Head of MSNBC on Maddow’s success: ‘She comes in every day and studies for eight hours.’»

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/24/maddow-story-hard-work/

Head of MSNBC on Maddow’s success: ‘She comes in every day and studies for eight hours.’»

Newsweek reports that, since Rachel Maddow’s show debuted on Sept. 8, “she has more than doubled the ratings of her predecessor, Dan Abrams, with 1.9 million average total viewers, and she’s beaten CNN’s Larry King 27 out of 44 nights among viewers 25 to 54.” MSNBC executives say the key to her success is her hard work:

For Maddow, the job never really stops. She regularly works 16-hour days, only eating once she has finished. She often has just one large meal at 2 a.m., purchased from street vendors. {Executive producer Bill} Wolff says she “simply wants to be excellent.” Phil Griffin, the head of MSNBC, attributes her success to a certain “magic,” and to her application: “She comes in every day and studies for eight hours. I think one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they come in to television and cable news, which is a really intense, competitive area, is to not work hard. This is not for the soft of heart. It’s intense.”

[Auggie]

1. One more reason to love her

Thanks for all the hard work, Ms. Maddow.

[CoffeeCat]

2. Rachel's hard work really shows...

You can tell that she studies, big time.

Her questions to very prominent and knowledgeable guests are always very astute and based on
a very deep knowledge base.

Also, she understands the answers that her guests give her. She's able to follow up and challenge
or follow up with a deeper question--because she damn well knows her subject matter.

I applaud her hard work, and it shows--in spades.

Rachel exudes a quiet confidence, that is very appealing.

She's rock solid.

It's nice to see hard work pay off for such an intelligent person.

Also, she seems so kind and gracious...one more reason to like her and watch her show!

[DoctorMyEyes]

6. It really does

It's obvious that she does her homework. She's always so well informed and can switch topics seamlessly when a guest throws a curveball.

My husband and I each work 40 hours a week and sometimes we get so frustrated by so-called "pundits" who know less about what's going on that we do. It's their JOB - how can they be less informed than we are? We wonder how they can go on TV to "educate" viewers when they haven't taken the time to educate themselves. Donna Brazile is one of the worst for this, in my opinion. Sometimes she's right on, but more often than not it's as though she just rolled out of bed and landed in a chair in some TV studio. She lets conservative pundits get away with so many lies and strawman arguments.

I've never seen that happen to Rachel. And I love her demeanor on the air.

[onehandle]

3. On the Young Turks this morning, they said that MSNBC isn't sure about her status yet.

Some think that it may just be temporary.

Hey, MSNBC. For the first time in eight years, my wife and I are watching news. Two hours a night (Keith and Rachel).

I suspect that your advertisers want a crack at our attention. Don't screw it up.

[tridim]

4. Wonder how much show prep O'Rielly and Hannity do?

I'd guess about 10 minutes, per week.

[Le Taz Hot]

7. It depends

on how long it takes them to read the WH's daily talking points.

[Bozita]

5. I'm betting that DU is one of the places she visits while studying.