who thinks the Countdown format has started to wear thin? (edited title)

Note: edited for clarity - I pissed everyone off by saying "olbermann" was wearing thin - that's how I refer to the show.

the schtick in the second half of the show is really getting to me



I mean, just as an example, there was a kid died in San Jose this week, after two years of struggling mightily through rehab after having 1/3 of his brain blown away...

they said he'd never walk or talk - but he was doing both. A real local hero in the Bay Area. He had surgery last weekend to implant a plate so he would not have to wear a helmet all the time - never woke up. They kept him on life support for a couple of days to line up recipients for organs; he died Wed.

The San Jose paper has a video series on its website chronicling his and his family's two year journey through all the pain and struggle.

I turned Countdown off after the half hour - he was going on about britney and paris crap that was coming up. It's not like his producers could not have turned this up. I did.

And I don't believe he needs that crap to keep up ratings. Nobody is tuning in Countdown just to catch the last 15-20 minutes. All that crap is on every other show on msnbc, as well as every show on all the other channels.

The Frank Sandoval story is not just another war victim - it does not even have to be about the war at all. It is about someone who showed enormous courage and determination, set an example for others with devastating injuries. It ends sadly, but it is a real story about real Americans dealing with real life.



If you're interested, I put some links to Sgt.Frank Sandoval's story on my website (link below).

"It's not like his producers could not have turned this up. I did." I'm not sure what you're saying here.

I know he doesn't plan all the stories - he has producers setting it up. He has input, but noty total control. What I said was if they had scanned the horizon for about maybe a second they'd have found this and maybe might have considered bumping some fluff, as they used to do when he used to do his special commentaries.

and actually, i refer to the show as "olbermann" rather than as "countdown" so when i said "olbermann is wearing thin" i meant the format. I still think he's brilliant, and want to see/hear more of his genius, rather than the fluff.

And i dont believe the fluff helps ratings.

On edit, no nothing here is unanimous...:rofl:

:headbang:
rocknation

Olbermann is getting good ratings for a reason. He's found a good mix of serious and fun that has attracted many viewers. If he did the news as you would like, I suspect the ratings would be horrible and he would have been booted months ago.

J

agree that KO doesn't need/shouldn't do the crap at the end, but he's infinitely better than nothing!
I hate the happy horseshit at the end, too, but I think he's at the moment required to do it; I can't even imagine he'd want to do it just for the helluva it.
And PS, your story, did you even send it to KO? You never know what he'll air.

If they do that little research for news that they need someone like me to feed it to them, well, then his producers must be a bunch of twits.

for the time we have him; have you watched any daily news lately? They'd rather talk about any woman/child/blonde/dead/sick/murdered ANYTHING other than something like the VP possibly creating a new branch of the government, because that's what they think the majority of the country wants to hear.

I'd like to see them challenge the majority of the country with real news, and see what they'd say.

I agree with you, emphatically. i want MORE of what he's good at and LESS of the crap everyone else does. It was great when he slammed orally for the pieces on the threat of bears and lesbian gangs. But then he puts on a ph or bs story and pretty much stoops right down there.

he can, which is A LOT, and we should all be raising HOLY HELL that he could do away with the fluff that they insist he does.

...that it isn't his choice but management's, and the resentment in his voice was there to be heard. He only has an hour, and the format of Countdown only allows for a certain number of stories to be covered. At least he covers stories like the one you cite now and then when he can; more than the rest of MSNBC or the other corporate news channels put together.

I don't have a problem with the celebrity news. I find it funny. Especially after the first half hour of hearing about more Bush/Cheney scandals that they will never be impeached for.

To each his own.

he will have better shows than others and he is like us, has better days than others. However, in the end if you measure his overall performance, nobody stands with him. He is great.

Also, his latest best accomplishment is walking around the Mets locker room and Mr. Bill attempting to get in there the next day and getting kicked out for not having the proper press credentials. Keith really enjoyed that one.

He gives us the chocolate cake!

