http://tv.popcrunch.com/msnbc-replaces-keith-olbermann-chris-matthews-with-david -gregory/#more-8043

It's about time. It's a dumb idea to have commentators as anchormen.

MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/media/08msnbc.html?scp=1&sq=MSNBC%20T akes%20Incendiary%20Hosts%20From%20Anchor%20Seat&st=cse

I am an Olbermann fan.
It is refreshing to see someone speak truth to power the way Keith does.

That said, this is an appropriate move.
Keith is blatently partisan.

It would be too much to hope for to see Fox follow suit and get their partisans out of the anchor seat.

I hear that Brit Hume is finally retiring (it's about time) but would you expect him to be replaced with anyone less partisan?

Olbermann needs to go back and do exclusively sports...liked him then...incredible sports reporter/commenator. Chris more recently has leaned more left...both just looked angry all week last week during the RNC. Smile guys!

There's much to be angry about.

Let him off the desk. You don't see O'Reilly anchoring Fox coverage, do you?

No, I don't think Keith should go back to sports. He's angry, no question. Lots of us are, and seeing that articulated well is worthy television.

Bias is good. We all have bias. Better to embrace it, understand one another and weigh the views and make decisions. The alternative is living in some dull bubble where we all pretend we are objective, when we are not.

Lies are just bad on a lot of levels.

"The alternative is living in some dull bubble"

Are you making fun of Jim Lehrer?

Yeah, I guess this is news "if you're scoring at home, or even if you're all alone."

So will Fox News remove Sean Hannity as anchor for their election coverage? How about Karl Rove?

Personally, I think this is a pussy move on NBC's part and proves that the media isn't liberal, it's run by conservatives. Case in point.

Fox news has Hannity as a commentator not as an anchorman.

Hannity anchors their political coverage. Did you not watch the GOP convention on Fox? Every time I flipped on Fox I saw Hannity going off about the outrage of the day.

This was a great move. The RNC was a freaking circus. There was barely a shred of real reporting on any of the networks. MSNBC was hardly the only outlet with problems in that regard. Tweety was so busy trying to put into words his undying lust for Sarah Palin that he forgot he was a journalist. K.O. was trying his best to stay restrained as the parade of morons continually offended his sensibilities. Neither of them were getting along well at all.

Keith Olbermann is a fantastic host for Countdown and a fine guest commentator for the network. He has brought his mad skills as a top notch sports journalist to politics. He researches material and knows exactly what he is talking about. One of his biggest strengths is that he does not suffer fools gladly. It is only a hindrance when he is either surrounded by fools, or must share the broadcast duties with fools.

My hunch is that Keith would have been more than happy to pick apart the convention spectacles within the format of his own show. Robbing him of that opportunity for two weeks was a really dumb programming decision. MSNBC should never cuff him to an anchor desk if they expect to score in the ratings. He should have had his regular slot. The network could have tape delayed the festivities like they did so deftly from China mere weeks ago. Unlike Chris, people actually want to hear his opinion and tune in for that reason alone.

Speaking of opinions that folks really want to hear, I was delighted at the launch of the new Rachel Maddow Show tonight. She was as good-natured and solid as ever. The format is fresh and the research is top notch. In tandem with Countdown, this is the one-two punch that has been so sorely lacking in the MSNBC line-up. In order to gain ground as the antidote to Fox, they really have to play to their strengths. Dan Abrams is great behind the scenes, a leader and a damn good teammate, but replacing him at the desk with the Maddow vehicle was a stroke of genius.

There is not enough bandwidth to describe the current state of Chris Matthews. One minute he is uninformed, and the next minute he has a "cathartic discovery" that is about three weeks old on the blogosphere. Then, before you know it, he is trying to be funny and not really succeeding. I do not hate him, but damn, somebody has got to tell him to stop admiring himself and do some goddamn research for his own shows.

