Posted on 02/07/2012 5:24:13 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
The former VP’s Current TV is struggling to catch on—and he nearly lost star anchor Keith Olbermann after a breakdown in negotiations in November.
It was early November when tensions between Keith Olbermann and Al Gore escalated into a crisis at Current TV. There had been a short honeymoon after Gore, the channel’s co-owner, had handed the notoriously temperamental anchor a reported $10 million salary and equity stake in February of last year, but the relationship soured quickly.
Accustomed to the flashy graphics and slick broadcasts of MSNBC, Olbermann balked at the cheap sets and lo-fi production values at the scrappy Current. Ensconced in his New York office, the star ignored emails from the network’s West Coast executives. He wanted them to invest more on the technical side, and he wanted more authority in other areas of the network, including personnel decisions. He was also upset about his car service. Gore and his partners had shelled out for a star; now, it seemed, the star owned them.
By November, network executives were exhausted by his antics, according to a source familiar with the inner workings of Current. Olbermann was implacable. Executives feared an ugly, public fight.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
This would be funny except the deep feeling that somehow, some way, this money came from me.
These fools deserve each other. How’d you like to algore’s Current business partner on this deal?
Could retire easy if could buy them for what they are really worth an sell em for what they think they’re worth.
Does anybody know who algore is boffing now that Tipper has scrammed?
What a disgusting thought...to have that huffing puffing sweating thing drooling over you...ICK!
It's so hilarious. Olbermann screwing Al Gore out of ten million bucks. The greed and stupidity of liberals is astounding to behold. I hope greedy Olbermann keeps sweet talking more idiot liberals into wasting their money on his worthless, talentless ass.
Those types with their own $$$ in play.
Olbermann throws a tantrum everywhere he goes...so what?
One does have to wonder what disposable income bracket Olbermann appeals to, or what influential segment.
From what little I've seen of him, I can get better and more accurate information, not to mention more enjoyment, watching paint dry.
So is AlGore now the worst person in the world?
Translation: "Keith is prima donna jacka$$ who is not worth anywhere near what we're paying him, and we wish we had never met him."
Bohrman is now rushing to develop a morning show that could provide a liberal alternative to Morning Joe, which Current executives view as an essentially conservative broadcast.
* * * *
Though he’s a ghost in Current’s West Coast offices, [Olberman's] spirit suffuses the place. Uygur, who considers him a mentor, describes MSNBC as “the house Olbermann built.” Granholm calls him “the Walt Whitman of political writing.”
* * * *
“The right wing is so much better organized, they’re machines, they’re robots,” says Uygur. And mainstream media are terrified of them. “It’s like, ‘Oh, my God, if I tell people facts, the Republicans will yell at me,’” he says.
* * * *
But perhaps the largest gamble is Olbermann himself. Unafraid of conflict on the air, or off, the anchor has a legendary temper. He was caustic and persnickety, former colleagues say. One news report holds that staffers at MSNBC had to communicate with him through a mailbox outside his office.
That reputation has continued at Current TV. Gore and Hyatt managed to placate Olbermann enough in November to prevent him from leaving, but theirs is hardly a close working relationship. Following that episode, the anchor failed to respond to emails from others at the network about plans to cover the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, according to a network source, and so Bohrman was forced to plan around him. . . When the coverage of Iowa and New Hampshire did air, it featured Uygur and Granholm anchoring alongside Gore himself.
* * * *
Gore, ever politic, presses on. “Keith is fulfilling exactly the role that I had hoped for,” he told Newsweek in an email interview.
It is a damn shame that neither Gore and Olberman are not gay.
Pretty funny that Algore is pinning the success of his puny network on one of the biggest liberal divas in the US.
These two All-Stars of Humanity, so good at telling the rest of us how to live our lives and be friends with all mankind, can’t even get along with each other - what jokes.....
And it could all have a happy ending.
Total failure...
Exactly!
That's a bad thing?
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