Keith Olbermann announced his departure from MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann Friday evening. His celebrated on air feud with ratings king Bill O’Reilly is no more. While some cable viewers will miss Olbermann’s liberal take on politics and news O’Reilly and his conservative audience undoubtedly will not.
Keith Olbermann has hosted his last Countdown program.
Olbermann’s message, though abrupt, was not totally unexpected in view of his November 2010 suspension over political donations, and Comcast’s recent takeover of MSNBC. Right now, Countdown’s ex-host and the network aren’t saying much.
Olbermann delivered his brief message early during Friday night’s broadcast proclaiming, “This is the last edition of Countdown.”He provided no additional information.
Online reports published by the Associated Press on Friday offered few details about the parting, saying “MSNBC issued a statement Friday that it had ended its contract with the controversial host, with no further explanation. Olbermann hosted the network's top-rated show, but his combative liberal opinions often made him a target of critics.”
Olbermann and O’Reilly’s feuds are famous.
It’s been a number of years since the bad blood first flowed between Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly. Even as far back as 2006, their feud was already renowned. MSNBC ran a piece, “‘Olbermann’ banned from ‘The O’Reilly Factor,’” which fervently described the grudge between these two cable heavy weights:
“Now, Bill O’Reilly is threatening callers to his radio show who mention Olbermann’s name. Ted Baxter [Fox] told uncooperative listeners that he'll turn their phone numbers over to Fox security, and that Fox security will in turn contact the local authorities.”
In this instance, the dispute turned so ugly that MSNBC reported, “A former Connecticut state prosecutor, Susan Filan, joined Keith Olbermann on ‘Countdown’ to discuss the legal ramifications surrounding this issue.”
Is this the flight of Keith Olbermann’s Phoenix?
Olbermann, a talented and well rounded media personality, is a veteran sports reporter – from his time with ESPN – as well as an entertainment and political commentator. There’s a good chance Keith will turn up on another major television, radio or digital outlet.
As far as Bill O’Reilly is concerned, he keeps rolling along. O’Reilly will host President Obama for a televised interview during Super Bowl pre-game festivities on Fox, which can be expected to be a huge ratings grabber.
Have we heard the last of the Olbermann/O’Reilly verbal fisticuffs? It’s unlikely that this latest development will quiet the likes of these two attention-getters.
Paul Wolfle - Paul J. Wolfle, B.A., A R M, a freelance writer with a penchant for communicating ideas about popular culture and entertainment, ...
