MSNBC

TVNewser hears MSNBC's Morning Joe is getting a new green room which includes custom made wallpaper with the Starbucks logo. In June, MSNBC entered into an agreement with Starbucks which made the coffee maker the official sponsor of the show. We hear construction will continue this weekend and the new space will be unveiled on Monday's show.

On Friday's "Ed Show', with David Shuster filling in, former GOP congressman Tom Tancredo took offense to something said by Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas as the two discussed healthcare reform. It ended with Tancredo taking off his mic, and leaving the set.

"The congressman is always welcome on the show," said Shuster. "We always appreciate hearing his point of view, it's a feisty one and that's what we like around here."

MSNBC was among a handful of news outlets that prematurely called the New York City mayor's race for Michael Bloomberg last night. At 9:39pmET, Rachel Maddow, hosting on MSNBC said, "NBC News can project Michael Bloomberg was re-elected mayor of New York City. He's the projected winner having spent in excess of $100 million to win himself a third term over Bill Thompson. 7% precincts reporting, but we can project Michael Bloomberg winning."

Insiders tell TVNewser, Maddow got the information from NBC News' internal alert system, but that NBC News did not call the race. Rather, the information came from Edison Media Research (EMR), which conducted exit polling for the news media.

Twenty minutes after that first call, Maddow explained, "NBC News, relying on a local election monitoring service called EMR to call tonight's race -- that call has been retracted."

About an hour later, at 11:02pmET, Maddow made the call, again for Bloomberg, but this time based on an NBC News projection. Bloomberg won the race 51% to Thompson's 46% -- a difference of less than 51,000 votes in a city of 8.3 million.

> Update: According to several NBC News and MSNBC sources, the news was communicated to Maddow via the internal NBC News political unit which called the race for Bloomberg, based on the EMR data. So, while Maddow said it on the air, the erroneous early call, although not an official NBC News call came from the network's political unit.

Soon to be former NBC News political analyst/GOP strategist Mike Murphy told his Twitter followers how he really felt about MSNBC's election coverage last night:

While Murphy still appears on the networks, specifically on "Meet the Press and "Morning Joe," he's no longer a paid NBC analyst. Meanwhile, an MSNBC executive tells TVNewser the network has taken note of Murphy's Tweet.

• Related: Politico: For election insight, Twitter beats cable

> Update: Just to be clear - Mike Murphy is not an NBC News analyst. When you're described as an analyst for a network, that means you get paid by that network. So, while the headline reads "NBC News Analyst Trashes MSNBC Coverage," Murphy is not, let me repeat, not an NBC News analyst. He's just a guy who shows up on the air now and again. Although, probably a lot less from here on out.

Luke Russert during the 2008 election (August '08) and the day after the 2009 election (Today). Is it us, or does he look like one of those vintage Fisher-Price little people?

BEFORE	NOW

"The Rachel Maddow Show" EP Bill Wolff (Mr. Alison Stewart) divines the guests for tonight's show:

Author, former Medtronic CEO, Harvard Business School professor, and blogger Bill George apologized for an article published on his site yesterday titled "Overzealous Pundits Like Keith Olbermann Are Killing All Chances Of Reform." George now says he didn't even write it:

Yesterday an unapproved blog written by a member of the social media team I hired appeared on my blog site without my review or approval. Subsequently, it was removed from my site as it does not reflect my views.

Regrettably, it criticized cable commentators and unfairly singled out Keith Olberman and Bill O'Reilly. It is not my intention to critique members of the media or to comment on the disagreements between them.

Awkward...

The article he intended to publish is here.

Update: Bill George now apologizes and says he did not write the article excerpted below.

Bill George, author, former Medtronic CEO, Harvard Business School professor, blogger, thinks Keith Olbermann is hurting America (Updated link).

Olbermann perpetuates the single-mindedness and inflexible partisanship that now roil the country, both on and off Capitol Hill.

George, who voted for Barack Obama, says he never watches Fox News.

Granted, his rivals at FOX News drum up discord just as effectively and dangerously as Mr. Olberman. But the President has called time and time again for our country's leaders to rise above pettiness and assume the mantle of dispassionate, consensus-centric leadership.

Olbermann cheapens discourse. He touts easy solutions. He speaks in truculent soundbites. His invective is hurting America!

(h/t ICN)

The AP's David Bauder reports that MSNBC is so pleased with the numbers that Keith Olbermann's 10pmET repeat is pulling, that the network is continuing to put on hold a search for new talent to fill the time slot. Still, MSNBC president Phil Griffin says he's looking, "but nothing (new) has even come close to going in there at 10," says Griffin.

We reported yesterday that the "Countdown" repeat bested "Anderson Cooper 360" in the A25-54 demo in October for the first time. Olbermann believes CNN's approach is at fault:

"CNN seems to still think it is the primary source for its viewers, that they know nothing until they tune in," Olbermann told The Associated Press. "This is, ever increasingly, nonsensical. People now watch news on TV for elucidation and context and analysis. They have brought the facts with them, the way we used to bring TV dinners."

We asked Cenk Uygur of the "Young Turks" for his reaction. He won our TVNewser poll back in February, which asked who should get the 10pm slot. He tells TVNewser, "Business as usual is more than enough to beat CNN these days, but I would strive for more." Uygur says he has "all the respect in the world for MSNBC" and is "delighted and amused" at the success of Olbermann's repeat against Cooper, but adds, "They are still losing to Greta Van Susteren at 10PM, which should be an unacceptable state of affairs."

Uygur gave us these numbers comparing his online show to some cable shows and told us, "CNN is not the right goal, Fox News is."

The Village Voice named MSNBC's Willie Geist "Best TV Sidekick Who Deserves His Own Show (At a Reasonable Hour)" in the 2009 Best of NYC awards. Right now, Geist, whom the Voice calls a "contempo Dick Cavett," co-hosts "Morning Joe" and hosts "Way Too Early."

But we most enjoy witty and amiable co-host Willie Geist, the TV sidekick who most deserves his own show. Wait -- he does have his own show. But it's on at 5:30 a.m., for God's sake, and we're late-rising media types, not dairy farmers. We love Willie for his wry and clever sense of humor, for his encyclopedic grasp of pop-culture history, and for something you rarely see on TV anymore -- his understatedness. In an age of blowhards and noise, it's a pleasure to be in the company of someone this amusing and relaxed.

According to Matea Gold at the L.A. Times this week, "ABC recently made overtures to Willie Geist...to join the network for a possible future role on "GMA."