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The time to vomit is now. Aaron Sorkin's Cable News Drama Is A Go At HBO With Pilot Order, Scott Rudin Producing EXCLUSIVE: Aaron Sorkin's long-gestating drama set behind the scenes of a nightly cable news show is becoming a reality. HBO has closed a deal for a pilot order to the project, which reunites The Social Network writer with the movie's producer Scott Rudin. Both are executive producing the pilot, which will be filmed later this year. UPDATE: Word is the project's working title is More As the Story Develops. In his research for the show, Sorkin spent time...

MSNBC says it's ending contract with Keith Olbermann; last broadcast of 'Countdown' tonight

Keith Olbermann once put me on his nightly list of the worst people in the world. To add insult to injury, I was merely a runner-up. So I suppose I should smile now that Mr. Olbermann's career as the host of "Countdown" has at last tick-tocked to 00:00. Boom! Here was an anchor whose personality is every bit as unhinged as his politics; whose on-air epithets of choice include "prostitute," "monkey," "fascistic," "fat ass" and (about conservative pundit Michelle Malkin) "bag of meat"; who has been let go from nearly every job he ever held; and whose "childish attacks" were,...

The pledge by the Washington Post's Dana Milbank to ignore Sarah Palin for the month of February has caused the Hollywood Reporter to run the numbers on the former Alaska governor on her mentions in the media. The results are, mildly speaking, breathtaking. That is especially true considering that Palin holds no elected or appointed office and has not yet announced to run for any. Not surprisingly, MSNBC, the liberal alternative network, turns out to be most obsessed with Palin, even exceeding Fox News, for which Palin works as a news analyst. Keith Olbermann has mentioned Palin on 320 segments...

On Friday, Keith Olbermann dropped a bomb on the media world when he announced that his nearly eight-year stint at MSNBC was coming to an abrupt end. Although the complete details haven’t been revealed, some have suggested Olbermann was pushed out by management at NBC Universal. However, due to Olbermann’s surprise departure, media watchers were waiting to see how his MSNBC colleagues would react to the news, particularly “The Rachel Maddow Show” host Rachel Maddow, who has said she owed her spot on the network to Olbermann. Initially Maddow pled ignorance immediately following the announcement on HBO’s Friday broadcast of...

If you were going to replace Keith Olbermann who would be the first name to pop your lips? See it isn't as easy as it sounds. The first name reportedly on MSNBC lips is Alec Baldwin, according to Rob Shuter at PopEater. "He's already part of the NBC family, has a huge fan base and is very respected for his long term passions for politics." He's also good on TV and has wide name recognition. And the fact is MSNBC is going to need a shot in the lineup arm at sooner than later, so maybe it's not a surprise...

Rep. Michele Bachmann made history tonight–not just for being the first representative of the Tea Party to give a State of the Union response, but also for flatly refusing to look America in the eye. Bachmann, who came equipped with charts and Iwo Jima photos, began her speech looking slightly off camera. As Bachmann spoke, viewers–including the former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann–took to Twitter to ask a simple question: “what’s she looking at?” As Olbermann tweeted, “Why isn’t Rep. Bachmann LOOKING AT THE DAMNED CAMERA?” He added later, “Seriously, somebody at the Tea Party needs to run on the stage,...

There is too much Keef Grief in DUmmieland for any one DUFU to cover! Indeed, this could be a multiple DUFU day! (And then there's the SOTU tonight.) The Meltdown continues, and in this edition, we'll sample from a number of Olbie threads, starting with this THREAD, "Olbermann Out At MSNBC." So let us return to the Keef Grief Support Group, otherwise known as DUmmieland, in Bolshevik Red, while the commentary of your humble guest correspondent, Charles Henrickson--willing to take Keef on as our DUmmie FUnnies intern/gofer, but would have to clear it with PJ and the Beaver--is in...

It's . . . TEOTWAWKI !!!!!! OMG OMG OMG !!! Keef has been FIRED!!!!! OH NOES!! The canning of Keith Olbermann Friday night came like a swift punch to the solar plexus. The DUmmies were KO'd! They were devastated! Overwhelming Keef Grief! Elisabeth Kübler-Ross would have a field day with these folks. (BTW, why can they never get to "acceptance"?) Their initial denial quickly turned to anger, of course--these are the DUmmies we're talking about. They're AS MAD AS HELL AND NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! It's a KOmkast KOnspiracy! Bush's fault! Rove! Palin! Fox! ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!!! The fact...

