Olbermann's 'Countdown,' as if it never left

Olbermann. You might have missed him, but rest assured, nobodymissed him on television as much as he missed himself being ontelevision. The steely stare, the Frankenstein shoulders, the grapenecktie, the imperious certitude, the central vent unit strenuouslyset to blow at medium blast, the zings ricocheting back and forth inthe echo chamber, which is now a much smaller echo chamber.

"As I was saying . . . ," the 52-year-old liberal commentatorstarted off, in jest, as his barely rejiggered nightly "CountdownWith Keith Olbermann" show returned Monday night on the seldom-seenCurrent TV network. Here, Olbermann gets to call all the shots -what gets covered, what gets said, who gets attacked. He will haveto answer to no voice other than his own.

Olbermann picked up right where he left off when he and MSNBCabruptly parted ways five months ago. (It's only been five months?)Michael Moore was his first guest, in the role of frequentcontributor, ostensibly there to discuss the Obama administration'swrangling of the legalities surrounding the U.S. involvement in theNATO campaign in Libya.

But really, Moore could have been there to talk about anything,so long as it was underlined with a salute to Olbermann, Capt.Courageous, the beacon of truth and all that.

"I'm honored to be your first guest on your first show," Mooresaid, later making reference to Olbermann's recently deceasedparents, who the filmmaker said might well be watching their sonfrom there hereafter, beaming with pride. (Do they even get Currentthere?)

"Countdown" has transported itself from MSNBC to Current withoutmajor incident or much innovation. The network, partly conceived andstill headed by former vice president Al Gore, has been clear thatit wants Keith to be Keith, only more so. In that case, to borrow anabused phrase that has been under Olbermann's skin since the W.years: "Mission accomplished." In his "special comment" (a"Countdown" trademark), Olbermann picked up the torch of freedom andjustice and waved it around, quoting Harriet Beecher Stowe.

But something seemed sleepy about the show; maybe part of thathas to do with the fact that it's not 2007 anymore. Other storiesdealt with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (and his wife, andconservative donors to their pet causes) and video from theRepublican operatives gathering in New Orleans, which included aPresident Obama impersonator making jokes about Black History Month.

Does Olbermann mean for all his guests to be male (John Dean;Politico reporter Kenneth Vogel; Moore; Daily Kos founder MarkosMoulitsas)? It's a lot of "thank you, sir" and "thanks for beinghere for the first pitch" (baseball talk) from Olbermann, whosefavorite word is "sir" and whose only displays of human animationtend to involve sports when they don't involve politics.

The onscreen graphics are cleaner, stripped of the news crawlsand hyperactivity that litter the edges of a cable news channel,while Olbermann and company act as if they have all the time in theworld to yap. It's somewhere between a tape of Tom Snyder and theold "Countdown"; a certain sharpness had not conveyed in Monday'sepisode. Nearly 15 minutes in, as the exchange with Moore dragged oninto fawning (Olbermann to Moore: "You have my gratitude, sir,"etc.), I began to worry that the Current/Olbermann contract andbusiness plan had failed to include commercials.

Then they came: ads for cellphones, cars, prescription inhalers.Recall that this was (and is) the MSNBC way, too: Item No. 1 on the"Countdown" is always long and heavy, and then the commercial breakscome relentlessly for the remaining 45 minutes.

The filler is the same, too: The segment formerly known as"Oddball" has been renamed "Time Marches On" and still consists ofsnippets of Internet memes, viral videos and random weird-newssnippets. Olbermann has become that guy in your office who sends toomany links; he could take a lesson in this sort of humor fromTosh.0.

It's a bit disappointing to see "Worst Persons" ("in the World?""of the Day?") return, replete with Bach's Toccata and Fugue in DMinor and Olbermann's self-satisfied sneer, since Olbermann himselfmade some public gestures awhile back - somewhere between JonStewart's Rally to Restore Sanity and the shooting of GabrielleGiffords in Tucson - that he would tone down the segment, if noteliminate it.

It's back. He's back. It's all sorts of back. The Worst Personswere, in ascending order, Sarah Palin (for trademarking her name);Fox News, for micro-dicing the part of Stewart's Sunday interviewwith Chris Wallace, in which Stewart criticized Fox News executiveBill Sammon by name.

And the Worst? The absolute Worst Person in the World for June20? It was that woman caught on video yelling at a commuter trainconductor in New York. You know, she was all over the Web days ago(eons in Twitter time), shouting about how well-educated she is? Oldnews but still delightful to Olbermann.

The show ended with Moulitsas and Olbermann talking about whyMoulitsas believes he had been banned from appearing on Olbermann'sshow at MSNBC (and other shows on the channel), having something todo with a tiff with Joe Scarborough. If this kind of talk gets yougoing, then boy, does Keith Olbermann have a show for you. He'llkeep talking, and you'll keep flipping. Keep flipping. You'll findit.

Countdown With Keith Olbermann (one hour) airsweeknights at 8 p.m. on Current.