Rachel Maddow at the TCA Winter Press Tour

Maddow with MSNBC Pres. Phil Griffin at the TCA press tour

Out political talk show host Rachel Maddow was on an MSNBC panel at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour last week, fielding questions about her show, what she's learned since it launched, and what this inauguration day means to her. AfterElton.com's Michael Jensen reported back to us, and we've excerpted some of the most interesting portions for you.

First, MSNBC President Phil Griffin responded to questions about the origin of The Rachel Maddow Show.

"We made a decision right prior to the conventions to take a little bit of a risk," said Griffin. "Rachel had been filling in for Olbermann that summer [which was] the first time she ever read a teleprompter ... Nobody had kept Keith's numbers when Keith took a day off, because that show is so uniquely Keith. But Rachel did. And after we saw that, it was pretty clear that Rachel would get an audience after Keith."

So, Griffin said, "we put in Rachel after the conventions, and everything changed."

For the first time in MSNBC history, we had a show that was getting big numbers at 9 o'clock. We had a show that was beating, for the first time in 12 and a half years, Larry King. It sort of built the whole network, made it feel bigger. Chris Matthews, Keith, Rachel were all starting to beat CNN in primetime.

We had a terrific election, and since then we've continued to beat CNN. This has been an extraordinary time for MSNBC. Rachel's been a critical piece to it. She's not only one of the hardest-working people I know. She's not only one of the smartest, but she's certainly one of the most delightful and one of the best on TV.

Maddow called her show "a very fun trip up a very steep learning curve ... really hard work, and ... the best job I've ever had by a mile."

When asked to elaborate on what she's learned since jumping to TV, Maddow cited the visual cues on the show (maps, graphics, B-roll, videotape etc.) as an example of a skill she's still trying to master:

Because I come from a radio place, I'm not cued into the idea that I need to be thinking about what else we are broadcasting besides my voice when I'm reading script that I have written. And so I'm not, every day, at a point — I haven't mastered my time management and my delegation skills well enough so that I've got something to do with everything that we're doing visually every day. And I've just got to figure out a way to organize myself better so that I can feel confident that that all reflects my editorial vision as — as much as my script does.

Griffin, who noted "it's always a little scary when you get a huge audience on day one," believes Maddow is successful despite learning on the job because she "has a natural sense of communication. And it's not TV skills. It's communication skills, and she's got it."

Griffin deflected a question about whether Maddow "has put a more likeable face on progressivism," or whether it was just the right time for a progressive face to emerge, but expanded on Maddow's talents:

I think her strength is that she takes all this stuff very seriously, and yet she doesn't take herself seriously. I mean — and I think that's her strength. You know, she is so smart, but she enjoys it. She's the only person I know on any news program that will say "dork" and "Obama" in the same sentence and pull it off and still be the smartest person talking on TV. I just think that she has a delightful way. I think it's a little bit different. I think she's a fresh voice.

You know, I know that she doesn't come out of this mix, especially television, and I think that has given her sort of a fresh take. She — she comes as she is. She's organic to who she is, and I really believe that that's her success.

But what's going to happen to The Rachel Maddow Show, one reporter wondered, "without the Bush Administration to kick around? And specifically, he wanted to know, what's going to happen with the quack-itude segment?"