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Revision as of 20:20, 31 May 2005 by Jonpin (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Countdown with Keith Olbermann is an hour-long nightly newscast on MSNBC which airs live at 8:00 PM Eastern time and reruns at midnight. The show, hosted by Keith Olbermann, debuted on March 31, 2003 and counts down the top news stories of the day with news reports and interviews with guests.
The show is notable for Olbermann's elaborate writing style, fast-paced delivery, historical and pop culture references, and signature witty interjections, which make Countdown more colorful than average newscasts. Olbermann interleaves serious news stories with humorous segments.
Most shows follow this pattern of stories:
- #5 story
- commercial break
- #4 story
- commercial break
- Oddball (offbeat news stories and videos, named as a play on Hardball with Chris Matthews, which precedes Countdown)
- Countdown's "Top 3 newsmakers of this day"
- commercial break
- #3 story
- Top 3 soundbites of the day
- commercial break
- #2 story
- "Keeping Tabs", celebrity and tabloid news
- commercial break
- #1 story
Each night, Olbermann signs off with "That's Countdown, thanks for being part of it. Good night and good luck," then crumples up his notes and throws them at the camera.
On Fridays, the show previously featured "What Have We Learned?" in which Olbermann attempts to answer questions based on the stories he had reported over the past week. This has now been replaced with his top stories of the week, frequently repeats of Oddball clips.
While other MSNBC shows such as Scarborough Country, The Abrams Report and Hardball with Chris Matthews consist mainly of opinion and analysis, Countdown is a nightly newscast, covering major national and international stories. Clips from NBC network news broadcasts are featured on a regular basis. Olbermann typically treats guests on the show courteously, eschewing the aggressive style of interrogation employed by some of his competitors and colleagues.
According to The Cornell Daily Sun, Olbermann has a staff of roughly 10 to 12 people who work on the show. They spend the morning looking for noteworthy or interesting stories. The group meets via conference call at 11:00 AM for a half-hour discussion to toss around possible subjects for the evening's show (many times pulling information from online sites like Fark.com). By 12:15, Olbermann receives a final list of story prospects, picks what he likes, and puts them in order. He emails the list back to the staff, and the writing process begins. He arrives at MSNBC's studios in Secaucus, New Jersey by 2PM and works on writing the show's material in his office until 7:30, when he goes to makeup, before going on air at 8 PM.