Things I Hate About TV: When Keith Olbermann is on vacation

Keith Olbermann brings a certain... attitude... to his nightly newscast on MSNBC. He's bitingly sarcastic, self-deprecating and good-natured. The scripts for the newscast are heavily written by Olbermann himself, but his producers and writers obviously have his tone down and write the way he speaks. So, when Keith is on vacation and someone else fills in, the show really, really sucks. It used to be that Alex Witt filled in for Keith, but she didn't seem to know what she was reading. She read everything straight. Witt was apparently booted off in favor of Alison Stewart, who clearly understands Keith's wit and wisdom, but she still can't deliver his scripts. She tries too hard to be like Keith, but she obviously does not speak the way scripts are written. Bottom line: when Keith is on vacation, I don't watch.

As far as I can see it, there are three options: 1) Keith works 52 weeks a year, 2) MSNBC replaces Countdown with something else when he's on vacation, 3) Keith clones!