Sunday, September 7, 2008

Uncles Matthews and Olbermann are out

Over the weekend, MSNBC decided to give it's two biggest personalities some harsh news: Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are relieved of their duty as election night hosts. From here on in, David Gregory (yeah, we know) will be at the helm and Matthews and Olbermann will be reduced to the role of analysts.

If you feel this was a needed move based on journalistic integrity or, if you're like us and have a brain-spraining time trying to imagine these two chiming in on election night as second fiddles to David Gregory, go ahead and participate in our newest poll:

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you blame GE and NBC. MSNBC’s convention coverage was a disaster and Mathews and Olbermann both contributed mightily to the disaster. With Olbermann and Mathews’ huge egos run amuck, on air squabbles, and train station setup their Democratic Coverage was barely watchable.

And Olbermann’s over the top partisan coverage of the Republican Convention was difficult to watch. Now we must suffer with Gregory. I miss Tim so much and thank him for bringing Chuck to NBC.

Anonymous said...

Joy's right - the Mothership's convention coverage was a circus. I liked the MJ setup in the diners, and thought that went reasonably well, except for Scabs and Shuster's donnybrook. More Willie & less Joe is good for America.

The bright spots for me, besides The Chuck & Rachel Maddow, were Norah O'Donnell and David Gregory. I know DG has his critics, but I thought he had a good 2 weeks - especially in contrast to Olby and Uncle Chris.

And I couldn't agree more about the void left by Tim Russert's passing. I really expected them to elevate their game to honor his memory. They failed miserably at that.

stephanie said...

meh.

i thought the guys did a pretty good job at the dnc (windy outdoor setting and intrusive train whistles aside), but i'm also really rather left of the middle, so i might've been a little blind to any leftist bias. and i found the rnc itself to be pretty unwatchable, so no basis of comparison for me there. i'm sad to see them go...and srsly, david gregory? for realsies? what, was everyone else busy or something?

and count me in with those missing Tim right about now... :(

Anonymous said...

No. Uh uh. I don't care how much fighting Olbermann and Mathews did. I refuse to watch them play second string to that monkey faced asshole Gregory.

I'm tired of his "Yeah but..." and the way he treats Rachel. I'm so sick of Gregory I may actually turn somewhere else or stop watching special coverage all together.

And maybe its because I'm a democrat but to me Olbermann's coverage of the RNC was spot on. He called out their bullshit and spoke the truth about their records. Isn't that what reporters are supposed to do? Unbiased is one thing, but I think "unbiased" has been sterilized into "drink everyone's Kool-aid" Thats why I love Olbermann.

Then again, I only saw a few bits of the RNC coverage because watching Lindsay Graham speak actually sent me into a tail spin of angry swearing and disgust. From then on I couldn't bring myself watch anymore. My poor little heart just can't take it.

Anonymous said...

I watched a lot of the DNC covereage and watched most of the Wednesday night coverage of the RNC. The RNC was pretty much unwatchable. Too many unfunny politicians trying to hone their stand-up acts on my eardrums. The 9/11 video was predictable and frankly, tasteless. Who would have thought the RNC would have had one of those ready to play?

I can say that the commentary that KO did after the video was unnecessary. If MSNBC was unhappy with things, then they are to blame. You can't put two alpha males in charge, because eventually they will fight.

I have no interest in disparaging David Gregory in this. I don't think he's the right choice, but I do think he's good at his job, which is reporting. Personally I would like to see Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw tag-team the rest of the election season.

Dave in Omaha said...

It's a shame KO and Chris aren't hosting. I enjoyed their coverage, even though I thought the DNC didn't have enough of the speeches as compared to the RNC. I DID enjoy the "Jesus, Joe get a shovel" moment. As we know anyone who can go Joe's B.S., "B.S" is a happy day for America!

However, David Gregory as the host? I've seen his show and there are times when he seems to play favorites. Whenever Joe and Rachel are on at the same time David lets Joe run amok.
I miss Tim, because going on his show was a rite of passage. If a candidate couldn't pass the Russert Test, the candidate might as well go home. I honestly believe Tim would have exposed Sarah Palin for the fraud she is!

Also, I see The Chuck got some new electoral math toys! I liked the bobbleheads! Chuckolicious!

A's Mom said...

I echo the missing of Tim Russert - my take...

it's like dad left the kids home for the weekend and they had a party that went out of control. Hell even Mika is losing her mind on MJ - and Joe wasn't even there today!

Katty said...

I was watching Gregory on Race to the White House and he constantly challenged any Obama-friendly or McCain-critical comments made by the guests or pundits. I think he's had one too many cupcakes - with sprinkles - with McCain.

Olbermann IS partisan, but he's honest about it and that's what I love about him. Matthews, on the other hand, is bending over backwards not to appear partisan; it's not a pretty sight.