Olbermann WPITW: Talks Ratings, Rips LA Times (Listed show "Jackass" in place of "Countdown...)

MediaBistro ^ | Sunday, Aug 23 | MB

[fight_truth_decay]

In Friday's WPITW, Keith Olbermann slammed the LA Times and writer Andrew Malcolm. We noted on Friday that the LA Times had issued a correction for its TV schedule which had listed the show "Jackass" in place of "Countdown." Pretty funny mistake.

But not so hilarious -- for Olbermann at least -- was a one-line zinger "Top of the Ticket" blogger Malcolm had delivered in his summary of the little incident:

But without this kind of correction, online too, a few thousand people might have tuned into MSNBC, the Obama administration's favorite cable channel, expecting to see a "Jackass" show, and instead they'd have found Olbermann.

In response, Olbermann ripped into Malcolm and the LA Times, saying (among other things), "[The LA Times] daily circulation has dropped below 725,000. The first rerun of this program last night had a larger audience than that." Here's the clip from "Countdown":

[fight_truth_decay]

The Scoreboard: Thursday, August 20

25-54 demographic: (L +SD)

Total day: FNC: 423 | CNN: 170 | MSNBC: 144 | HLN: 146

Prime: FNC: 753 | CNN: 259 | MSNBC: 268 | HLN: 212

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:
FNC	Beck:	Baier:	Shep:	O'Reilly:	Hannity:	Greta:	O'Reilly:
	562	525	500	1056	660	531	532
CNN	Blitzer:	Blitzer:	Dobbs:	Brown:	King:	Cooper:	Cooper:
	133	89	123	178	283	315	203
MSNBC	Matthews:	EdShow:	Matthews:	Olbermann:	Maddow:	Olbermann:	Maddow:
	136	141	196	291	277	236	176
HLN	Prime:	Prime:	Issues:	Grace:	Issues:	Grace:	Showbiz:
	155	123	195	247	139	256	227

[Rocky]

Wow. Fox is killing all of them. Amazing.

[Mojave]

The highest rated show on MSNBC would be thrown off of Fox for low ratings.

[tommyboy]

Wolf Blitzer is doing well also.

[billhilly]

Jackass fits Olbermans party, but is an insult to donkeys.

[max americana]

That’s because his time slot runs into the lunch hour on the west coast. Perfect for restos’ to show his propaganda while eating.

[getarope]

“Countdown”/”Jackass”, what’s the difference? Oh, wait, the “Jackass” show at least puts a disclaimer at the start of their programming warning about how stupid and potentially dangerous the stunts are. Olberdork is just plain dangerous and stupid without the warning label.

[Emmett McCarthy]

I don’t know. Olberman is dangerously stupid, but he’s only dangerous for those stupid enough to watch him in the first place and they’re too stupid for anything to help them - or even hurt them, for that matter. For folks with wall mounted TVs, he provides a needed service, too. They tune into his show and when the drool is running out of both sides of his mouth, you know the TV’s level. It only takes a minute or so.

[Emmett McCarthy]

But, the folks from “JackAss” are suing for defamation! And maybe copyright infringement, too.

[Gay State Conservative]

In response, Olbermann ripped into Malcolm and the LA Times, saying (among other things), "[The LA Times] daily circulation has dropped below 725,000. The first rerun of this program last night had a larger audience than that."

That could be true,Mr Olberpunk.But remember,the Times has a potential paid "viewership" of about 5 million...yours is closer to 300 million (assuming that you're not seen in Canada or elsewhere).

[JrsyJack]

I am just amazed that he can call anyone an out of touch, political hack without his head bursting into flames or at least a smile. Olbermann is king of the hill amongst a crowd that measures success by sucking the least. Under that standard his show is a success although it is viewed by half the audience of the lowest rated FNN show.

MSNBC has obviously become an in-kind contribution to the Obama administration. Their commercial success is gone yet they plod on to garner political favor for parent company GE that stands to benefit from energy and environmental policies being considered.

[FLCowboy,]

Nancy Grace is pushing Olbermann, as in Maddow. How can Olbermann even open his mouth criticizing anybody else.

[PapaBear3625]

The highest rated show on MSNBC would be thrown off of Fox for low ratings.

In just about every time slot, Fox either beats the other three combined, or comes close.

[ari-freedom]

yeah but I wish lou dobbs beat out sheppy

[gargoyle]

...Most stand-up comics that make it, write their own material, or, borrow, steal bits and jokes from other successful comics. Comedy shows, from the start of SNL, even Carson to the present, have writers on staff, these morons are front men. The telly, “Satans Dreambox”, are full of these stupid and “potentially dangerous” demons that alot the public get their dose of “Daily”...

...Old boor dufus and Mad cow are good for a laugh, because their opinion is predictable. 5 or 10 minutes is all I can stand, and tttthhere gone...

[gargoyle]

...Yea, I like Dobbs, even if he’s on CNN. Sh!t, I like Beck on the radio and FOX, saw him on CNN couple of years ago, Hmmm, I agree with this guy!!!

...Ratings usually are about marketing and ads, that sell. I don’t watch telly for the sh!t they sell, and, I go out of my way to buy the crap they sell...

[kcvl]

Nancy Grace beats Olbermann. roflol!

[ari-freedom]

I really...don’t like Beck all that much. He’s like the Jim Cramer of foxnews.

[wbones8765]

I wonder what the ratings for MSNBC, and CNN would be if they shut hopsital ER’s down. I bet it would be even lower, than it is now.

[saganite]

Olberman is an idiot. The LA Times was trying to boost his ratings (at least for the nanosecond it took viewers to realize they had been duped and switch channels) by lying about what show was coming on. He should thank them instead. His viewer total went up by 3 people and the average IQ of his audience soared to 60 during those few brief moments.