Posted on by Mitchell Laurren-Ring

Watch Keith Olberman

Last fall while I was following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, I stumbled upon quite a few excellent resources for the liberal-minded thinker. One of these was Countdown With Keith Olbermann, a news and commentary show on MSNBC with a liberal slant. One of the features that attracts me is that the format is very Tivo-friendly.

As the name implies, the show counts down the top five stories of the day, providing a summary followed by analysis by Keith, staff reporters and guest commentators. Each story is covered in one of the show’s six segments over the hour that it is aired (twice a night):

  • The first two segments are usually political stories and, although numbered “4” and “5” in the countdown, are generally the most important stories of the day.
  • The third segment is called “Oddball” and features quirky stories from around the world including the “Top 3 Newsmakers” for the day.
  • The fourth segment features the #3 story followed by the “Top 3 Soundbites” of the day.
  • The fifth segment has the #2 story followed by “Keeping Tabs” which features celebrity news and gossip. This is followed by the “Top 3 Worst Persons in the World.”
  • The final segment, which Keith often calleds “The story my producers are forcing me to do”, is usually about some lighter subject matter and often brings in a guest commentator to make funny for three minutes.
  • Keith signs off with “Keep your knees loose.”

If I’m not in the mood for the political stories, I go right to “Oddball” in the middle of the show and then proceed to the “Worst Person in the World” award which very often goes to Bill O’Reilly. O’Reilly presumably has gotten sick of this and recently called for MSNBC to fire Keith and bring back Phil Donahue, who used to occupy the time slot on MSNBC. Although Keith does throw out an occasional reference to the sexual harrassment lawsuit against O’Reilly, mostly he merely quotes O’Reilly’s words in order to show how he is the worst person in the world for that day. I totally dig it.

Olbermann was a favorite of mine when ESPN started out and now I often find myself in agreement with his political sensibilities. I recommend the show highly for all my readers, right or left, conservative or liberal.

Here’s a few related links:

Update 2/28/06: Someone started a petition to replace O’Reilly with Donahue. Here’s what bloggers are saying: