On tonight's Late Show with David Letterman, Keith Olbermann attempted to explain what exactly went wrong for him at Current TV. He did so with an analogy about a $10 million chandelier being installed in an unworthy building. It's pretty easy to guess who's who in the analogy.

Keith Olbermann was just fired from Current TV — and we hear that chances of him actually showing up to a slated appearance with old Sports Center cohost Dan Patrick at a panel in New York City next Thursday are not much higher than the lottery odds. Guess Dan will have to do this one by himself. Not that he should be surprised, given Keith's history of trouble with his networks.

Sputtering rage muppet Keith Olbermann has finally been fired from Al Gore's Current TV, Brian Stelter reports. He spent less than a year at the network, which took him on after he was similarly canned by MSNBC in 2011, and won't make a goodbye statement. In a hilariously bitchy "letter to viewers," Current writes:

Keith Olbermann is a talented television man. He's agile with words. He's whip-smart, an often penetrating thinker, and seems able to strike the perfect on-air balance between smoldering outrage and smirking "What are we doing here, folks?" acknowledgment of some of television's absurdities. Still. If you are a TV executive who hires this man, you are a fucking idiot.

In your provocative Tuesday media column: the NYT's new Big City columnist gives us hope, Ted Turner vs. Rupert Murdoch, Utah newspaper standards war, the internet won't be free forever, and Cenk Uygur to Current TV.

In your untraceable Monday media column: News Corp's board meeting approaches, Current TV gets a new president, the backlash to The New Yorker's Bin Laden story, the NYT's online beta testing site, and newspapers are stolen.

In your odd Thursday media column: an old reporter goes on a Facebook-shaming rampage, the Boston Globe is suddenly "not for sale," Dick Ebersol retires, Bill Keller is still talking, and Al Gore says News Corp's censoring his network.

The Times reports that former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann will likely announce a deal with Current TV, Al Gore's cable channel, tomorrow. (Guess he decided not to follow our advice, unless he'll be hosting a cooking show there or something.) Olbermann might also "separately pursue other ventures, like an Internet destination," which we hope means he'll keep Tweeting photos of snow in New York City. [NYT]

On November 11 for the past two years, Al Gore's Current TV has laid off a bunch of staffers. In 2008, 32 people were axed; 80 more were dismissed in 2009. With 11/11 upon us tomorrow, employees are getting nervous.

In your gobsmacked Wednesday media column: a shining golden possibility for hundreds of media jobs, Richard Johnson scoots from Page Six, Current TV has a Bold New Plan, and Glenn Beck lives.

Last Thursday, Current TV's movie review program The Rotten Tomatoes Show decided to go all New Coke on its viewers and change its formula.

We're told staffers at Current TV are at this very moment in meetings about a coming round of layoffs at Al Gore's unconventional cable network. Current's Web workers are expected to take the brunt of the cuts, including one microcelebrity.

• George Stephanopoulos will probably replace Diane Sawyer on GMA. [TDB]
• Now that Bloomberg LP is talking over BusinessWeek, columnists Maria Bartiromo and Jack Welch are both parting ways with the mag. [NYP]
• CNN is laying off four of its web anchors since it no longer plans to produce live video on CNN.com. The good news? With Lou Dobbs no longer on the payroll, it should save $9 million over the next few years. [NYT, [NYP]
• Euna Lee, one of the two CurrentTV reporters who was imprisoned in North Korea earlier this year, has scored herself a six-figure book deal. [NYT]
• Shares of Playboy jumped yesterday after it was reported the apparel conglomerate Iconix was in talks to acquire the (struggling) company. [NYP]
• Another senior Observer editor is bidding goodbye to the paper. [Politico]
• Fashion mags are expecting their fortunes to improve in 2010. [WWD]
• Is the Fox Business Channel a lost cause at this point? [VF]
• Television is more getting more and more obscene, supposedly. [NYT]

• Lou Dobbs is leaving CNN! Tonight's his last show! Happy Wednesday! [NYT]
• Condé Nast magazines have lost a collective 8,359 pages of advertising in 2009, which represents a 31 percent decline from a year earlier. [NYT]
• One thing that Hearst has going for it: lots of cash in the bank. [NYP]
• Banker-turned-media investor Jimmy Finklestein is reportedly buying the Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Adweek, and a few other Nielsen titles. [Wrap]
• Current TV is keeping current with the times and laying off 80 staffers. [LAT]
• TV: Joss Whedon's Dollhouse has been canceled by Fox; meanwhile, ABC has decided that Kelsey Grammer comedy series Hank will exist no longer.
• Détente? President Obama has agreed to give Fox News an interview. [HP]
• The New Yorker sure has lots of writers and editors! [NYO]
• Reality TV is slowly killing us. So says Vanity Fair's James Wolcott. [VF]

Current Media said it would shed 80 people, confirming earlier reports, and will make its unconventional format more boringly traditional. This might sound bad. But the San Francisco cable network assures us it is evidence of amazing success!

After Bill Clinton helped rescue two Current TV employees from North Korea, Al Gore's TV network can get down to other pressing business. Like laying off employees, reportedly.

• Charlie Gibson is retiring as anchor of ABC's World News Tonight at the end of the year; he'll be replaced by Diane Sawyer, who is stepping down as anchor of Good Morning America to take the job. And now Brian Williams will soon be the only man anchoring a nightly network newscast. [NYP]
• The 66th installment of the Venice Film Festival kicked off today. [THR]
• Thanks to the success of Royal Pains and Burn Notice, USA has scored the highest summer ratings in the history of cable television. [B&C]
• Current TV's Laura Ling and Euna Lee have broken their silence and are now describing some of what happened when they were captured in North Korea. Not all it, though. You'll have to buy their book to read the rest. [LAT]
• Is Jared Kushner looking to unload the Observer? That's the rumor. [Gawker]

Now that they're safely back in the United States formerly imprisoned journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee are free to spill the beans on their harrowing North Korean adventure. But mostly just justify their mission and assert their innocence.

Current TV journalist Laura Ling did actually momentarily, for a second, "very, very briefly" cross into North Korean territory before she was arrested there last March, her sister said. Kim Jong-Il was right! Let's go to the official record.

It's truly heartening to see Laura Ling and Euna Lee back safely on American soil. But the questions about the Current TV journalists will soon turn beyond the sentimental now that they're out of harm's way. What, exactly, happened?