Rachel Maddow- A Ratings Hit

It has been twelve days since Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show debuted. That is, basically, two weeks worth of shows, though it actually comes down to eight shows total given that last Friday, 12 September, Dr. Maddow’s show did not run, and this is going out before the 19 September show. How is she doing? Is this show a keeper?

While MSNBC has faced a great deal of backlash, mostly from FOX News, for having more center-left, liberal anchors, the gamble seems to be paying off. The Rachel Maddow Show has overtaken long running Larry King Live. According to the Huffington Post, the ratings for Maddow’ show on 18 September even surpassed that of Keith Olbermann’s Countdown. Both shows score very highly with the crucial 18-34 demographic. These numbers, of course, only reflect the


Neilson Ratings, and not the number of people who, like me, tune into both shows online every day. In fact, the number of people who watch Countdown online often means that Olbermann outstrips O’Reilly in terms of viewership, and the same may very well be true of The Rachel Maddow Show.

The Rachel Maddow Show does attempt to be fairly even in its guests and coverage, though Dr. Maddow makes no secrets of her political views. To date, few Republicans, and no one associated with the McCain/Palin campaign, have accepted her invitation to appear on the show. However, several members of the Obama/Biden ticket and several other Democrats have been guests. Some celebrities, most notably Bill Maher of the show Real Time, have appeared as well.


In the days leading up to the debut and after, MSNBC and Dr. Maddow were both attacked News Corp branches, all owned by Rupert Murddock. The New York Post ran stories about how Dr. Maddow’s appearance was going to be softened from her more masculine butch style to something more "appropriate" for the general television audience. Their implications where that, Maddow, an open lesbian, would appear more femme on her show than her norm. While her appearance is now a touch more feminine than it was before, the new look might fool anyone who is either not paying attention, of which I am guilty of since I listen to the TV more than watch it, or anyone with a sack over their head. MSNBC’s move towards the center-left to counter FOX News may be slowly gaining traction given the availability of their shows online in an easy to access manner, and their increasing popularity with the most key advertising demographics. This, of course, has caused many an attack on the network by FOX news pundits.

All in all, I expect that, with these ratings, The Rachel Maddow Show will continue to air for some time to come, a feat that no other show so far has managed to pull off. The show is often funny, and informative mixing hard news analasys, and weird news stories you may not normally find elsewhere. The Rachel Maddow Show runs on MSNBC during the 9 pm hour, and again at 11pm. A web version of the show is also available the next day at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/

FOX Attacks Maddow, Can FOX Survive?

On the day following Rachel Maddow’s debut on MSNBC, the FOX Bobble-Head Brigade was on the attack. Their offensive attacks on Maddow and on MSNBC as a whole were off the mark. Should we be surprised by the desperate attacks on Dr. Maddow or upon MSNBC as a whole? Not really. Unfortunately for the viewers at home, the reality is that Rupert Murdock and Roger Ailes have taken the ratings war personally. While it may be true that Fixed. . .er Fox News has higher day time ratings than MSNBC, Fox News’ ratings often reflect a much older demographic than the ones that most networks have focused upon. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann is extremely popular with the key demographic of 18 to 24, and are strong in the rest of the demographics. Despite their attempts to cook the numbers, Olbermann’s Countdown, hosted a number of times this summer by Maddow, has beaten Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Factor in terms of ratings over the last several months.

The attacks came in the wake of the decision by MSNBC to pull both liberal icon Keith Olbermann and conservative icon Chris Matthews from their election night coverage. Olbermann, Matthews and Joseph Scarborough got into a massive argument that was partially aired. All three lost their objectivity during the most heated moments of the Republican Convention which saw the Republicans chant in an angry mob like tone ‘NBC, NBC!" whenever the words East Coast Elites were mentioned. The fight between the three TV personalities on MSNBC was visible enough to even get commented upon by Jon Stewart of the Daily Show during an interview with NBC anchor Brian Williams. When asked about the incident, Williams commented that "every family has their issues," to which Stewart replied "yes, but why do they have to be the Lohans." It is reminiscent of Fox News’ decision to pull Ann Coulter from their election line up during the 2004 election, though her comments were far more inflammatory.

