The guiding hand of ex-CNNer David Borhman is already evident at Current, as Edward R Olbermann serves up another stunning example of journalistic brilliance. Word is that this has already been forwarded to the Pulitzer Committee for their urgent consideration:

Comments are open!

We've commented repeatedly on how tight-lipped Olbermann's corporate masters have been with ratings information. Olby, who in his salad days at A-Mess-NBC regularly touted his strong (i.e. losing) ratings in the 'money demo', has now lapsed into the sound of silence when it comes to Nielsen numbers.

The reason for that became clear today as the Hollywood Reporter revealed the latest ratings for the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann and his community access cable hour. Yes, you guessed it: Countdown has achieved record ratings. Record lows that is. Under Herr Olbermahn's stewardship the program has sunk to its lowest 25-54 viewership level evah:

Keith Olbermann's Countdown on Current hit an all-time low last week in the 25-54 demographic. The show pulled in 85,000 viewers in the demo, that was down 2 percent compared to the previous week when the debt ceiling debate was still roiling Washington. Countdown averaged 208,000 total viewers, up 5 percent week-to-week.

Of course Current suits are spinning the numbers as 'outstanding' (!), but they are whistling past the graveyard. Because things are only going to get worse for Olby:

Olbermann has new competition at 8 p.m. as Anderson Cooper 360 moved into the hour and immediately posted double-digit demo gains compared to CNN's previous time-period average. On Tuesday, Cooper's second night anchoring at 8 p.m., the show averaged 228,000 viewers in the demo. Cooper has anchored the program this week from Africa. He was at the Kenya-Somalia border for Monday's show and Mogadishu on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Go Coop!

How long will Al Gore keep paying Olbermann's salary, which was pegged at $10 million so that Keith could brag he's making as much as Bill O'Reilly? For a whopping 85,000 pairs of eyeballs, compared with the 600,000 to 900,000 demo viewers who turn in to Mr Bill nightly? Remember our cable news chart? Olby's 85,000 viewers lands him in 48th place, behind the already-cancelled Cenk Uygur, FNC's 3:00 am Red Eye, and HLN's struggling Showbiz Tonight. Well done, Al. Keep it up, Keith!

Comments are open!

David Bohrman was best known as the CNN exec who came up with such brilliant journalistic insights as election-night holograms. Now he has fled the CNN fold, only to take charge of Current TV...which is like leaving a multi-national corporation to go and run a cable access station. No, it isn't like that. It is that!

But have no fear. In an interview Borhman promises that Current will remain all progressive all the time. The subject of ratings comes up, but DB gives no information whatsoever. In other words, they still suck.

Respected critic David Zurawik ponders if even this wunderkind from CNN can make a silk purse out of the sow's ear that is Keith Olbermann:

Maybe if Borhman digs deep enough, he will find a journalist under all the rhetorical mustard that now constitutes Olbermann's act. The question is whether Olbermann will be wise enough to listen to his new boss and become a responsible member of the press rather than a strange performer in a sideshow tent far off the midway of TV and American political life.

We can answer that: No.

Comments are open!

It's almost like he's in his own little world. Oh wait, he is. It's OlbyPlanet. That's the place where Keith Olbermann speaks and the populace rush to action, overwhelming the country with righteous indignation...because Keith told them to.

Here he is, tweeting away, about his latest manifesto, a call for people to take to the streets on his say so:

• Tonight on Countdown: @AlGore on the debt deal, plus my Special Comment on how we must take to the streets to take back the Safety Net

Wow. You can imagine the DC Mall filling up tomorrow morning after Herr Olbermahn orders his vast audience of a few thousand to 'take to the streets'! He's pimping his latest Special Education Comment further at his favorite blog, the Daily Kos, in a teaser post that is nonetheless sprinkled with such unsurprising statements as:

Given the choice between a Democratic president in 2013 and a Republican one - possibly one who is certifiably insane - I'm going to choose the Democratic one every time.

This time it doesn't matter that the suits at Current keep the ratings a deep, dark secret. We'll know tomorrow if the streets of our nation's capital are overrun with outraged Olbots demanding a Safety Net. Or if the response to Oralmann's latest blowhard diatribe is another great, nationwide yawn. Put your money on the latter.

Comments are open!