After a week off due to a bout with bronchitis, Countdown host Keith Olbermann returned to the air Monday night, to the center of the Current TV universe, and to the black backdrop that seems a fitting stand-in for the star’s reportedly tumultuous relationship with his employer. According to a new report by Newsweek, that relationship may be hanging by a thread, and with it, the future of Current’s plan to become the left’s answer to Fox News.

After several reports on the relationship between the network and anchor Keith Olbermann, Current TV head Al Gore made several statements today confirming that Olbermann is “fine” at the network and attacking MSNBC for being “all over the lot” politically, while Current was “consistent” in its progressivism.

The enigmatic feud between Countdown host Keith Olbermann and his network, Current TV, has ended, not with a bang, but with a Sunday announcement that the fiery liberal provocateur has agreed to anchor the network’s election coverage following Tuesday’s New Hampshire Primary, which isn’t quite the network’s preferred outcome, but close enough. Still unresolved is the reason for this dust-up, which Olbermann has implied had at least something to do with technical difficulties on his news hour.

During Current TV‘s Iowa caucus coverage Tuesday night, network founder and former Vice President Al Gore,tore into Rep. Ron Paul, telling The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur and host of the upcoming War Room former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm that Paul only has a chance in “fantasyland,” and calling Paul’s isolationist foreign policy positions “silly.”

While Gore’s diatribe won’t likely lose Current many viewers, it will likely earn him some hate mail from the Paul faithful.

Is history repeating itself? Mere days after reports surfaced of a rift between Countdown host Keith Olbermann and Current TV, the host unexpectedly tweeted ominous news on Tuesday: “So as not to mislead: I am informed Countdown will not be on tonight. I must defer on all questions to @JoelHyatt @AlGore and@Current.”

One of the issues Newt Gingrich is most vigorously defending on the campaign trail is his position on climate change, following the advertisement he filmed several years ago for Al Gore‘s nonprofit organization alongside Nancy Pelosi. Gingrich has said repeatedly over the course of this campaign that he considers the ad the biggest mistake of his political career, but his opponents are still using the video in their attack ads.

Friday’s year-end review episode of Current TV’s The Young Turks was a veritable feast for longtime Young Turks viewers and noobs alike, as host Cenk Uygur gave each of his fellow Young Turks a turn in the spotlight. Among the treats was a piece of video, courtesy of longtime co-host Ben Mankiewicz, in which Cenk commits an act of supreme liberal heresy, and tells future boss Al Gore to stop contesting the 2000 presidential election. He does this in characteristically low-key fashion, imploring Gore “For the love of God, stop!”

On the heels of its signing of The Young Turks‘ Cenk Uygur, Current TV has announced that former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm will star in a new show, called The War Room, that will follow ratings anchor Countdown with Keith Olbermann at 9pm. Former Vice President Al Gore, Chairman and co-founder of Current, is very high on Granholm, telling reporters this afternoon that, had it not been for her Canadian birth, she might have become the first female President of the United States.

On the heels of CurrentTV’s announcement that The Young Turks will join Keith Olbermann at the network as Countdown‘s lead-in, host Cenk Uygur and Current president Al Gore held a tele-press conference Tuesday afternoon. Gore talked about expanding Current’s lineup even more, and Uygur assured current Young Turks fans that he would be bringing the [...]

It was a New Rule that began with Bill Maher calling climate skeptics “climate assholes” and ending with him and Keith Olbermann yelling at the top of their lungs at a random white guy in a giant bubble. Before you ask if this was some kind of weird pseudo Seinfeld tribute, the white guy was supposed to represent the average Republican voter.

Former Vice President Al Gore went on The Colbert Report Tuesday to promote his global warming solutions program, The Climate Reality Project, but in the process, accidentally outed Stephen Colbert as “your character.” Colbert incredulously shot back, “My character? What the hell are you talking about, sir?” Earlier in the interview, Colbert brought up Rick [...]

In a couple days, Al Gore is initiating “24 Hours of Reality,” an event in which he will give a special presentation once an hour every hour for a full day about man-made climate change. These presentations hope to finally convince skeptics of the direct connection between human influence and global warming. All in all, it sounds like a great plan because, as we all know, the biggest issue the skeptics have is that they haven’t heard enough from Al Gore.

