Interview: Rachel Maddow Discusses New MSNBC Television Show

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more: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/03/maddow-interview/


Interview: Rachel Maddow Discusses Her New MSNBC Television Show With ThinkProgress»
MSNBC recently announced that liberal Air America radio host Rachel Maddow will get her own television show. We interviewed Maddow in St. Paul yesterday to discuss how the show came about and what she hopes to accomplish with it:

What’s the mission of the show going to be?

The mission of the show is…it seems kinda obvious, which is that, in the eastern time zone, Keith Olbermann is on at 8 and then Keith Olbermann is on at 10. It’s repeated. And there’s an hour in between. And Keith has very high ratings. … The idea is, in between two hours of Keith, what can we do to hold on to as many of those viewers as possible and even to attract new ones. And they think I’m the person to do that. So that’s the mission — keep Keith’s numbers.

The strategic approach we are taking…is figure out a way to do television that allows you to be yourself — that allows your personality to come forward. … If I’m competing on any other grounds other than my personality and my quirks and my take on things, I’m not going to win.