# Rachel Maddow's show starts tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2008, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586 "2008-09-08T10:59:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/1 "2008-09-08T10:59:27Z")
For those of you who are Rachel Maddow fans — (I, for one, am her total bitch) — her new show on MSNBC starts tonight at 9:00 PM Eastern, following Keith Olbermann. I don’t know what the format will be or anything, but just the fact that she will be hosting it gives it tons of cred, in my view. I expect it to be both informative and entertaining. She has a great wit, and a keen skill for getting to the heart of a story. I’m looking forward to it. My DVR is set. MSNBC from 8:00 to 10:00 will now be just what the doctor ordered to offset Fox News with O’Reilly and Hannity. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/2 "2008-09-08T12:44:13Z")
Thanks for the reminder. It’s historic, in that she will be (as far as I know) the first openly gay network news anchor. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/3 "2008-09-08T13:00:35Z")
And as if that weren’t exciting enough, Obama is on Countdown tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/4 "2008-09-13T04:46:33Z")
I am surprised this didn’t get more replies. Her first week of shows have now aired. I have never heard her Air America show. I only know her from MSNBC. I watched her new show and I loved it. As a guest/commentator she only offered a mere glimpse of what she is capable. It seems Pat Buchanan will be a regular guest/segment. Awesome. > [@Liberal](#): > > For those of you who are Rachel Maddow fans — (I, for one, am her total bitch) — > . I have read that her fans say that they are gay for her, regardless of actual gender/orientation. I am a straight male and I am gay for Rachel Maddow. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/5 "2008-09-13T09:03:30Z")
My only real criticism of the week is the show in which she allowed Chris Matthews basically to take over with his infamous loud mouth. Now, I like Chris (most of the time), and I think he does well on his own show about not letting people bullshit or evade questions. However, this was not his show. And though she tried a bit sheepishly to shut him up when he was blabbering on and on about McCain’s “service”, I wish she’d been a lot more forceful. Of course, I realize she has to balance things. She does work with these people in the same studio and all that, and being too mean might cause inter-office problems. But she should have at least said something like, “When I come on your show, you can run it. I run this one.” ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/6 "2008-09-13T09:50:01Z")
I love her to pieces. I love what she represents for all the people like her (and the many demographics that comment represents), and I love what she represents for herself. And I love to pieces how she doesn’t back down when she has Pat Buchanan on. She knows more than he does, and she’s smarter than he is, and they both know it. ::waves to **Lib** :: ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/7 "2008-09-13T10:02:44Z")
Pun! 🙂 Greetings! ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/8 "2008-09-13T12:11:56Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Pun! 🙂 Greetings! Heya. Stuff any better’n it was last we chatted? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/9 "2008-09-13T12:12:45Z")
Rachel has Pat on regularly?!? Damn! I’ll have to make an effort to watch it now. Now, who remembers whose MSNBC show Rachel was regularly on before she became Keith’s galpal? (Hint- it’s no longer on but not due to her.) ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/10 "2008-09-13T12:24:44Z")
would that be tucker (tuckster) carlson? i do think ms maddow is very good at what she does. her show had a very nice preimere week. she is one of the few people that can handle mr buchanan. i don’t understand why they cancelled abrams, they could have put him on at 7 or 10 instead of rerunning hardball or countdown. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/11 "2008-09-13T12:30:02Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > i don’t understand why they cancelled abrams, they could have put him on at 7 or 10 instead of rerunning hardball or countdown. Maybe they made more selling ads for a countdown rerun than a fresh Abrams. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/12 "2008-09-13T14:47:30Z")
I think they cancelled Abrams because they were doing too much junk. I remember one day when there were two major Supreme Court decisions, and instead, Abrams was covering infotainment shite. I emailed them and let 'em have it for that. In fact I repeatedly threatened them with the loss of my viewership, which they eventually did in fact lose. He had the potential to have a terrific show, and instead he was too busy following that missing two year old and Britney Spears to bother. Maddow, who is just sunshine on a stick, may occasionally go off onto the weird, but I don’t think we’ll see her veering into tacky-land any time soon. She’s a terrific political analyst, a calm presence who seems to actually enjoy dealing with her “favorite fake uncle Pat,” and someone who, despite caring very much, still seems to be genuinely amused by the foibles of current politics. Maybe she’s faking it, but if so, she’s doing it very well. She’s a wonderful follow-up to Olbermann, whom I enjoy very much too. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/13 "2008-09-13T15:05:22Z")
> [@iampunha](#): > > Heya. Stuff any better’n it was last we chatted? My health, you mean? Not so much, I’m afraid. Some good spots here and there, though. Thanks for asking. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/14 "2008-09-13T15:10:09Z")
Did it seem like she had weird pale spots around her eyes? Like she wore a mask in a tanning booth (not that I think she did, that was just all I could think of) ---
**Author:** ![DoubleJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DoubleJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoubleJ)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/15 "2008-09-13T17:14:55Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Did it seem like she had weird pale spots around her eyes? Like she wore a mask in a tanning booth (not that I think she did, that was just all I could think of) You mean last night? I just assumed it’s because she was out of the studio (Ithaca, NY instead of NYC where the set is) and bluescreened. But yeah, before the tech conked out on her and they went to Ike coverage she looked like death warmed over. The one thing I noticed about Rachel when she was guest-anchoring _Countdown_ is that she slips into Keith Olbermann’s writing a lot more easily than some of the other people they bring in. The girl from MTV and the comedian both sound like they’re reading someone else’s lines, but she made the stuff on the teleprompter sound like it was hers. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/16 "2008-09-13T17:20:29Z")
[QUOTE=DoubleJ] The one thing I noticed about Rachel when she was guest-anchoring **Countdown** is that she slips into Keith Olbermann’s writing a lot more easily than some of the other people they bring in. The girl from MTV and the comedian both sound like they’re reading someone else’s lines, but she made the stuff on the teleprompter sound like it was hers. [/QUOTE] Except for “Bushed!” and “Worst Persons in the World!” which remain the sole province of Keith Olbermann. She couldn’t make 'em sound like Olbermann, and to do her credit, she didn’t try. But it just wasn’t quite right. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/17 "2008-09-13T23:25:51Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > Except for “Bushed!” and “Worst Persons in the World!” which remain the sole province of Keith Olbermann. She couldn’t make 'em sound like Olbermann, and to do her credit, she didn’t try. But it just wasn’t quite right. I suspect she re-wrote some of the material, just as Olbermann does. She’s been filling 15 hours of radio time a week, and has been doing radio for years. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/18 "2008-09-14T07:48:49Z")
I believe that she is a Rhodes Scholar. She’s really impressive. By the way, I believe that Abrams _is_ the boss. He stepped up to that job a year or two ago. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/19 "2008-09-14T14:54:34Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I suspect she re-wrote some of the material, just as Olbermann does. She’s been filling 15 hours of radio time a week, and has been doing radio for years. I was just referring to the actual words “Bushed!” and “Worst Persons in the World!” themselves. Olbermann has a particular way of saying them that requires a deep voice no woman can reproduce. ETA: I’m not sure any human being (other than a mimic) could reproduce them quite the way Olbermann does. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586/20 "2008-09-14T21:05:41Z")
> [@DoubleJ](#): > > The girl from MTV and the comedian both sound like they’re reading someone else’s lines, but she made the stuff on the teleprompter sound like it was hers. “The girl from MTV” is Alison Stewart, who I love. She’s smart, cute and funny. What’s not to like? I’m not sure who the comedian you’re referring to is. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rachel-maddows-show-starts-tonight/462586.md?page=2)