Because of these factors, Hardball is floundering. Matthews and his team have become so slow to react to real news, so quick to jump on a bandwagon, and so inconsistent with their focus that I am losing faith that it can be saved. Unless Chris remembers to be a reporter, or decides he is not just softening the public for a Senate run, he might be scurried off to fill-in and stringer duties.

On the other hand, the fact that the utterly divisive Pat Buchanan is still drawing a paycheck means that the poobahs at NBC are out to lunch. They can whine all they want about objectivity, but when people that far out on the right lunatic fringe are still given an international soapbox, the suits have no room to complain. Joe Scarborough is plenty conservative if they need one on a panel. With all of that in mind, Chris may not have to work very hard to keep his job.

MSNBC has a great deal of potential upside and some really good people like Chuck Todd working for them. David Gregory is a good reader. He does not seem like a very aggressive newshound, so the desk might fit him to a tee. I am curious to see what unfolds over the next few months. It seems that there are major holes left without Tim Russert guiding both of the networks. He really was the soul of their political reporting.

Along those same lines, the parent network still has some mighty big shoes to fill. Meet the Press desperately needs to have a real captain before the seas get much rougher. I am not the only one who believes that Gwen Ifill is the perfect fit for the empty MTP chair. She understands the responsibility it carries. They really need someone to ask well researched and tough questions. Now. For the love of God and all that is holy, make haste NBC. I love you Tom Brokaw. You are a great guy. I really want to go back to digging you keeping it real with John Stewart once in a while. Seriously, tell them to let Gwen have the job. It would make a really nice birthday present.

LOL @ Matthews!

I think he's having an identity crisis. Too many years just towing the line, and suddenly one day he wakes up and asks, "what am I doing?".

Now he suffers a schizm each day where he falls into habit, then flashes back to pre Bush, only to try to break the mold he set for himself.

It's good entertainment right now.

Other than Olbermann MSNBC sucks.

CNN is a much better network for news and views.

In a weird way, I kinda like Pat Buchanan on those talk shows. I hope they keep him around.

This is mostly about rephasing MSNBC/NBC in the absence of Tim Russert. Filling Tim's shoes is no easy task. Juggling the rest of the staff around looking for the right combo/assignments is ongoing.
Other than that, it's much ado about little.

"MSNBC sucks"

Sorry Shyguy. You're entitled to your opinion, but MSNBC is the only cable news network owned by a behemoth organization that still has some balls left.

CNN has the capability to be as good, but they are too influenced by bottom line/popular ratings bs/etc because they are owned by a huge company that doesn't have another major broadcast network doing news to carry that load. (TBS, TNT, etc don't have their own news) In other words, MSNBC has NBC, Faux News has FOX, ABC cable group has ABC, etc.

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/04/47530.php

ABC used to have some backbone before the mouse took over.
Now they are almost as bad as Faux.

Olbermann's "Countdown" is indeed the highest rated show on MSNBC. Before the conventions, I do not believe MSNBC used him as an anchor.

I find him compelling, but his "special comments" can be a little over the top.

On Fox, Hannity was doing his regular show "Hannity and Colmes" during the convention, that is why he seemed to be an anchor during the proceedings. Fox chose to run their regular evening line-up during the conventions, unlike CNN which had special anchored coverage. As digitaldextor notes, Hannity is a commentator, not an anchor.

It's about time. It's a dumb idea to have commentators as anchormen.

Fox should oust Hannity and O'Reily as well. They need to find someone that will find the truth in stories instead of making shit up all the time.

>>oust Hannity and O'Reily

unwise to do if their the ratings maker and we all know we gotta have numbers.

WTF?

I didn't see a nanosecond of Hannity or O'Reilly at the GOP convention. There was enough smug oversimplification coming from the podium. By the same token, I didn't bother with MSNBC during the DNC. Give me C-Span. I'll make up my own caustic commentary.

>>Give me C-Span

Amen...did not like the extra "jabbing" by the newsnets before-during-after the speeches...found myself tuning to C-Span just to "be there"...they provide a great service.