Apologies For Olbermann

Via Allahpundit on Twitter, Pat Sajak looks back at his role in putting Keith Olbermann on national television for the first time. The video clip, from Super Bowl week in January 1989, is kind of sad, really; Olbermann, complete with Ron Burgundy mustache, is affable, relaxed, and low-key, not the bundle of psychotic vein-popping rage, smarmy smugness, egocentric rants at personal enemies and neuroses about women we see on air today. (Sajak, by contrast, remains a tweener, funny for a game show host but not funny enough for a late-night talk show host). While I found Olbermann off-putting when he first started on SportsCenter, I came to enjoy his work with Craig Kilborn in what has to be the golden age of the show; back then they did shtick, but (1) it was their shtick, not an imitation of somebody else’s, (2) it was new and different from everything else on sports TV, and (3) because nobody expected shtick to be the focus of the show, it was much more restrained than it later became.

15 thoughts on “Apologies For Olbermann”

  1. Did he start on ESPN with Craig Kilborn? I remember him mostly working with Dan Patrick.
    I struggle to believe the guy I saw on ESPN is now the same guy on “Football Night in America.”

  3. He and Maddow are the only ones with the guts to call out the Faux News/GOP propagnda machine. Truth is a b***h, huh?

  5. Magrooder if you watched MSNBC on election night, you would NEVER, EVER talk about how great they are. Completely unprofessional, idiotic analysis, complete and total bias on display. Good thing no one watches MSNBC

  6. I can appreciate how Magrooder feels about MSNBC rising above the din and calling out FOX for its bias.
    Because, of course, NO ONE else is brave enough to do that…once you get past the other 95% of the mainstream medie, the White House, the Democrat Party, the union axis-of–the-bolshi, and all of the George Soros-funded ****wits, etc. It’s almost like there’s a conspiracy of silence.
    God Save the Keith.

  8. Yeah, the wing nuts are, shall we say, not the shaprest knifes in the drawer:
    “Hilarious catch in the New York Times by Jackie Calmes:
    Note to the incoming Republican majority in the House: Eliminating government programs that do not exist does not save money.
    Of the few specific cuts that Congressional Republicans have proposed in their promised assault on annual budget deficits, one of the biggest by far would save $25 billion over 10 years, they claim, by ending an emergency welfare fund.
    The Republican Study Committee, which includes more than 100 of the most conservative House Republicans, promoted the idea in a statement this week, saying, “With the national debt quickly approaching $14 trillion, Washington needs to get serious about cutting spending.”
    Well, seriously, the fund expired Sept. 30.
    If only she hadn’t informed them — Obama could have bargained away this nonexistent program in budget negotiations. Come to think of it, they don’t trust the Times, so maybe he can do it anyway.”

  9. Yeah, the wing nuts are, shall we say, not the shaprest knifes in the drawer:
    “Hilarious catch in the New York Times by Jackie Calmes:
    Note to the incoming Republican majority in the House: Eliminating government programs that do not exist does not save money.
    Of the few specific cuts that Congressional Republicans have proposed in their promised assault on annual budget deficits, one of the biggest by far would save $25 billion over 10 years, they claim, by ending an emergency welfare fund.
    The Republican Study Committee, which includes more than 100 of the most conservative House Republicans, promoted the idea in a statement this week, saying, “With the national debt quickly approaching $14 trillion, Washington needs to get serious about cutting spending.”
    Well, seriously, the fund expired Sept. 30.
    If only she hadn’t informed them — Obama could have bargained away this nonexistent program in budget negotiations. Come to think of it, they don’t trust the Times, so maybe he can do it anyway.”

  10. I know nothing about this particular program, but I do know that the end of the fiscal year for the federal gov’t is Sept 30. Therefore, much of the discretionary spending that is appropriated each year expires on that date (hence the need for new budgets or continuing resolutions to keep the gov’t funded each year).
    Perhaps what the republicans are referring to is to not fund tis particular program anymore, rather than just let it keep being included like always.
    Again, I know nothing of this particular program, but it is not ridiculous in general to propose cutting off a program that ends each Sept 30.

  12. MSNBC is made up of hacks. Just like the rest of the cable news networks. If you want to learn ANYTHING about what is really happening in the world, turning off your corporate-sponsored “news” networks should be your first act. Job one for the corporate media is to confuse and distract.
    ————
    Magrooder,
    You’re missing the point. The only thing they care about is shutting down the social safety net.
    If you want to stump them (just as I stump Crank), ask them why the magic fairies who pay for the wars can’t also pay for the social programs.
    Show me a conservative, and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t really give a whit about the deficit.

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