Keith Olbermann scored an even sweeter exit package than previously reported. Sources connected with NBC tell us Keith is pocketing "well in excess" of $7 million. Sources tell us ... Olbermann was due for two salary hikes during the last two years of his contract, which would have netted him just over $17 million. The exit deal, we're told, gives Keith much more than $7 million, though our sources would not be more specific. And we're told ... Olbermann agreed as part of his exit deal not to do television, but our sources say he'll be benched for less than...

On the weekend the Green Bay Packers made their way to their first Super Bowl after parting ways with their most prolific—and most tearful—quarterback after deciding his squirrelly act was just too much hassle, MSNBC also called it quits with their top-rated screamer, just as new owners may be moving the network in a new direction. But even I have to admit that Keith Olbermann’s goodbye was classier—not to mention more manly-- than (any) of Brett Favre’s. And as I pointed out in an earlier post, once again Keith Olbermann has made his biggest news by the fact that he...

In the News & Opinion & Entertainment Media, the fringe lunacy represented by Beck, O’Reilly, Palin, Limbaugh et. al etc. or America’s Ministry of Disinformation & Propaganda had ONE MAN who was successfully able to cross their signals, get up in their face and get a wide swath of this country not simply to understand how truly ridiculous, dangerous and often manipulative was their rhetoric but also empowered the sleeping to get up and take them on. That one person with all due respect was not Steven Colbert nor was it Jon Stewart on The Daily Show or even Rachel...

If there was some strange parallel universe in which Keith Olbermann and I were members of Congress, I suspect we would vote together about 99 percent of the time. But when the "Countdown" host announced his abrupt departure from MSNBC on Friday night, I felt only relief. First reactions to Olbermann’s exit have broken along lines as partisan as they were predictable. That the New York Post would respond to the news with glee and The Huffington Post with a gnashing of teeth was hardly a shock. But back in the real world, I cannot imagine I am the only...

You know it had to happen sooner or later. There was no way things were going to go on long without Hitler finding out that MSNBC had fired ultra-liberal Keith “Max Headroom” Olbermann. At least the socialists still have Sheriff Dupnik to carry on their propaganda. (VIDEO AT LINK)

Keith Olbermann's abrupt departure from MSNBC shook the media world Friday and left plenty of questions behind about whether the MSNBC star jumped or was pushed. Olberman, often bombastic and dripping with outrage, left the studio by offering thanks but no real explanation. MSNBC issued a brief statement during Olbermann's sign-off, noting only that the two sides "ended their contract" and that the network wished him "well in his future endeavors." And with that, after eight years, MSNBC's top-rated and most outspoken host -- the anchor behind which the cable news network repositioned itself as a liberal alternative to Fox...

I guess DUmmie Amerigo Vespucci hasn't gotten the message that the names "DUmmie FUnnies" (nor "Conservative Cave") must NEVER be mentioned in DUmmieland. In fact it won't surprise me a bit if his THREAD, "Freeper bottom-feeder "PJ-Comix" plans to "harvest juicy comedy nuggets" from DU today RE: K.O." is soon pulled. What set DUmmie Amerigo Vespucci into such a rage was my announced plan yesterday to DUFU the DUmmies going BERSERK over the exit of Keith Olbermann from MSNBC. Yes, I will be DUFUing that later today but for now let us enjoy watching the DUmmies rage at the...

On his radio show back in November, Glenn Beck correctly predicted that an NBC-Comcast Merger would mean no more Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. Looks like he was right after all. Let's just hope he's wrong about the Fox News part... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0m_5TluJ-Y

From MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” aired on Jan. 21, 2011: ...more (w/video)...

Angela Bromstad announced Thursday that she's leaving her post as NBC Entertainment president, marking the latest high-profile executive change for the broadcast network, which is currently being assimilated into the Comcast fold.

Keith Olbermann continued to make a big deal out of Sarah Palin’s harmless—even clichéd—target map for Congressional districts, even as he protested that he “never” implied it was the cause for the shooting. So, then, it’s a Big Deal… why? But it’s especially rich that Keith would think the map is a big deal, when he used language about Sarah Palin that would be used as justification for the President or Congress to declare war, or even authorize an assassination.OLBERMANN: [to Palin] Madam, you are a clear and present danger to the safety and security of this nation.