Thank God for Keith Olbermann

The One Hour 'Daily Show'

Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" has become my new John Stewart.

For quite some time now I have admired the way John Stewart has handled his 'news' program. Using his almost sophomoric wit and appropriate empty sarcastic stares at the screen. I would always look forward to watching him every night. Now, with the implementation of DVR, I can watch him ANY time and have continued to do so. But then a new show caught my eye...

I've never been a fan of MSNBC. From that horrific blonde with the male voice (Rita Cosby)...to the argumentative liberal who can't get enough of his own voice (Chris Matthews). Even the cocky 'youngling' who seems to be playing Anderson Cooper for MSNBC (Dan Abrams) brings swift headaches. I can't, of course, leave out the pissy & intolerable, yet somewhat sincere conservative (Joe Scarborough). Every time I see any one of them, after a few minutes, my blood begins to boil and I turn the channel in what could only be described as 'disgust.'

But then I happened to actually make it through one of their 8 o'clock shows one night...and the reason was, plain and simple, a brilliant satirist & best news story picker, Keith Olbermann. He starts the show with a claim that "these will be the top 5 stories you're talking about tomorrow." And you know what? He's right!

Olbermann doesn't just pick the stories that are popular (although he does usually put those as the 5th and 4th story), but he also picks heartwarming and even funny stories from across the nation. It is in those stories that lies the genius to his show. Every other news show (you can't REALLY call Daily Show a 'news' show) is about nothing but news news news. Because of this, you usually end up with either a boring, a depressing or a downright horrific newscast. Olbermann solves this with wit, satire & a long standing feud with Bill O'Reilly that has to be seen to be believed.

The O'Reilly Factor

The feud between Olbermann and O'Reilly has been going on for quite sometime (longer than I've been watching the show, unfortunately). The interesting thing about this feud is that the two have never met! The closest they have ever come was being in the same room 20 feet from each other, but never speaking.

O'Reilly, with his snide attitude and extreme temper, has done nothing but make an ass of himself over and over when it comes to Olbermann. It has gotten to the point where O'Reilly actually considers the word 'Olbermann' to be a curse word worthy of sending "Fox Security" after anyone who calls in on his radio show to use it. Yes you heard me right. Want proof? Click here: (if you have trouble loading it, please copy/paste it into your browser's Address bar)

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO.

If you are reading this and have NOT watched that video, I encourage you to do so.

Olbermann has a great segment on his show called "Worst persons in the world" where he runs over 3 people he feels have doing something to deserve the segment's title. O'Reilly is a regular (well deserved) on this list. The sad thing is...O'Reilly has probably created many more 'Countdown' viewers than he has taken away.

Let's play Oddball

Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the show is his segment called 'Oddball.' This segment is dedicated to all the crazy things going on in the world. One particularly entertaining piece about the 'Running of the Bulls' brought us great video from the event itself. Olbermann actually goes for the bulls (rightfully so) and always has great words of encouragement for the doomed fodder.

Many years or many tears?

I do hope Keith's show has many years of success. However, the rising tide of 'conservative values' could possibly eliminate humor or satire from the air.

I applaud Mr. Olbermann. I applaud him a thousand times for having the guts to stand up to the biggest bully on TV (O'Reilly). I also applaud him for having such a great show. I wish him many years of success.

To quote Rachel Maddow...

Keith...please continue to 'poke that sharp stick at the soft underbelly of the r-r-right wing scheme machine'.

RedWing out...