Keith Olbermann Talks Getting Fired From Current TV on 'Late Show'
Keith Olbermann doesn't even remember how long ago it was that he left MSNBC for the much lesser known Current TV, but it really wasn't that long ago. On June 20, 2011 "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" premiered on Current TV, and on March 30, 2012, the network announced that they were firing him, saying that he no longer reflected their values. Olbermann was clearly still stinging from it on "Late Show" (Weeknights, 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS).
It was a high profile risk going into the venture, which Olbermann knew. He even cracked jokes about it when it was happening with a Top 10 list on David Letterman's show. And now he came right out and said, "I screwed up."
But then he went on to say, "If you buy a $10 million chandelier, you should have a house to put it in. Just walking around with a $10 million chandelier isn't going to do anybody a lot of good. And it's not going to do any good to the chandelier."
Letterman teased him a bit, asking innocently if Olbermann was the chandelier in this analogy. Clearly, as Letterman has pointed out many times and Olbermann has admitted, Olbermann has a high opinion of himself and his worth.
As for that big payday the network was promising him, he admitted that he's now hired the same lawyer that helped Conan O'Brien get his big settlement from NBC after his "Tonight Show" fiasco.
Catch new episodes of "Late Show with David Letterman" every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.
Related on HuffPost:
Launch Slideshow
HIDE THUMBNAILS
1 of 24
PLAY ALL
ADVERTISEMENT
[{"entry_id":"3331103","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/jennifer-hudson-american-idol-judge_n_3331103.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/276489\/slide_276489_2018376_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/276489\/slide_276489_2018376_small.jpg","title":"American Idol Judges Through The Years","slideshow_id":"276489","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3328853","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/maureen-ryan\/game-of-thrones-season-3_b_3328853.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/208655\/slide_208655_2475430_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/208655\/slide_208655_2475430_small.jpg","title":"\"Game Of Thrones\"","slideshow_id":"208655","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3329569","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/23\/leonard-penny-love-galecki-cuoco_n_3329569.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/280127\/slide_280127_2092326_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/280127\/slide_280127_2092326_small.jpg","title":"'The Big Bang Theory' Season 6","slideshow_id":"280127","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3329953","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/does-someone-have-to-go-premiere-video_n_3329953.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/293035\/slide_293035_2376161_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/293035\/slide_293035_2376161_small.jpg","title":"Summer TV Guide","slideshow_id":"293035","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3332159","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/arrested-development-preview-four-new-clips_n_3332159.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/243709\/slide_243709_2495095_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/243709\/slide_243709_2495095_small.jpg","title":"Arrested Development Photos","slideshow_id":"243709","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3333065","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/true-blood-trailer_n_3333065.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/296914\/slide_296914_2437218_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/296914\/slide_296914_2437218_small.jpg","title":"\"True Blood\"","slideshow_id":"296914","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3331903","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/under-the-dome-stephen-king-revenge-mad-men_n_3331903.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/276487\/slide_276487_2493148_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/276487\/slide_276487_2493148_small.jpg","title":"\"Mad Men\" Season 6","slideshow_id":"276487","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3330393","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/hannibal-will-figures-out-abigail-video_n_3330393.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/280226\/slide_280226_2094342_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/280226\/slide_280226_2094342_small.jpg","title":"2013 Renewal Index: Canceled, Renewed & On The Bubble Shows","slideshow_id":"280226","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3330023","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/elisabeth-moss-mad-men-future-video_n_3330023.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/280719\/slide_280719_2103903_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/280719\/slide_280719_2103903_small.jpg","title":"Late Night Talk Shows","slideshow_id":"280719","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3333809","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/summer-television-episodes-seinfeld-friends_n_3333809.html","content_type":"video","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/228342\/slide_228342_1013735_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/228342\/slide_228342_1013735_small.jpg","title":"TV Shows Celebrating Summer","slideshow_id":"228342","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3332976","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/behind-the-candelabra-liberace-casting_n_3332976.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/299233\/slide_299233_2490990_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/299233\/slide_299233_2490990_small.jpg","title":"\"Behind the Candelabra\": Who Else Could Play Liberace?","slideshow_id":"299233","vertical":"tv"},{"entry_id":"3333901","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/24\/behind-the-candelabra-rob-lowe_n_3333901.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/299415\/slide_299415_2494759_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/299415\/slide_299415_2494759_small.jpg","title":"Rob Lowe's TV Evolution","slideshow_id":"299415","vertical":"tv"}]
Keith Olbermann doesn't even remember how long ago it was that he left MSNBC for the much lesser known Current TV, but it really wasn't that long ago. On June 20, 2011 "Countdown with Keith Olbermann"...