Sometimes I think the absurdity of mixing the very serious reporting and commentary with the goofy entertainment stuff is not that bad a thing. It gives the show an offbeat, fast pace that allows him to "get away with" what he's really doing. The show might be unbearably dreary if it didn't have some "relief" mixed in. :shrug:

if he would just scrap the britney/paris stories, replace them with something actually newsworthy - and it doesn't have to be cheney/bush - it could be lighthearted - but a frigging human interest piece, not the celebrity crap. And the creeps he has on who are supposedly funny to comment on them - Michael Musto and that other one - arrrghh! As I said, I just don't watch the last half any more, but I'd like to, if it was "spongeworthy."

what is entailed in setting up a "human interest piece", flying out to shoot it, taping it, and editing it into a 2-3 minute story? Keith's show relies on NBC News footage (all the taped reports are from Nightly News or the Today Show). He can use video from feeds from the NBC affilliate stations. He doesn't have reporters and field producers and crews who can go out and cover "human interest stories."

If there's something you find interesting that you'd like to see on his show, you should bring it to HIS attention, rather than ours.

I was asking how many agree that the last part is crap

From the responses, I'd say a lot feel it is, a few feel if Keith does it it must not be criticized, and a tiny handful feel it is just their cup of tea

the illustration I gave of an alternate story was only that - an illustration. There were probably hundreds of things more worth talking about than whether britney and her mom are getting along this week

and for what it is worth, NBC HAD covered the story I mentioned locally, and DID have material. But that is not the point.

niche on cable news if only he would dedicate that stupid fluff-crap time to real stories that people want to hear about. A follow up to the many international issues that have been covered in the past, the ongoing stuff that is really serious. There's so much of it that if one show would just dedicate itself wholly to the serious and important news that is never seen elsewhere, they would win the most prestigious, respectable, and reliable viewership in the world: People who think...

It's a combination that works.

As much as he ever did!!



As far as the Britney and Paris crap.. he does make a point to remind his viewers that it's not him -- it's the management -- that makes him cover that garbage.

~ ~

and as i clarified above, i meant the show format (i call it "olbermann", not "countdown") was wearing thin, not Keith. Hell, he's won more Algae Awards than anyone, and I'm about to give him another for getting Wes Clark on.

"But but it's all over the web."

It is tacky to make DU folks click your blog in order to see a news story. Just sayin...

:thumbsdown:

I am not making any DU folks "click my blog" to see a news story.

You're saying I should have got off my ass and shoved it down his throat so he would have put it on tv so you could sit there glassy-eyed and let it penetrate the fog of your consciousness? The story was out there all week. He has highly-paid producers that decide what to run. I am criticising them. And you are saying I am fucking TACKY because I don't somehow do their jobs for them? Who the hell is TACKY?

Just sayin...

four fucking days ago

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19312943/

stick your fucking "tacky" where the sun don't shine

I'm guessing you've never worked in journalism. I didn't know sending an email was that hard. Moreover, MSNBC ran a story so it apparently was picked up by the national media. Keith has 1 HR and doesn't have complete editorial control. Honestly, I don't care for the format, but I don't care for individualistic hysterics, and I would note that it is common courtesy to post a news link when referring to news stories. Frankly, did ABC, NBC, CBS, or CNN pick it up on air? Probably not. So why single out Olbermann?

Per the rules:



:argh: is not good for one's health, both physical and mental.

that particular story was merely an illustration that there are perhaps more meaningful things to talk about than the entertainment shit

If i had been obsessed with getting that particular story on Countdown, then I would not have started here. It was intended to be a discussion of the format choice they seem to be sticking with, wondering if others felt as I do that it is not serving them well.

I had in fact posted links to that story earlier in the week, as had others. There are a couple of threads on it. I INTENTIONALLY did not try to drive the OP into a further pursuit of that story. It was a discussion of Countdown's stupid part, which you now acknowledge you don't care for either.


just sayin...

it's a waste filled with ridiculous crap. x(

The first half of the show is great, the second half isn't. So all they need to do is fix the second half, which shouldn't be too hard to do because they have the first half of the show to use as a model for how the second half should be.

I am not trying to fucking censor it, I am just wondering how many others also think the last part is junk

i understand they want to lighten the heavy shit with some frivolous antics and humor but my guess it's the political junkies that are most attracted to keith's show--and this junkie would like a few extra minutes getting her political fix.

The second story sometimes is, or is non-celebrity human interest sometimes too. And sometimes it's celebrity fluff.

The first (or last) story is fluff. If you want to turn it off, no one's stopping you. it's been the format for as long as I've been watching Countdown, and I have no problem with it.

I want so badly to watch it, but ugh, I can't.

I didn't like at first but it has grown on me. Now I LOVE it. That said, I consider it a 40 minute show as I toss 80% of the end stories and 100% of the Michael Musto commentary.