Here is the latest on the growth and impact of the only real news show other than PBS that remains on network television today.
More than any other news show on cable, MSNBC's "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" is us.
This has less to do with the host than the format, which is all about ranking things and listing things, prioritizing information in the way we've become acclimated to consume it: as somebody's -- anybody's -- best-of.
Olbermann, the host of "Countdown" since its inception in 2003, tonight moderates a Democratic presidential debate in Chicago sponsored by the AFL-CIO amid a year of improved ratings for "Countdown" that has seen one of its competition (no, not Bill O'Reilly, but CNN's Paula Zahn) drummed out of the race.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the former sports guy comes from a world of list-obsession plays of the day, players of the year and teams of the decade. Five years after his last full-time sports gig at Fox Sports Net, Olbermann has come to symbolize the quirky omniscience that broadcast news might very well demand in the future.
But it's the structure of "Countdown," which averaged 721,000 viewers in July, a bump for the show, that seems so savant-like.
Please Keith, continue to kick ass and take names.
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