The Rise and Demise of Current TV Quiz

Answer: Al Gore

Al Gore (VP 1993-2001), along with businessman Joel Hyatt, launched his network on 1 August 2005 to combat what he called the "consolidation and conglomeratization" of television news and other programming with "democratization". It was meant to be an independent voice for a relatively youthful, progressive demographic. The original name was INdTV, but Gore soon decided on Current TV.

Gore and Hyatt actually faced a lawsuit from a Cincinnati-based communications company over the use of the name "Current", but it was dismissed.

Answer: viewer-generated programming

Although founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt originally wanted a cable news network, Current TV began with viewer-generated content, rather like YouTube. Shortly thereafter, however Current TV partnered with Yahoo! to create "channels" on Yahoo Video website and Yahoo-branded segments on the TV channel. Current TV also produced and aired various journalistic programs and documentaries.

In 2007, the network won an Emmy for Best Interactive Television Service, and Current's documentary "The OxyContin Express" won the Peabody Award in 2010.

Answer: flag

Wolff Olins designed the logo, which won "Best of Category - Logo and Identity Animations" in the 2012 Brand New Awards (sort of the Oscars of brands, given to new corporate designs and redesigns by Under Consideration LLC).

Answer: Keith Olbermann

Originally airing on MSNBC, "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" (2003-2011) was an hour-long weeknight program of news and commentary. MSNBC fired Olbermann at one point for his political donations, but then rehired him. Then Olbermann quit MSNBC to join Current TV on June 20, 2011, with the hope that he would bring a large, new audience to Current TV.

There were problems with production values on the fledgling news network, and Olbermann began to miss tapings and abuse staff. He not only refused to promote Current TV but he often publicly disparaged his employer, who eventually terminated his contract in March 2012.

Many critics have speculated that the trouble and cost of Current TV's difficulties with Olbermann were the beginning of the end for the struggling network.

Answer: Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer began hosting 'Viewpoint' on Current TV in the vacuum left open after Keith Olbermann's abrupt departure in 2012. One frequent guest was economist Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor under Clinton in the 1990s and part of both the Ford and Carter administrations in the 1970s.

Eliot Spitzer was famous as New York State Attorney General (1999-2006) for prosecuting cases regarding pollution, corruption, occupational safety, and most of all corporate white-collar crime. Whilst governor (2007-08) he resigned amid a prostitution scandal (one of the very crimes he prosecuted as attorney general).

None of the other officials listed was ever attorney general of New York, and Ed Koch was never governor of New York State but mayor of New York City.

Answer: The Young Turks

The Young Turks continued its online (and radio) live broadcasts apart from its nightly broadcasts on Current TV. The online program has won numerous awards including the 2011 People's Voice Webby Award for Best News and Politics Series.

Before coming to Current, Cenk Uygur was a political commentator on MSNBC. Formerly a moderate Republican, Uygur became an ardent progressive known for criticizing President Obama and other Democrats for yielding to Republican pressure, disregarding the will of the Democratic Party's base, and ignoring the needs of the poor and other marginalized persons.

On their website, the group indicates the name "The Young Turks" was chosen to reflect the national heritage of Cenk Uyger, who is of Turkish descent, and because the phrase "young turk" indicates an "insurgent member of a movement".

Answer: William Shatner

Canadian-born Jennifer Granholm was governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011. She was the state's first female governor, and before that, she was attorney general (1999-2003). She hosted the news and opinion-oriented program "The War Room" beginning in January 2012. Granholm gave what many pundits considered the most rousing speech of 2012 Democratic Convention.

Gavin Newsom took office as Lieutenant Governor of California in 2011. He began hosting his weekly talkshow on Current TV the following year.

Actress-comedian Joy Behar, also a co-host of ABC's "The View", began hosting her nightly public affairs show, "Say Anything", in 2012. She had hosted "The Joy Behar Show" from 2009 to 2011 on HLN (formerly CNN Headline News).

William Shatner never had a show on Current TV, but he should have done, and its theme music should have been his spoken-word rendition of "Rocket Man".

Answer: Both of these

Current TV aired the three-hour shows as "Talking Liberally with Stephanie Miller" and "Full Court Press with Bill Press". In addition to her radio program, Stephanie Miller toured around the U.S. with a comedy road-show called "Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour" (which also aired on Current). Both syndicated radio programs air independently; Current simply brings cameras into the radio studios for the TV broadcast.

Answer: simulcasting Twitter feeds

The Twitter feeds served as a running commentary of the debate to enrich the experience of the viewer. Sources included Democrats, Republicans, pundits, academics, celebrities, and ordinary folks. The network had also done this previously in the 2008 presidential election.

Another unique aspect of the election coverage was the composition and experience of the commentators. Two former governors, Eliot Spitzer of New York and Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, and a former Vice President, Al Gore (Current's CEO), discussed their personal experiences running for office and participating in debates and compared them to the current campaign.

Answer: Al-Jazeera

Al-Jazeera is a pan-Arab media giant based in Qatar. (The Qatari government owned it until 2011, when it was privatized). At the time of purchase, Al-Jazeera announced plans to axe the current lineup, discard the award-winning Current logo, and rebrand the channel as Al-Jazeera America, beginning in April 2013.

Al-Jazeera has long been subject to controversy and accused of anti-Americanism particularly for giving voice to terrorists such as Osama bin-Laden. Opposed to the sale, Time-Warner Cable immediately vowed to drop Current TV, and by 3 January 2013 the channel was no longer available to its 12 million US subscribers. Soon thereafter, anchors Jennifer Granholm, Gavin Newsom, and Eliot Spitzer announced plans for their departure.

(Time-Warner Cable later changed its mind and began to carry Al-Jazeera America, in late 2013, as part of its digital cable package).

Al Gore said that Current TV was established "to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling." (And apparently to net him about $70 million in profits from the sale, according to 'Forbes' magazine.) Gore also told David Letterman in late January that such an independent news network simply couldn't survive "in an age of conglomerates".