Today much of the The Rachel Maddow Show staff was walking around in T-shirts that say "Four Years Old, Nine Minutes Heavy."
They symbolize both the fourth anniversary of the show—Woot! Woot!— and the fact that for nearly every night of our existence, we have approached 9pm with far more content than could ever fit in a one-hour newscast.
Sometimes the extra television we produce won't hold for another day. The news within it has a definite sell-by date.
That was the case tonight with a segment about how the movie Rocky IV, yes Rocky IV, holds the key to fully understanding the 2012 presidential election. We had so much fun producing the segment this afternoon, that Rachel went ahead and taped it anyway, after the show, as an anniversary gift to all of you.
Enjoy! And thanks for reading and watching. It's not a cliché when we say, we couldn't do any of it without you.
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Thanks for posting this! But Rachel... seriously. Rocky IV may have been the worst of the first four Rocky movies, but no way was it the worst of all of the Rocky movies. Rocky V gets that distinction by a long shot, in my opinion.
Congrats on 4 years to everyone at TRMS!!
Just wanted to say Happy Birthday! I love your show.
To all of you, staff, techs and Rachel too! Happy Anniversary! Well Done You!
Four more years! (the Vine won't let me SHOUT!)
(Truly, however, I really didn't want to remember 1985 the same way I like remembering 2008. Nothing like graduating from college into the Reagan Recession and massive contraction and layoffs in journalism due to Reagan media deregulation.)
Four years of the Rachel Maddow Show? It seems impossible so much time has passed!
At the risk of sounding a bit maudlin, I'd like to thank Ms. Maddow and her staff for one of the finest news programs on television. It's a pleasure to watch someone not just perform a job so well, but also enjoy what's probably her personal obsession at the same time. Thank you, Rachel Maddow, for sharing your single-minded dedication to facts with us.
Hear Hear. Thanks to the staff and thanks to Maddow for putting some heart and soul into the news.
I saw Rocky IV in the theatre and had to leave to go to the bathroom IV times because I was 12 years old and it was soooooo inspiring and intense!
When I saw the blurb about the segment I thought you were doing an "If I can change! And YOU can change! ANYBODY CAN CHANGE!!!!" metaphor. I was hoping it would be a call for collaboration - who knows, maybe there is a Rocky IV "call for democrat/republican collaboration" metaphor embedded in Rocky IV...
Congrats on your accomplishment of 4 years, and thanks to The Newsroom I feel like I have somewhat of an idea of how you handle the chaos of being 9 minutes over.
Here's to Four More Years! (he lifts beverage, toasts iMac screen, sips).
Happy "birthday", dear TRMS... Happy "birthday" to you! (And many more!)
:D
lol...great stuff! Congratulations TRMS!!
the heck with Rocky! I just wish the entire program were available in stream! The rest of the week I can just catch a repeat at some ungodly hour, but Friday nights... Lost satellite and electricity thanks to a heavy storm and missed most of it! I missed my TRMS fix!
you can get it for free on iTunes
Yes, it's available for free on iTunes and you can download it from MSNBC also,
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/8132577
Also, we post all segments of every show on rachel.msnbc.com every night shortly after the show!
I like it, 4 more years - double meaning!
Fact Check on your 9/7 broadcast: Rocky V is definitely the worst Rocky film.
The original Rocky is clearly the best and Rocky V is clearly the worst. Reasonable people can disagree about the relative placement of the remaining films, but that much is clear.
Happy anniversary Rachel. I've missed less than 10 shows in 4 years. Thanks for all the info.
If Rocky IV is a metaphor for this election, Obama is Rocky, Mitt is Apollo, then who is Drago?
Rush-He bullies people with his cybernetic like intellect (cold, calculating, uncaring, etc.) until they roll over and die. Then, when some comes along with those pesky things I like to call facts, he get's creamed and even his die hard supporters have to admit he's an a$$.
Congratulations on your Fourth Birthday! Without question TRMS is one of the very best political shows on television - broadcast or cable. Rachel is one of my heroes - she's smart, witty, funny, polite to her guests, always delivers needed context to her stories which are delivered smart, clever and clear. Thank you for assuming most of your viewers have brains, a sense of humor and a great devotion to our Country. Rachel Maddow is a National Treasure. I mean it. And congrats on your ratings hit the other night for Democratic Convention - well earned! Cheers!!
John
I Second That Motion because I could not put it better mysel
Happy Showversary! Many thanks to Rachel and everyone at TeamMaddow for providing the daily dose of sanity.
I just wanted to say that .. I am a new view of the Rachel Maddow show, and I am disappointed I didn't know about it earlier. I love the show immensely! You rock Rachel, thank you for all you do, and thank you to all the staff behind the scenes which makes it one of my favorite programs on television.
After the first film they all pretty much were "Rocky Horror Picture Shows".
That said, each one was a glimpse of political America- "We Number One!"- and how the Tea Party Know Nothings view the world. Like Romney himself, a mile wide and an inch deep.
Now, with 4 years under your belt, it is time to tussle with the challenger: I speak of course, of the New Kid, Jennifer Granholm, on Current TV, also at 9PM. Perhaps Jello wrestling, while having a poetry slam?
