Former MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann has announced the name of his new show on Al Gore’s Current TV channel, and somewhat surprisingly, it’s exactly the same as the name of his old show – Countdown With Keith Olbermann will from now on be known as Countdown With Keith Olbermann. It premieres, or rather re-premieres, June 20.
Former MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann has announced the name of his new show on Al Gore’s Current TV channel, and somewhat surprisingly, it’s exactly the same as the name of his old show – Countdown With Keith Olbermann will from now on be known as Countdown With Keith Olbermann. It premieres, or rather re-premieres, June 20.
This is not what you expect to happen; normally the host comes up with a name that is close to his show on the old network, but not identical, since the former network won’t let him use the trademarked name. (This also applies to running bits; even Letterman’s Top 10 List was slightly re-named for CBS.) I can’t find ownership information on Countdown so I don’t know if MSNBC didn’t own the show, or they just didn’t try to stop him from using the title.
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In other news about network-hopping pundits, TV Guide amps up the rumours about Katie Couric possibly jumping ship from CBS to ABC. (Her departure from the CBS Evening News is already official; the only question is what she does next.) It’s another reminder that with Oprah about to leave, everybody’s falling all over themselves to find the next big daytime host that the affiliated stations need to survive.