Keith Olbermann returning to ESPN to host nightly talk show!!

[CaribouJim]

http://network.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/keith_olbermann_returning_to_espn_to_host_nightly_ talk_show/14069099

What are the odds he lasts a year??

Keith Olbermann will return to ESPN after a 16-year absence from the network to host a nightly one-hour talk show on ESPN2, the New York Times reports.

The were reports last week that Olbermann was in talks with ESPN about a return, and The Times says the network is set to make the announcement on Wednesday.

According to The Times, Olbermann will be able to “discuss matters other than sports, including pop culture and current events, but not politics, the two-year pact specifies.”

The show is believed to be ESPN’s answer to FOX Sports 1 launching a show on its new network that will be hosted by Regis Philbin.

Olbermann rose to prominence hosting “SportsCenter” along with Dan Patrick during the ’90s at ESPN. He trashed ESPN in an interview with Craig Kilborn on Comedy Central, left the network in 1997, and started working for FOX Sports the next year. He left FOX Sports after having problems there and was the longtime host of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on MSNBC. Now he is getting back into sports.

Olbermann has a history of creating problems wherever he works, but ESPN still believes he is a talented broadcaster who draws an audience.

[kneelb4zerg]

Hey, another excuse not to watch ESPN.

[TheSultan]

Hey, another excuse not to watch ESPN.


Yeah, but I aint watching Regis Philbin either...

[CaribouJim]

Yeah, but I aint watching Regis Philbin either...

But he's a Domer!!

[CaribouJim]

More on Olbermann - love this line that I have heard before: "He didn't burn bridges here," ESPN vice president of corporate communications Mike Soltys famously once told USA Today about Keith Olbermann. "He napalmed them."

I will watch as beyond PTI, OTL and The Sports Reporters, their other show offerings are too contrived. I guess I see it something like Bob Costas show from a ways back, but solely on sports - at least he says it will be only sports. Can't help but think he will implode before too long - that's been his M.O. for too, too long.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20130717/keith-olbermann-returns-to-espn/#ixzz2ZPVZjW65

[TheSultan]

I do watch PTI, OTL and their 30 for 30 series is pretty good. But the Sports Reporters is starting to get a little too old and preachy for my tastes. Seriously Mike Lupica is indignant about *everything.* And Mitch Albom...well...I don't know.

[CaribouJim]

I do watch PTI, OTL and their 30 for 30 series is pretty good. But the Sports Reporters is starting to get a little too old and preachy for my tastes. Seriously Mike Lupica is indignant about *everything.* And Mitch Albom...well...I don't know.

I miss Dick Schapp big time and Lupica certainly suffers from "I'm the smartest guy in the room" syndrome and I'm not a fan of Mitch (nor his ears and books for that matter), but it is part of my Sunday routine.

I have a brother who overlapped with Lupica at BC and had some classes with him and his persona was the same all the way back then.

[CaribouJim]

This sucks - OTL getting what amounts to a demotion.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20130721/mccarver-espn-screws-outside-the-lines/?sct=obnetwork

ESPN management and its armada of public relations professionals have long used "Outside The Lines" as an example of the network's commitment to journalism -- and there is plenty of truth to that messaging. You don't employ reporters such as Don Van Natta, T.J. Quinn, Mark Fainaru-Wada, Kelly Naqi and Paula Lavigne unless you are serious about sports investigative journalism. The show's leadership, including senior coordinating producers Dwayne Bray and David Brofsky, is respected company-wide, as are regular hosts Bob Ley and Jeremy Schaap. The work of OTL is also always cited by ESPN executives whenever the brand gets too Baylessian and becomes addicted to the noxious Embrace Debate culture.
So it was troubling to read last week -- buried deep in a press release -- that ESPN management had shifted the Sunday edition of "Outside The Lines" from ESPN to ESPN2 and will now air the program one hour earlier at 8:00 a.m. ET. The shift in time slot and networks is a de facto burying of the show.
What replaces OTL on Sunday? A new hour-long program ("Cowherd on Football") focusing on both college and pro football discussion and commentary featuring ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd, a talented talker who too often specializes in non-fact-based socioeconomic generalizations with zero reporting. But Cowherd gets people talking, which makes him a favorite of those Bristol executives who live for debate. It's also a football show, which will likely rate higher than OTL because of the subject matter. Additionally, management moved OTL from its current spot on ESPN at 3:00 p.m. to a less favorable spot on ESPN2 at 4:30 p.m. ET with a lead-in (Highly Questionable) that has shifted itself amid a struggle with ratings. I'm told OTL staffers knew about the moves long before it was released to the public, and you can imagine how disheartened and devastated they felt it about it.
So, no, Outside The Lines is not being canceled, and yes, I'll expect to get (more) emails from ESPN PR telling me that OTL content will still be all over the brand. Sell that soap all you want, but the show was just significantly devalued by management. Just a shame