On Friday January 20th, 2011, Keith Olbermann abruptly announced the end of the Highest rated show on MSNBC, Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
And then ... nothing. Radio silence. Crickets.
I am by self-admission a nerd or maybe a geek, definitely not very social ( if not completely anti-social) person. But the way this was done does not make any logical sense that I can fathom.
It's late at night, and my very busy day was just ended with the surprise shock of Keith Olbermann quitting, what has become over these last 6 years or so, my nightly ritual of watching Countdown. So I may be trying to see more than is there simply because I'm human and I'm engineered by evolution to see the implicit actions of others where there is just random noise or even lack of noise. But the way this was done DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!!!
Right now the most plausible explanation, is that KO and MSNBC negotiated the end of his contract with 2 more years left to complete, because KO is known to be mercurial and not a fan of executives and management and possibly the Comcast merger.
Other than other executives and managers and business ass-kissers, sorry, reporters, who in their right minds are fans of the most professionally short-sighted people on the planet? KO is rich enough to take a break from that, but unless he wants to be an executive and manager himself, whenever he comes back there are still going to be executives and managers. So this is unlikely to be the reason he's gone.
Is working for one giant corporation really all that different from working for another giant corporation? I'm sure there are culture changes and clashes to come. But why quit before the fight (Suddenly taking notes from Barack)? Quitting due to the merger makes no sense either.
It also puts him in the same category as the Hick from Wasilla, The half term governor of Alaska. Seriously!?!? Seriously. Keith quits halfway through his contract to become more like Sarah Palin. Seriously!!!
THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!!
What about the other side, MSNBC/Comcast pushing KO out. Why? Why push your highest rated star on a network that is starting to become relevant and hopefully generating money, out the door? Even if the Comcast'ians are from Rightwingistan and will brook no logical descent, there is a proper way to do this. And this was not done the proper way.
This way as someone on twitter put it, "is like breaking up by text message. There is no closure." It leaves everyone asking why and no-one interested in any programming that is to replace Countdown. This would be the way to destroy a network which you just bought for eleventy billion dollars.
If either side wanted to dissolve this relationship. MSNBC should have insisted on having time to develop a credible replacement. Right now MSNBC has announced what can only be a panic move of replacing Countdown with The LAST Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. They're putting the Last Word, first. This is a show developed as a nightcapper. It does not really stand on its own. Putting it at 8:00PM does not make sense. I could see moving The Rachel Maddow Show down to 8:00 or putting a new show on at 8:00. I don't understand moving the nightcapper to the top slot. And a show that currently runs Monday through Thursday. A show, by the way, that is only a few months old that I don't believe has found an independent audience which will show up for it.
THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!!
Then there is the radio silence, from both Keith and MSNBC. Other than a terse statement confirming, not announcing, but confirming the news. And another with the new nonsensical line up, both parties are saying nothing.
For me this is the strangest and most troubling thing. If you followed Keith on twitter over his Christmas break, He seemed to spend his time documenting "The Blizzard that ate New York (while the mayor played in the sunshine)" and responding to rightwing idiots on twitter. He seemed to enjoy responding to these people. I don't understand why, but he did. And these idiots must be going orgasmically crazy on the twitter.
After what I saw over Christmas. Something short of physical must be preventing him from commenting on twitter. And there isn't even a comment on DKos. He at least posts his Special Comments. He wouldn't even say goodbye?
THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!!
I don't know the real story and I may never know. I won't publicly speculate without something concrete to hang a theory on, although such speculation is what has driven me to write what is my 4th diary in the 7 or 8 years I've been on DKos. But the current story makes no sense.
There is more going on here.