Keith Olbermann doesn't even remember how long ago it was that he left MSNBC for the much lesser known Current TV, but it really wasn't that long ago. On June 20, 2011 "Countdown with Keith Olbermann"...
The ratings for Eliot Spitzer's debut on Current after Keith Olbermann's explosive exit are in, and they do not look good. Spitzer drew 47,000 total...
Eliot Spitzer's second try at cable news success started unexpectedly on Friday with the debut of his new show "Viewpoint" on Current. Just hours after...
As lotto fever spreads across America, "prove your wonkiness by declaring that government-sanctioned lotteries make for poor economic policy" fever spreads across America's liberal...
Conservatives wailing about the liberal media are as wrong on that subject as they are about taxes. The media is not liberal, and Mark Halperin's distasteful remark about President Obama on cable TV gives us a glimpse into precisely why this is so.
This week, Silicon Valley rocked as Google turned the Page on Eric Schmidt, while Steve Jobs took another medical leave. And the media world was rocked when Keith Olbermann's Countdown hit 0. Elsewhere, Ricky Gervais kneed the Hollywood Foreign Press in its Golden Globes; Comcast became the proud owner of a Peacock; Sarah Palin sat down with Sean Hannity to tell him that she's "not going to sit down and shut up"; Barack Obama served Chinese at the White House; Joe Lieberman announced his retirement, then made us wish it wasn't two years away when he maintained that Saddam actually did have WMD; Gabby Giffords left the hospital for rehab; Citizens United turned one year old (next up: the GOP's attempt to repeal the presidential public financing system, putting elections even more in the hands of corporate donors); and JFK's "ask not" speech turned 50, its call to service as powerful -- and as needed -- as ever.
In his otherwise excellent speech on Wednesday, the president showed that, when it comes to the plight of the middle class, he still doesn't get it. READ MORE
Postcards From Third World America
Third World America: Why I Wrote the Book and What We Need to Do to Save America's Middle Class
WATCH: Arianna Tells Dylan Ratigan "It's Time For 'Hope 2.0'"
WATCH: Arianna Weighs in on Media Coverage of Quran-Burning Pastor on CNN
WATCH: Arianna Discusses Plight of the Middle Class on Good Morning America
LISTEN: Arianna Talks Third World Nation on NPR's Talk of the Nation
WATCH: Arianna Talks About Obama's Ohio Speech with Keith Olbermann
WATCH: Arianna Discusses Her New Book 'Third World America' On Morning Joe
WATCH: Arianna and Diane Sawyer Discuss What Needs to Be Done to Restore the American Dream
Broadcasters like Beck ought to take responsibility for some of their more incendiary remarks -- remarks which appear to be ginning up the darker, uglier, fanatical tendencies in an already militaristic, jingoistic, reactionary audience.
If Current has hopes to evolve away from being the fringe network that it is and connect with a larger mainstream audience, firing a talented pro like Keith and replacing him with a non-professional broadcaster like Eliot Spitzer was probably a bad move.
Posted: 04/ 4/2012 4:19 am Updated: 04/ 4/2012 4:19 am