Glad you have made it four years and I hope you have many more with increasing success and audience reach. I have watched all or parts of every show and thoroughly appreciate the impact you have had on MSNBC, and subsequently on other programs and networks as well.
I remember your very first night on air - sweetly nervous and self-effacing. Watching you and the programme evolve has been inspiring. Oh to get paid for what stirs our passions! I am still trying to find that!
I don't see a lot of facts on the Rachel Maddow show. I do see a lot of smirking and rolling the eyes and hateful and vile speech. I guess if you want a lot of opinion and what you might call entertainment it's ok. But news it is not. News is objective.
LOL first off to see you need to open your eyes. Secondly you must stop being a rubber stamped tea bagged republican who would know a fact if they had stumbled over one because their heads are filled with Fox news fake outrage. Funny thing about facts, seldom do they stir emotional responses from people, facts are just facts to get to the persons emotions Fox and the GOP run around using empty talking points to discover what group of words stir peoples emotions then they repeat those words to the brain dead, such as family values, say that to the brain dead they drool. Ask the GOP what family values are they look like deer caught in head lights because they can not define family values, but gosh darn it don't those 2 words sound lovely. That is the GOP in a nut shell a party of empty words that never reflect their actions.
I have never seen Rachel say anything vile or hateful....feel free to enlighten us.
You know RW is all about redefining words and rewriting history. The word fact is totally different now. A fact is what someone on Faux or Limpy says they are (to them).
I can't tell you how amazed I was to hear "It's a known fact that the pension money that was lost went to the Democrat party". I think my jaw almost got out of place when it dropped.
I suppose jes33 believes that twisted train wreckage is a known fact, too.
First, could you tell us where we could see more facts, or objective news? I would agree that facts and objective viewpoints are difficult to find in current political discourse, but inquiring minds still want to know. If you have discovered some fount of truthful knowledge, by all means - share it. I strongly endorse exposing liars.
Second, if you could link to any actual examples of Rachel's "hateful and vile speech" (ya know, words like "pinhead", and worse), I'm certain many of us here would call her out on it.
To quote Mork: "I'm waiting with a worm on my tongue".
I love your show… Congrats!! You and your staff are awesome and should be commended with telling the facts and not backing down on issues that are the essence of real journalism. Take for instance the Bush and Cheney years with the torturing of prisoners and why the Obama admin. did nothing to pursue this matter. This is what's wrong with this country. Accountability. Having someone in Office that deliberately went against the laws of our land and getting away with it. Being exiled from brutalizing another human being is okay; on the other hand, having a woman go to prison because she made a mistake in her life and has to live not only with her conscience but having to go to jail on top of that. The media has so much to tell us every single day with all the corruption and issues in this world that we cannot keep up with it. So why weren't we so outraged with the dehumanizing issues from the Bush, Cheney yrs. If I can remember correctly the Government would counter react with something like National Alert so that we would focus on that instead. We as a nation have a short attention span and since the news media does not follow up on these issues, they tend to dwindle into our past like dust in the wind. No wonder we had no respect throughout the world during Bush Admin.
It seems to me that the CEOs of Wall Street, Government Officials, and big businesses think they can get away with their wrong doings. Nobody is holding anyone accountable. This is where the media should roll up their sleeves and tackle these issues. This is where Rachel has done this for us. The facts are facts! She is one of the most informative talk show host!! And that is a fact! Thanks Rachel.
Happy birthday and congratulations! Thank you for showing us how to have polite discourse with people of opposing viewpoints and for introducing us TO people of opposing viewpoints. (Even though I sometimes went crazy at home!) You are still "talking me down from ledge".
Loved the trip down memory lane - I loved that movie :) Definitely not the worst!
Congrats on 4 years, your show is amazing!
Fantastic show, Rachel!! Yours is where I get my best view of the overall picture with humor, as well as things that often go unknown without your in-depth reporting. Keep up the good work on behalf of all of us truth seekers!!
--Orlando, FL
As someone who only discovered Rachel about a year (or less) ago [i know! gah!], I've been furiously trying to watch all the eps of TRMS that I missed; despite crappy internet connection, pieced together clips from You Tube and here and there...I've enjoyed every.single.minute through the lagging & reload because I get to watch the show!
Rachel - you've reignited my passion for politics, you've sharpened my analytical skills, you've reminded me to call people [esp people in power] out when they are not being truthful [ask the follow up q!]; you've taught me new things, you've made me think about other things differently; you've made me a better activist.
You and your show has been thought-provoking, insightful, hilarious [i still watch 'shagged by a rare parrot' on sadDays as a pick-me-up!] and I genuinely believe you're making the world a much better, smarter place.
To you, and your amazing team at TRMS [of course they'd be amazing - LOOK AT THE SHOW!], my warmest hugs and biggest of smiles. Stay awesome. I raise my glass to you.
- not an American, from a tiny corner of the world few people out of Asia may know about-
As a Newbie. congrats with your 4 year`s with a truthful show, one that should stay and hope for more i enjoy you and your Show, Cheer`s may your path be in the true light
For a party that does not believe in evolution, those republicans are awfully darwinians!
Four more years and then some. Congratulations, TRMS