It seems the never-ending feud between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly has become a kangaroo boxing match. The worst thing you can do is get in the middle of it.

That's exactly what the parent owners of Fox News and MSNBC tried to do when they arranged a "cease-fire" between them and their top-tier shows' "lieutenants."

The cease-fire, however, didn't last long. It's another case of the ol' Rufus T. Firefly conundrum for peace. Either side might be willing to do whatever it takes to end this war, but they've already paid two months' rent on the battlefield.

The New York Times' Brian Stetler reported on a secret network meeting between Fox chief Rupert Murdoch and MSNBC head honcho and General Electric executive vice president Jeffrey Immelt. PBS interviewer Charlie Rose approached Immelt and Murdoch at a summit executive meeting held by Microsoft in May about the ongoing war between the two big network heads ... or networks' two bigggest heads, depending on your point of view.

Both of the executives expressed "dismay" at the level the feud had reached since O'Reilly created even more vicious attacks against NBC's parent owner on their business deals with Iran. This led NBC chairman Jeff Zucker and News Corp executive vice president Gary Ginsberg to reach an unwritten cease-fire agreement that lasted slightly longer than the entire series run of Viva Laughlin.

O'Reilly continued his spray-gun assault on G.E. Meanwhile, Olbermann not only denied being ordered to lay off his rival, but he also delivered some strong kidney punches to O'Reilly's torso for his ongoing coverage of abortion doctor George Tiller, whom O'Reilly cleverly nicknamed "Tiller the Baby Killer," even after he had been gunned down in his own church. Olbermann even announced he would retire his goofy impression of the blotchy-faced one in an effort to focus the debate on getting "this blindly irresponsible man and his ilk off the air."

And when the NY Times story made ink earlier this month, Olbermann devoted his entire "Worst Persons in the World" segment to Stetler's story. He even brought the ol' "Bill-o" impression out of retirement, despite his June 1st vow to "retire" the "Ted Baxter" impression with the thin excuse that he can go back on his promises because "This is not the U.S. Constitution. It's a half-baked television newscast and I make all the rules." He's right. Technically, Olbermann didn't declare "double stamped it, no backsies" when he said it.



Still, despite the disappointing outcome, there is hope. If we can get the cable TV clusterf#*$ to stop turning the issues into personal jabs and petty ego bombings for barely a month, just imagine what else we can do for this crazy world.

[Video via Los Angeles Times]