I'm watching an all MSNBC lineup tonight

[hyphenate]

The lineup at Current dismays me. I've watched all three shows more or less since their start, but I was watching Current because of Keith. In comparison to those shows, Ed Schultz, Rachel and Lawrence are seasoned professionals.

With Current, there was an anchor. There was a seasoned pro who could usher in the less than professional hosts, and give them a nod. Without KO, there is no anchor, no name who can draw people in, no reason for people to check them out.

I'm certain the others will get better as time passes, and that's fine. But without KO's passion, even his ego, the network elicits no desire in me to watch relative amateurs in their ongoing TV host training, especially in this primary season, with all the ongoing politics which are so vital to our democracy.

I know some people dislike KO. That's okay--I, too, hate some things on TV, like stupid reality shows. But I also am well aware that Hollywood, as a state of mind, hates amateurs--or it DID, before the networks started handing out cameras and TV shows to just about everyone, including garbage collectors. Polish was a virtue, something that made a diference in the way a host (and therefore, a show) was perceived. It still does, to an extent--I wish it still meant more. But it's difficult to stitch the wide variety of news viewers out there--in order to please everyone, there would be a vast empty space in TV land. But there will always be fearless pioneers who push the edge of the envelope so that TV evolves, and KO was one of them.

I don't watch all news all the time. Hell, watching the primetime lineup tonight was actually a fluke. But sports messed up some of my shows, and I decided to stay tuned to MSNBC. It wasn't so much a choice as it was a necessity.

There is still a lot of anger in me toward Current. I am irritated at Keith as well--it's not ALL Current's fault, but letting Keith go was a colossal mistake, and they're going to be paying for it for a long while. I'll be surprised if anyone even knows who they are at election time.

[onehandle]

1. Current is severely weakened without Keith.

Honestly, they were fairly weak even with him. Even he couldn't give them the spark they needed.

I smell another Air America.

[hyphenate]

7. Exactly my point.

None of the Current TV hosts right now in their prometime line-up are big enough draws. If Current goes down in flames, which it possibly might, it will be because they don't have the programming acumen to succeed. They want to become big, but aren't willing to make the sacrifice which would have been to keep their biggest name around.

When they lost the set lighting, I thought that was going to blow up in their faces. But nothing happened.

I did listen patiently at the beginning of every episode to see if KO was going to be on, and it brought me down when it wasn't his voice, because I knew the passion wasn't going to be as deep. I liked all the subs, but none of them made politics as alive for me as KO did.

Oh well. I guess I can go back to watching NCIS again!

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I listen to both

And will NOT follow Keith again.

[nadine_mn]

3. My husband and I were discussing what we should do with our Keith hour

First, we canceled our extended cable that allowed us to watch KO, it was the only reason we got it. Then we started watching stuff we usually miss during the week because we are news junkies.

We used to start our evening with dinner watching Keith, then a trip to the Y and then walk the dogs. Sometimes we would watch Maddow, but our main "fix" was KO.

I know people think he is an egotistical SOB, but everyone has their opinion. I will truly miss him, his sense of humor and his voice.

[hyphenate]

6. I agree with you

He was the draw. Many of us followed him over from MSNBC, and would have stayed with him. Yeah, he has an ego--really, it's hard to get to his status without a fairly large one. But he knew a little bit more about his own capabilities, and he certainly knew he could carry the lead, as he'd done with MSNBC.

I think he should go looking at someplace like HBO, where Bill Marher is--I'd even get it for the monthly fee if he went there--I took on Showtime when Stargate was there for that very reason.

I thought about Oprah, but two big egos might not work too well!

[Lint Head]

4. MSNBC went blank on my cable just as Lawrence O'Donnell came on.

I think Charter did it on purpose.

[hyphenate]

5. That's interesting

It was okay for me. It leaned heavily on the Trayvon Martin case most of the time. They also talked about a Planned Parenthood office bombing, and Lawrence reported that Santorum made a general dumbass comment about "pro-life" that same day, in the same state (Wisconsin, IIRC).

When I was out visiting my brother in Vegas, he had Cox. I wanted to watch KO, but Cox didn't carry it on whatever plan my brother had. It was a pain in the ass--I missed a week of the show as a result.