Countdown with Keith Olbermann

The Liberal Media at its Best

Feb 21, 2009

Keith Olbermann is arguably the best and the loudest voice for liberal values on prime time television. His show, "Countdown," on MSNBC, is very unique.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a liberal political commentary show on MSNBC. Keith Olbermann has emerged as the leading liberal voice on prime time television and his show has impressive ratings. His show as recently parodied on Saturday Night Live. His show is broken up into several sections.

The first part of the show details the day's top five stories, and then leads into Olbermann discussing them for a few minutes. Generally, Keith then brings in several guests to discuss the news. Frequent guests include Howard Fineman, Eugene Robinson, and Jonathan Alter. Rachel Maddow used to be a frequent guest until she received her own show on MSNBC directly following Olbermann's.

Oddball

Olbermann begins this section with a tribute to the birthday of some famous person, and then goes through the funny or strange news of the day.

Best Persons

The "Best Persons" segment of the show generally showcases three dumb criminals or people otherwise engaging in dumb, laughable behavior.

Bushed

Bushed is a segment reminding viewers the the latest developments in the Bush administrations "50 running scandals." After President Obama was inaugurated, Olbermann changed the name of this segment to "Still Bushed," and started it with the statement "because they may be gone, but their deeds outlive them..."

Worst Persons in the World

The Worst Persons in the World segment is one of Olbermann's most popular, and even later became a book. Olbermann generally goes over three individuals who say stupid, hypocritical, bigoted, or hateful remarks, and duly castigates them.

McCain in the Membrane

During the 2008 Presidential election, Olbermann created a new segment called "McCain in the membrane," detailing the "stupidest thing said by, or on behalf of, the John McCain campaign." This segment was likely inspired by the infamous remark by McCain's campaign manager that "John McCain does not necessarily speak for the John McCain campaign." This segment has since been discontinued.

Special Comments

Keith Olbermann's "Special Comments" are long, often personal, remarks about the words or actions of a particular individual that Olbermann feels has gone beyond the pale. When Olbermann started to make his "special comments," his ratings drastically improved. Frequent targets of these "special comments" have been Bill O'Reilly, President Bush, Rudy Giuliani, or Bush administration officials. Although the comments are usually directed at Republicans, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both been on the recieving end of a "special comment."

The show "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" has become the most watched prime time liberal TV news show. Each show is broken up into key segments, involving the day's top five stories, as well as humor and critiques of the "worst persons in the world." In addition, there is sometimes a closing special comment.

The copyright of the article Countdown with Keith Olbermann in Prime Time News Shows is owned by Jared Plotkin. Permission to republish Countdown with Keith Olbermann in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Jun 22, 2009 1:25 AM

Guest :

"The Worst Persons in the World segment is one of Olbermann's most popular, and even later became a book. Olbermann generally goes over three individuals who say stupid, hypocritical, bigoted, or hateful remarks, and duly castigates them."
This is a biased statement. In fact, the worst persons aren't always guilty of saying such awful things, and Keith blows the whole issue out of proportion; the segment mostly serves to treat conservatives as a punching bag. Sometimes, it has substance; often, it doesn't.