Now that Current TV has built its primetime lineup around not one but two former MSNBC show hosts -- Cenk Uygur and Keith Olbermann -- one might think that founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt are gearing up to challenge Phil Griffin and his 30 Rock cable network.
After all, Uygur, who per an announcement Tuesday will bring his “Young Turks” show to Current’s 7 p.m. slot, left MSNBC in July, leading to a somehwat public airing of grievances.
Yet neither Hyatt nor Uygur -- nor President David Bohrman for that matter -- casts Current as a rival to the cable news networks.
They continue to promote a rebranded channel -- one with a minute but growing constituency -- as a singularly “progressive” network with a unique focus on analysis and commentary.
Also Read: Cenk Uygur Joining Current TV
Such a characterization is debatable, since many of Current’s key hires -- including Wednesday’s addition of CNN alum Jason Odell -- come from those same cable news backgrounds.
Yet whether you buy the sell, Uygur’s arrival does signal once again that Current is not afraid to invest in brash, outspoken personalities with loyal followings. Bohrman, who oversees programming, is banking on those firebrands to give the network a boost next year for a big election push.
TheWrap talked with Hyatt, Bohrman and Uygur about the new Uygur-Olbermann team, the channel’s plans for 2012 and CNN’s “fake neutrality.”
Let’s start with the news. Why did you pursue Cenk?
HYATT: For Al and me, Cenk’s success online fits so well into the original DNA of Current. We set out to build a multi-platform media company and our goal has always been to find ways in which the platform works together so they are additive and not duplicative.
You have positioned him to lead into Olbermann. How do you think the two hosts work together?
HYATT: Cenk is going to draw a new audience in just the same way Keith Olbermann drew a new audience to Current. We’re quite confident when he hands that new audience over to Current for the first time that Keith will keep that audience.
UYGUR: From my perspective, Keith was the first guy to do a progressive show on TV in the last 10 years or show. Ever since Phil Donahue got fired. We were the first to do a progressive show online.
So do you watch “Countdown?”
UYGUR: Yeah.
And have you integrated anything from it into your show?
UYGUR: Yeah, ‘go get ‘em.’ That’s the attitude. We’ve been doing this a long time so we’ve got our own segment. I think Keith is an awesome role model, but there’s nothing I could point to.
So how will this show differ from the “Young Turks” you air now?
UYGUR: We’ll bring on more guests so it’s a meeting place and home place for progressives.