Tim Graham of the Conservative media watchdog group Media Research Center was asked by Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade "[I]s the damage done already? I mean, look, we're almost done with this thing. Fifty-something days left." To which he replied, "not only is the damage already done, the damage continues. I mean, not only are they keeping these people on for an hour a night, they're adding this lesbian Air America radio host, Rachel Maddow, on every night. So, I mean, they're really entrenching and solidifying a left-wing agenda on this network, not just, you know, pulling something back." No mention was made that Rachel Maddow holds a PhD in Political Science and is probably better qualified than Mr. Kilmeade to comment on politics and a whole host of topics.

The reality of this starts long before the decision by MSNBC to pull Olbermann and Matthews from their Election Night coverage. As you, the readers, may remember, a story posted to our site by Sylvia concerning Dr. Maddow’s make over for her show. http://www.lesbiatopia.com/2008/09/maddows-makeover.html This story originated with Rupert Murdock’s New York Post, and may have been an attempt to stir up controversy among the LGBTI community in order to undermine Maddow’s show. After all, if Maddow is able to keep Countdown high in the ratings while Olbermann is on vacation, then she is certainly a threat to Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes. They’re afraid that the nation is taking a jump to the Left, and that their market share is slipping.

Dr. Maddow’s show, the Rachel Maddow Show, airs Monday through Friday at 9pm after Countdown with Keith Olbermann. It is also available at MSNBC’s website. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ Please give the website at least an hour to catch up with the aired show.

For the original story- http://mediamatters.org/items/200809090008?f=h_latest

Congrats to Rachel Maddow; Knock 'em Dead Tonight!

We at Lesbiatopia extend our heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Rachel Maddow on the debut of her show tonight on MSNBC at 9pmET/6pmPT. Not only is Dr. Maddow the first lesbian to get her own TV news show—-in primetime, no less!-—she also is one of the most thoughtful and well informed pundits out there, gay or straight (which makes all of us lezzies proud).

Three cheers for Dr. Maddow, and for MSNBC for recognizing and promoting Dr. Maddow's enormous brain five nights a week. You hear that, LOGO? That's five nights a week of brilliant lesbian deliciousness--more thinking in tonight's first episode than Gimme Sugar featured in its whole first season! Thank you, MSNBC, for beaming a lesbian role model into homes nationwide when "our" own network wouldn't even give us one.

So gear up your TiVos, dear Lesbiatopia readers, and get ready for The Rachel Maddow Show. You'll be able to say you watched it from the beginning--before it became the enormously popular smash it's destined to be.



Remember also to catch Dr. Maddow's radio show weeknights on AirAmerica.

Lesbian politics: Our Favorite, Dr. Rachel Maddow, Watches John McCain Hate Life, Resent Broads

MAGICALLY UNCOMFORTABLE SQUIRMINATION



IMMEDIATELY AFTER THAT VIDEO CLIP IN JOHN MCCAIN'S THOUGHT BUBBLE: WHY DON'T THESE WHORES GO BACK TO GOOD OL' FASHIONED WIRE HANGERS IF THEY WANT TO SIN AGAINST GOD AND JUST SHUT THE #@*$ UP ABOUT THE WHOLE THING ALREADY??

THE LESBIAN COMMUNITY--PROUD BOYCOTTERS OF VIAGRA
(SO FAR AS I KNOW)

COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
GUEST-HOSTED ALL THIS WEEK
(PERHAPS LONGER?? PLEEEAAAASE??)
BY DR. RACHEL MADDOW
MONDAY-FRIDAY ON MSNBC
CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS

LISTEN TO
DR. RACHEL MADDOW ON AIR AMERICA RADIO AND AFFILIATES
3-6PM PST
(WHEN DR. MADDOW IS NOT BEING THE BEST HOST OF COUNTDOWN EVER)

P.S. CHRIS HAYES OF THE NATION ROCKS TOO