Keith Olbermann

If Keith Olbermann were not a very real, very angry American news anchor, commentator, and sportscaster, then he might have been a character dreamed up by brilliant screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky in the movie "Network" (1976), his searing satire of television news. In that movie, Peter Finch's anchorman Howard Beale goes insane, chucks his professional impartiality, and starts ranting and raving on the air against the depressing state of the world. As the host of the nightly newscast "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" (MSNBC, 2003-11), Olbermann's critics - and even some of his fans - would argue that Olbermann essentially did the same thing, night after night. A man who admittedly harbored many personal demons through the years, eventually transformed a show that began as a straight newscast into a pulpit for its star to attack the policies of the Bush Administration and the right-wing diatribes of his heated on-air rival, Bill O'Reilly. In the process, Olbermann became a lightning rod for controversy and perhaps the loudest liberal voice on America's airwaves, until his sudden departure from MSNBC in early 2011 left uncertain the future of both the vocal provocateur and his former network.