Rachel Maddow finds the right formula on MSNBC

The liberal radio host has earned surprising ratings on her cable show.
By Matea Gold
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 29, 2008

NEW YORK -- Rachel Maddow looked as if she were about to leap into the air with excitement. The newly minted MSNBC host was crouched on a swiveling office chair, her feet propped underneath her, gleefully contemplating the day's sudden turn of events.

Bill Wolff, her executive producer, had just walked into her office with the latest news: Sen. John McCain was suspending his campaign to rush to Washington and work on the Wall Street bailout.

"No more campaign events for the whole week, he's just going to be on Capitol Hill?" Maddow asked incredulously.

It was the kind of unexpected development that delights Maddow, whose enthusiasm for all things political has helped make her a breakout star on MSNBC. Just nine months after joining the cable news network as a political analyst, the 35-year-old outspoken liberal has her own hourlong program, which airs after “Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” the network's top-rated show.

An animated dissection of political events and offbeat news, punctuated by the host's sardonic humor, “The Rachel Maddow Show” has debuted with a strength that surprised even MSNBC executives. An average of 1.64 million viewers tuned in since the show launched on Sept. 8, more than double the number who watched the same hour in the first eight months of the year.

In her second week on the air, Maddow beat CNN's "Larry King Live," a cable news institution -- quite a feat for a self-described television novice and former AIDS activist who doesn't even own a TV.

(Continued here.)