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Edited on Wed Sep-20-06 10:59 AM by calimary
the handover at the end of every "Countdown" these days. My husband and I remarked about it to each other awhile ago, after the way the first "big one" - Keith's Katrina commentary - was received.
You better believe he's noticing all the attention "Countdown" is getting. You better believe he hears it every time he crosses the newsroom to his office at MSNBC headquarters, where it's very likely impossible to ignore or avoid the office chit-chat about this. The emails, snail mail, phone calls and other input - evidently overwhelmingly positive, ALL of it is probably the talk of the town inside the company - from the executive suites down to the janitors' closet - and Joe realizes this. EVERYBODY does, these days (remember - the new boss, Dan Abrams, is getting tons of these pro-Keith messages, too. NOTE-NOTE-NOTE: A GOOD THING TO REMEMBER: when you call into the main number, and ask for the viewer comment line or say you want to make a comment - MAKE SURE you quickly tell the operator you want to express appreciation for Olbermann - 'cause the switchboard operators talk, too). You can bet there's more than one select example posted in the coffee room, the employee lounge, the office bulliten board or clipboard (choice new ones being added daily) that everybody at least scans or glances at, casually, on their way through the room. You can bet that either he's seen for himself, OR his assistants or staffers have seen, some poor mailroom guy dragging in ANOTHER big bag of mail for "Countdown" - that HE isn't getting for "Scarborough Country." And if he hasn't seen it, you better believe he's heard about it - 'cause people gossip. It's just human nature. You can bet when the phones really light up, or there's a noticeable increase in phone calls in the office the day after Keith has fired off again, there are remarks that you hear people making as you walk past their desks or cubicles. You notice the increase in the incoming phone activity. As it continues, you'll come to assume when the phones are busy after Keith does another one, those incessant calls are mostly positive as the momentum grows, and you're being - well, "trained to react" accordingly.
And you BETTER believe that he's seen, and heard about, the ratings gains that Keith's been making, steadily. Keith's show is the one with the very noticeable upward momentum and the increased watercooler buzz, while "Scarborough Country" is the same old, tired, predictable CONservative shit, not doing much of anything to wow - OR woo - anybody new. Even more painful, I'd suspect, is when you consider the "lead-in advantage" that "Countdown" ought to leave him with as it gains viewers. Every TV show wants to follow a strong lead-in, because it starts the next show with a larger viewer pool - and the idea is to keep those viewers watching. But I'd bet that's not the dynamic here at all, because the growing multitudes tuning in to "Countdown" every night are very likely tuning OUT when Keith hands off to Joe. There's no way Joe can capitalize on that load of viewers because they're not a bit interested in buying what he's sellling if they're "Countdown" fans. I mean, consider your own viewing habits. Do YOU stay tuned in when Keith hands off to "Scarborough Country"? We certainly don't at our house. It's already been remarked upon, here, that more often than not - he starts with some fluff topic or something sexy and nonpolitical in an attempt to keep some of those viewers. And they may even stay for that much, even while tuning out just a little later in the hour when he predictably switches back to his regular CONservative, liberal-bashing schtick. And ALL of that is trackable in the ratings.
It HAS to be galling for Scarborough. Probably because he's such an egotist that he assumes that kind of resounding, and undeniably huge, response belongs mostly to whatever HE says on any given evening. I can just see the little thought bubble above his head - "that should be for ME. That's what I should be getting. What the fuck??? What's the MATTER with these people??? I do NOT understand it!!! Why is HE getting it all??? Who died and made HIM king??? Don't they realize how much better MY show is???"
You better believe he's noticed that HE isn't getting the invites to go on the Leno show or the "Today" show. He sure hasn't been profiled in the Hollywood Reporter lately (a write-up that was picked up by Reuters). He doesn't have that "glitter" about him that Keith does. He's not the fair-haired boy. And you can bet that his nose is so far out of joint that the front half of it is in the next county.
Not that it isn't deserved. YOU are SO YESTERDAY, Joe. Get OVER it.
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