, once olberman got his game on at msnbc, he’s added validity to the ‘majors’…man’s an asset, whatever field he plays on.
Good to see him climb back up. I seriously thought he’d tossed his career away back when he’d actually left ESPN. As I remember, his ego had gotten a bit big, and he assumed he’d get handed a juicy network gig.
I’m willing to bet that if he’d stayed at ESPN longer, he’d have done better long-term.
He is the most important man on television.