With Rick Perry surging in recent polls, Ron Paul has gone on the attack in a new campaign ad, slamming Perry’s support of Al Gore’s 1988 presidential run. In the ad, the Congressman digs up some retro, 80s-era polaroids showing a well-coiffed, youthful Paul shaking hands with President Ronald Reagan. He contrasts his heroic stand as “one of only four Congressmen to endorse Reagan’s campaign” against Perry’s support of Gore, a tax-and-spend liberal, who was “fighting to undo the Reagan revolution.”

Al Gore pushed the rhetorical envelope yesterday when he compared skeptics of climate change to racists during the Civil Rights Movement. Gore was sitting down for an interview with Alex Bogusky of the Climate Reality Project, and suggested that young people today whose parents do not believe in climate change are asking the same questions now that race-conscious young people in the 60s asked their parents.

Al Gore’s recent angry rant against critics of global warming caught many by surprise as the former Vice President employed some uncharacteristically harsh language. Jimmy Kimmel, however, thought capitalizing on Gore’s new persona would be a great way to promote a sequel to Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth and Kimmel released an expletive-filled trailer on his ABC show last night.

Former Vice President Al Gore‘s crusade to stop man-made climate change hit the road last week as Gore attended the Aspen Institute’s “Networks and Citizenship” media panel to discuss those who do not believe in his cause. In a rage-fueled rant against his detractors, Gore told the audience that much of the anti-global warming rhetoric came from a small group of people “washing back at you the same crap over and over and over again” who had made it unacceptable “to use the goddamn word ‘climate.’”

David Bohrman, a CNN senior vice president who resigned the network last week to take a “fantastic new opportunity” has been named president of Current TV. “Current’s mission has always been to shine a light on important issues, to spark debate and to speak truth to power. Earlier this year, we advanced this mission when we brought Keith Olbermann to Current and clearly stated our intent to be a truly independent, conflict-free, progressive voice in the news and political commentary arena,” said Current’s Al Gore. “David Bohrman passionately shares our vision. He has innovation in his DNA, and he has the unique qualifications and relationships to take Current to a whole new level in programming and production.”

Former Vice President Al Gore made headlines this week by calling for a revolution in America, much like the “Arab spring” in the Middle East that has mostly led to chaos. Whatever his intentions may have been, it earned him a skewering from the Red Eye panel Friday morning for “comparing oppressive regimes with democracy” and generally not knowing what such a revolution would entail in a civilization like ours.

Former Vice President Al Gore is back on the scene and is not pleased that the “truth” is under attack. In a new video promoting his event called “24 Hours of Reality,” Gore claims that “big oil and big coal are spending big money to spread doubt about climate change” and basically that now is the time to fight back.

On Sunday morning’s Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz and panel discussed the debut of Keith Olbermann‘s Countdown II: The Wrath of KO, and former Mediaite-er Glynnis MacNicol made a great observation about Olbermann’s ostensible olive branch to former colleague Rachel Maddow. She noted that Olbermann’s strategic demonization of MSNBC (noted here awhile back) doesn’t seem to be working, and that his decision not to overlap with Maddow’s show could represent a step away from that strategy.

President Obama took friendly fire Wednesday as former vice president and environmental advocate Al Gore said the president had “failed” in his handling of global climate change. Gore, writing in Rolling Stone, says Obama has not made the case for action by the American people. “President Obama has thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change. After successfully passing his green stimulus package, he did nothing to defend it when Congress decimated its funding.”

Chris Matthews was somewhat surprised with Al Gore’s harsh critique of President Obama in Rolling Stone regarding his inaction on climate policy. Instead Matthews argued that even if Obama has not been perfect, Gore should really be angry at the “corrupt media on the right” who refuse to believe in climate change, not because they are stupid, but because in Matthews’ opinion they are “evil.”

During an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Keith Olbermann casually amplified completely unsubstantiated rumors about House Speaker John Boehner, rumors which have thus far avoided repetition by most reputable news organizations. During a conference call Friday morning to discuss the unveiling of Countdown II: Electric Boogaloo, Olbermann talked about the benefits of freedom from a corporate behemoth, saying that when preparing for the new show, he had to “stop myself from stopping myself.”

Al Gore has accused Rupert Murdoch of an “abuse of power,” saying the News Corp. chief forced Gore’s Current TV off the air in Italy because the channel–preparing to launch a signature nightly show with ex-MSNBC host Keith Olbermann–did not fit with Murdoch’s “ideological agenda.”

Wow. Well, here’s a new theory as to why Glenn Beck is leaving Fox News. Here we thought Beck’s move further towards Internet news with The Blaze was just a canny admission of where the industry is heading. However, today, Beck made comments that seemed to imply that he just doesn’t think he can reach a young audience on his current network.