• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 29, 2011

In TV land these days, it's not whether or not to bite the hand that feeds you -- it's the size of the bite.

Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC's "The Last Word" took some 13-plus minutes to dig into not just Donald Trump's theoretical run for the presidency, but into NBC executives letting the glaring media attention on Trump get to this level.

He is critical of the network that probably knows whether The Donald will make good on his big promise.

O'Donnell is not Keith Olbermann when it comes to witty TV writing. But his attack on network executives is somewhat more severe than Olbermann's sometimes criticism of MSNBC and NBC News executives. Olbermann took NBC to task for its inconsistent policy when it comes to donations of political candidates by NBC on-air personnel.

O'Donnell's concerns allude to Trump's seeming racisms and outlandish behavior -- that NBC executives should own up to whether this is just a publicity stunt or something more.

Good journalism and commentary always keeps its church and state dimension intact-- not just with commerce but with any senior management decisions. 

Different from Olbermann -- who had the MSNBC time slot currently before O'Donnell -- O'Donnell has attacked NBC Entertainment executives, not NBC News executives.

This isn't the first time on-air talent has taken shots at their management bosses.

David Letterman has done this for years -- at the expense of both NBC and CBS executives. Letterman offers up more jokes -- mixing in more entertainment value. All that gives him a bit more leeway.

No matter what, O'Donnell will never compete with the high water mark set by Charlie Sheen's rants against his bosses -- producer Chuck Lorre, CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. (To some that's what got Sheen fired). Then again, Sheen doesn't have his own CBS news cable channel program to vent.

Now, we can only hope an MSNBC promo goes to another level: "Tonight on MSNBC's 'The Last Word'! Lawrence O'Donnell has a few choice words about NBC."