Posted on 01/04/2010 5:02:02 PM PST by presidio9
Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann are engaged in one of the most visible rivalries of the decade — a conflict that may be rooted more in their similarities than differences. Both talk show hosts are former straight news reporters who share not only a formula for talk-show success, but a mutual respect for Tom Snyder, whose 1970s talk show Tomorrow set the bar for thoughtful, entertaining talk. Olbermann and O'Reilly make our Players list for best epitomizing the transformation of news in the 2000s. While CNN ruled the '90s with an emphasis on breaking, opinion-free reports, The O'Reilly Factor helped Fox News become the cable news leader with a show that mixes reporting, reflection, and rampant editorializing. It's the same formula adopted by Olbermann's Countdown, which has led MSNBC's increased emphasis on opinion. Critics paint O'Reilly and Olbermann as blustery, cartoonish bloviators of the right and left, respectively, and take them to task for not playing it straight. But both men — among the influential television industry players interviewed for TVGuide.com's Best of the Decade section — would just say they speak the truth. Click here for our interview with O'Reilly or read on for our talk with Olbermann. -- Douglas J. Rowe
TVGuide.com: Can you walk us through the evolution of your shows?
Keith Olbermann: It's like one of those medieval morality plays, because the decade started with Fox firing me from baseball and cable sports coverage because I broke a story about [News Corp. owner] Rupert Murdoch talking about selling the L.A. Dodgers.
TVGuide.com: How are things different now from the start of the decade?
Olbermann: My contention even in 2000 was that fewer and fewer people were watching the newscasts without knowing the news already, or having some idea ...
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs8.com ...
Oh, gag me with a spoon!
It amazes me how many people don't get this: MSNBC doesn't have an "emphasis" on opinion. That's all they do. They make no attempt to pretend otherwise. They don't even report the news on weekends. Call CNN "left" and Fox "right" if you like. MSNBC is not a news channel. They never said they were.
I can’t take either one of them seriously. I wish Mark Steyn could get his own show. He lets people talk without interrupting them all the time.
I don’t know how you can call this a rivalry. O’Reilly has nearly four million viewers a night. Olbermann hangs between 800,000 and a million. I guess in CBS’s eyes Rush is rivals with Err America.
Four Words -
steel Cage Death Match
“2 babblers enter one babbler leaves”
Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles remain the New York Yankees' hated rivals in the AL East.
WHAT A B S STORY. BLOBERMAN IS INTO HIMSELF
Did anyone hear O’Reilly whine about not being able to understand Obama and Holder tonight? O’Reilly just cannot bring himself to believe an American President could be a commie Muslim in spite of the evidence.
O'Reilly is just as good a Democrat as Obama, or Olbermann.
At least for uber-putz it is more like a hard-on for Joe Pine...
The bloviator has 20 times the audience bathtub boy has....or will ever have. There is no competition between the two...fox kicks msnbc’s butt every night.
Olbermann was never a reporter, and O’reilly never mentions O’boy’s name, but Olbermann’s only grasp at relevance is to trash Fox every single night. Other than that, they deserve each other, but the viewers deserve better.
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