Olbermann fills out ‘Countdown’ roster with MSNBC, CNN, MLB vets

Joe Pompeo
·Media Reporter

Keith Olbermann has already lined up a roster of prominent lefty contributors to appear as regular guests on his forthcoming Current TV show when it debuts next month.

Now, as opening night nears, the veteran sports and cable news anchor has announced the talents who will steer the show from behind the cameras, including several who worked with him at his previous network. The Olbermann show will be called "Countdown"--the name of his successful MSNBC franchise--and will debut in the same 8 p.m. time slot that Olbermann occupied when he was at MSNBC.

Heading up the new project's production team will be David Sarosi, who produced Olbermann's infamous "Worst Person in the World" segment. Sarosi has been named executive producer of the nightly news and commentary program.

"Nobody knows what 'Countdown' should be more than Dave Sarosi," said Olbermann in a statement. "He's intimately familiar with every other aspect of the production, and from his start with the show he has had both the vision, and the view of the playing field, critical for an Executive Producer. I'm delighted we'll again be able to work together."

Filling out the show's three senior producer slots are Leslie Bella-Henry, who held the same job at CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight"; fellow CNN, MSNBC and "Countdown" alum Bob Lilly; and Aaron Volkman, who joins from MLB Network. (Olbermann is a self-proclaimed "baseball nerd" who spends much of his free time tweeting from the stands during Mets and Yankees home games.) Christopher Ballante, who directed "Lou Dobbs Tonight," "Larry King Live" and "Anderson Cooper AC360" during his 27 year tenure at CNN, will now direct "Countdown" at Current.

Katy Ramirez Karp will reprise her role as "Countdown's" senior booking producer; veteran New York Times sports writer Joe Lapointe has been hired as segment producer; and Joel Schwartzberg, late of PBS, joins as digital executive producer.

With the premiere just weeks away, Olbermann faces the seemingly herculean task of building up an audience that can not only compete with his time-slot successor, Lawrence O'Donnell, but also go head-to-head with perennial cable ratings champ Bill O'Reilly, of Fox News. O'Reilly had been besting Olbermann by several million viewers prior to his MSNBC sign-off in January. Current TV, less than six years old, is seen in far fewer households than its competitors.