Is Keith Olbermann's Time At MSNBC Coming To An End?

I really should be reading Olbermann Watch more often as this is about a week late, but alas, last week might have brought up the beginning of the end of Keith Olbermann's time at MSNBC.

Frankly, I was hoping his end would be a lot more funnier than this is, but I guess it is only fitting that reports of MSNBC's dissatisfaction with Olbermann come after he did something that crossed the line and offended people.

But before you criticize me for criticizing Olbermann's ill father, let me just say that my thoughts and hope are with him and the entire Olbermann family. All the best to Ted Olbermann. That being said, though, was there really a reason for this on February 24?



And then after not appearing for the show for the few days afterward, Olbermann went on the air on Monday on top of a building in New York in a piece what is simply bizarre, even for Olbermann.



Again, all the best to Keith, Ted, and the entire family in dealing with this, but it really must be said. Why?

What was the point of that 14-minute speech and 9 and a half minute postscrpit? Why couldn't he just take a quiet leave of absence to deal with his father and leave it at that? Why did he have to go on national TV on his own cable news program and deliver way too much information about his father's condition? But the biggest question of all here is did he really just use his sick father to try and score a political point on healthcare?

Of course, I am not the first person to bring it up. Glenn Beck even went as far as to suggest that Olbermann's dad would be dead by now if he were being treated under Obama's healthcare plan. It's not that I necessarily condone, agree with, or even know for sure the validity of Beck's assessment, but the point is I am not the first one to bring it up.

Most shocking of all, it is being speculated that even NBC brass have had enough of Olbermann. 2 reports from JedEckert.com (here and here) that cite anonymous, unlinked sources have are saying that folks at NBC are getting fed up with him. Here are some notable quotes from the reports.

Ratings picture is bleak:

* Looking at January 2009 compared to January 2010, Keith is down 27% whereas his hated enemy, O’Reilly is up 22%.
* In the much vaunted demo (ages 25-52) Keith is down a whopping 47%, O’Reilly is up 53%."

As we noted earlier this week, Keith has a propensity to blame absences on dead or dying parents especially when he doesn’t get his way, and his bosses have long suspected that he was playing the bereaved son card. They could even tolerate the sick father excuse to a point (apparently even when that said father was not be seen at the many Yankee games Keith was attending - one notable game was the October 9 play-off against the Twins!) But now things have really gotten creepy. In his special comment on Wednesday, in what can only be a cry for help or sign of impending mental breakdown, Keith talked about killing his father.

Word is that the folks at NBC are now looking for a way out. Very informed sources tell us that they realize all his relationships with employers end badly. It is just a matter of degree. Add to that - his embarrassingly dismal ratings no longer appear to warrant his inflated salary.

Sources within NBC News have confirmed that things are more dire than we originally thought. Veteran correspondents are cringing and are openly embarrassed by Olbermann’s self-absorbed theatrics.

Now before you completely dismiss the anonymous reports of a fairly unheard of guy, consider the following:

We just saw two and a half weeks of Olympics on MSNBC. And thus with the Olympics, MSNBC took the time to run ads for Rachel Maddow, Chuck Todd, Ed Shultz, and Chris Matthews. But let me ask you this: how many times did you watch MSNBC during Olympics and see a Keith Olbermann commercial? I can barely remember one.

Surely MSNBC would want to advertise their main guy whose ratings seem to be plummeting. I'm not an expert, but you would want to get your most-watched cable TV host more facetime than freakin' Ed Schultz to the people who may be turning on MSNBC for the first time ever, no? After all, they had several hockey games on your channel, one of them being the 1st epic USA-Canada game, what better way to try and toss a sinking ship a lifeline? I mean, really? What harm would advertising have done? MSNBC gave Rachel Maddow, Chuck Tood, Ed Schultz, and Chris Matthews nonstop ads, yet the highest rated host on the network gets nadda? Why?

Obviously these reports are to be taken with a grain of salt, but consider them with the abysmal and getting worse ratings and the lack of Countdown commercials, and maybe, just maybe, there is something to be said here about Olbermann and his lack of time remaining on MSNBC. I mean, the only reason I can think of for not advertising him to death like everyone else would be because they think that they and Comcast might let him go. Do you have any other explanations for it?

Bold Prediction: Come the end of 2010, Keith Olbermann will be out of a job at MSNBC.