Rachel Maddow's Guest Shot Highest Rated

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This past Friday, Rachel Maddow guest hosted MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann for the second time, and garnered the highest ratings of any cable news show (in the coveted demographic sweet-spot) for the entire day. She was up against a guest host on the FOX "News" flagship, The O'Reilly Factor, but it's still a fairly major coup.

I've followed Rachel on her various Air America Radio programs, from Unfiltered to her morning and then her evening shows. She's grown as a host, but was never less than stellar with her intellect and humor. And her increased presence on "the TV machine" as she calls it seems to be working very well for her. For months, rumors have swirled that she may soon get her own MSNBC program. I'd like to offer my own humble suggestions.

Rachel is stifled by the formats of some of the programs she has guested on. On her radio show, Rachel delights in poking a stick into the underbelly of politics. A regular feature is "burying the lede," where she digs under the mainstream media's focus, to get to the real meat of the matter. If she gets her own show, she needs to be unfettered by any pretense of "fair and balanced." Though I feel she is usually both, I still think she'd be best served by a straight-ahead liberal show.

Call it From the Left with Rachel Maddow. Make it a televised version of her radio show. Bring back Kent Jones. Maybe even bring in Lizz Winstead. But don't tie her down with the day's mainstream media focus on issues that don't matter. Shoot, FOX has The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity's America (and one could argue, their entire lineup), shows that are unapologetically right-wing. If she's saddled with the day's talking points, she'll explode bigger and brighter than O'Reilly did in the Inside Edition clip.

Source: TV Newser