How MSNBC Got It Right with Rachel Maddow

Is it too early to say I was wrong about Rachel Maddow?

Probably. But it's looking that way.

Maddow's new 9 p.m. show on MSNBC is growing at an astonishingly fast pace for a from-scratch cable program, beating Larry King on CNN in the adults 25-54 demographic more often than not. It's clear now that what's helped the show to catch on so fast (besides Maddow's wit and appeal) is exactly what I thought made it a risky proposition: Its ideological affinity with its lead-in, Countdown with Keith Olbermann. How else could Maddow be retaining 90 percent of the audience she inherits from Olbermann if not by echoing his views?

Yet I also underestimated the extent to which Maddow could be her own person, despite Olbermann's heavy-handed attempts to mark her as his protege. Her persona differs from his in all sorts of ways: less self-righteous, less self-dramatizing, more self-deprecating, geekier. It's easy to see her developing a distinct audience of her own that doesn't necessarily watch Olbermann. (And that's something MSNBC will need if Olbermann's eventual parting with the network turns out to be as ugly as some of his past exits.)

I still have my doubts about just how committed NBC Universal higher-ups are to MSNBC's Fox News-for-liberals positioning. We saw earlier this fall how sensitive the network suits are to criticisms, from within and without, that it has forfeited its objectivity and threatens the credibility of NBC News. A temporary dip in the ratings post-election might be all the opening the straight-news purists need to get the experiment called off. But until that happens, the folks who programmed The Rachel Maddow Show look smart and I look dumb.