• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, April 2, 2012

Every Mega Millions loser should have some of Keith Olbermann's luck. Drive colleagues and bosses crazy in the workplace? No matter. Get another job with a lottery-like salary.

Trouble will only come Olbermann’s way when the marketplace no longer feeds his massive narcissism. When networks say: you might be darn talented, but not worth the trouble -- so enjoy tweeting about baseball and trying to make money off that. 

Current TV owners Al Gore and Joel Hyatt effectively ceded the fate of their network to him along with a reported $10 million salary, but that wasn’t enough to salve the petulant Olbermann. He had all sorts of complaints and skipped work at key junctures.

Truth is, there was probably nothing Gore and Hyatt could have done. When Olbermann’s ratings were scant and he’d lost relevance in the national debate, his ego probably couldn’t handle it, so he just acted childish to the point Current had little choice, but to can him last week.  

Current now likely will have to go through the expensive – both financially and in public perception – process of reorienting itself again. With the hiring of Olbermann, it misguidedly cast its net as a liberal political-talk outpost.

Eliot Spitzer has replaced Olbermann. But, viewers didn't much warm to him on CNN, so he's not likely to be able to carry Current's prime time.

Also interesting to watch is whether Olbermann’s ego will be fed again by networks fawning over him and another nice pay check.

So, as executives consider a short-term ratings boost versus inevitable frustration, it’s time for this month’s “Leaders & Bleeders”:

LEADERS:

1) "BIG BANG THEORY" – TBS adding the comedy could turn out to be the most fortuitous syndication acquisition ever. Turner executives thought it would do well – they paid handsomely for it – but hardly strong enough to fuel the entire network. “Big Bang” helped push TBS into first place among cable nets in the first quarter. It’s also given “Conan” a strong lead-in and will help launch two original comedies this summer. By the way, it continues to be a huge success for CBS on Thursdays.

2) SIMULTANEOUS VIEWING OPPORTUNITIES – Viewers are increasingly watching the big screen with a tablet or smartphone in hand and networks aren’t content to just let Facebook and Twitter benefit. They’re experimenting with various opportunities to offer complementary content on a second screen in real time. If it gains traction, there’s significant runway for ad dollars (AT&T is backing a new “Conan” app). NBCUniversal will attempt to get a sense of viewer behavior with research during its Olympics coverage this summer.

3) CHEVROLET – Clients have struggled for years when a review comes down to two outstanding agencies and the decision is grueling. So, why not pick both? Seems like a solution that should have been used decades ago. Perhaps offering a template, Chevy awarded its global creative account to a combo of Goodby, Silverstein and McCann (each from a different holding company), where the agencies will form Commonwealth. Chevy had used 70 agencies worldwide and says the consolidations -- which include media agency Carat -- will yield $2 billion in savings over the next five years. Some of that will go to marketing investments, some will go right to the bottom line.

4) POP WARNER FOOTBALL – The way the TV sports landscape is evolving, how long will it be until the local Pop Warner league gets a huge deal? Networks desperately need live sports and supply is limited, putting leagues and other rights holders in a trophy position. The NBC Sports Network probably needs to acquire one more signature property to fulfill its ambitions. And now, Rupert Murdoch is reportedly planning a national sports channel. And of course, individual teams have never been in a better position. The Los Angeles Dodgers sold for $2 billion on expectations a new TV deal would make that amount seem understandable.

5) HBO – New comedy “Girls,” about the trials and tribulations of four female twenty-somethings forging lives in New York, has been a buzz machine. It helped that it was introduced at the South by Southwest festival – a media obsession -- in advance of its April 15 launch. But HBO's marketing team shouldn't be working too many late nights with the praise the series is getting. Recent Hollywood Reporter headline: “’Girls’ Is Brilliant Gem From HBO.” New York magazine’s Emily Nussbaum: “from the moment I saw the pilot … I was a goner, a convert ... I laughed out loud ... As a person who has followed, for more than 20 years, recurrent, maddening ­debates about the lives of young women, the series felt to me like a gift.”

BLEEDERS:

Keith Olbermann is ineligible because he is not rooted in reality (see above). So is OWN. Have you heard? Oprah Winfrey’s network isn’t doing all that great.

1) CROSS-PLATFORM MEASUREMENT – Let’s agree that TV Everywhere will never reach its full potential until the industry coalesces around a way to measure multi-screen consumption. That way network executives can mercifully stop complaining in their virtual stump speeches. (By the way, there is at least a rudimentary solution from Nielsen that tracks TV/online viewing. And AMC, for one, has been using it.) Nonetheless, with the the iPad boom, there is an urgent need to find a measurement standard. The industry’s future depends on it. Yet, that seems so far away. R&D is underway all over the place, which is a good thing. But, that could also be a problem with too many cooks in the kitchen for it to make sense to even set the table.

2) NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS – The FCC is considering a proposal to require local stations to make details on political ad buys available online. Stations are currently required to make the information public, but only accessible to people who visit a station. The NAB and its members oppose posting the data, arguing the time and manpower to put it on the Web would be costly. That’s a laughable front. Stations simply want to keep political ad prices veiled in order not to hurt negotiating leverage with car dealers and furniture stores and other advertisers. The NAB may have a valid point in a broader argument about whether the information should be made public at all, but not any heft in this debate. The FCC should show some muscle and realize publicly available should mean easily accessible.

3) BEAR GRYLLS – Is the British star of Discovery’s “Man Vs. Wild” the Keith Olbermann of reality TV? According to the Hollywood Reporter, Discovery terminated its relationship with him after Grylls apparently would not honor contracts on two projects. “Man Vs. Wild” launched in 2006 and Grylls apparently believes he’s enough of a sensation without it to do just fine. He does have a memoir that's a top seller in multiple countries and his ads for Degree continue to run during the Final Four on CBS.

4) BEST BUY – TV sales were already projected to decline in 2012. But, they may drop further as Best Buy, which seemed ripe to capitalize on the downfall of Circuit City, struggles. Last week, it said it would close 50 of its large emporiums and cut costs by $800 million. Where will prospective smart TV and 3D TV buyers check out the stuff before buying on Amazon? And does that mean Best Buy will cut ad spending and be off the Super Bowl next year?

5) OLYMPICS ON NBCU – The U.S. men’s soccer team failing to qualify for the London Games this summer is a bummer. No, it was not the disaster that a failure by the popular women’s team would have been, but it still gives NBCU one less chance for an inspiring American story. Now, NBCU needs to hope the big draws in swimming and track make it through their coming Olympic trials with no surprises.