As revealed by Olbermannwatch, a Playboy editor decided that in the face of an avalanche of negative reaction to their interview with Keith Olbermann, he would seek a pro-Olbermann letter in support of Olby from none other than an unabashed and biased Olbermann fan. Said Olbyloon could not resist the temptation of bragging about this breach of journalistic ethics (they even let her use a fake name). A flood of websites TVNewser, MediaBistroFishbowl NYC, Inside Cable News, Gawker, Jossip, Huffington Post, Newsbusters, and finally, the NY Daily News (Page Six). picked up on the story-they too were shocked that a major magazine would attempt to prop up the decidely unpopular opinionator who disguses himself as a journalist and his biased tv program as a "news show". Well, both the Playboy Editor and the Olbyloon have responded. And my what a tangled web they weave.

From Playboy's blog:

The New York Post reported this morning, following a bunch of hysterical blog postings, that I asked the editor of a Keith Olbermann fan site to respond with a letter to our Interview with the man that appeared in the October issue. Well, faithful Playboy reader, it's true! I invited Becky Last-Name-Not-Public-Knowledge over at BloggingOlbermann.com to read the Interview (she may have already done so) and write a letter if she felt so inspired.

"So inspired?" Yeah, sure. Like you didn't think if you made a request she wouldn't do it to promote the notion that people actually liked the interview with her beloved Olbermann? And what choice did you have but to admit it? Becky had already spilled on you!

Two quick points: (1) I didn't tell her to make her letter "gushing."

No, he didn't want a "gushing" letter-it's why he chose a fan to write it!

In fact, she wrote a smart response and we were glad to have it.

Glad to have it? Hell son, you soliticed for it--I guess you were glad to have it because you desperately needed and wanted someone to write a pro-Olbermann letter for you!

I try to include a variety of views in the letters pages because I know from experience that people who agree with something are less likely to write, and this is born out by the fact we have since gotten letters from K.O. lovers who can't believe all the K.O. haters who wrote.

So why not just wait and run those letters in NEXT month's Playboy? Why take the unusual step of soliciting the owner of a fan blog to write that support letter?

Anyone who actually reads Playboy, rather than just posting snide comments about it (that "for the articles" joke is so clever! More, please), can't be too surprised. We have invited experts who might not otherwise see the magazine to comment, in whatever way they see fit, in our letters pages since the 1960s. It makes for a more spirited debate.

So tell us, do you often allow them to remain anonymous while doing so? And "experts"? Is that how we classify girly fans now? And someone identifying himself as a past guest on Olbermann's show and a journalist himself and regular Playboy reader, did find it all a bit unusual and had this to say about the little charade:

Even though I enjoyed the Olbermann interview, and in fact have been a guest on his MSNBC show, as a journalist I'm troubled by the solicitation of a letter in order to "balance out" the response on the "Dear Playboy" page to a certain section or article. I'm not naive to the fact that this isn't the first time Playboy editors have done this, or that Playboy is far from the only publication to do it. But is it the job of the editor to make sure that there's balance on the letters page if the balance isn't naturally there, without asking to chime in, no matter how expert they are? I'm not sure about that.

But super-Olbyloon fan "Becky" just can't seem to shut-up. She just has to post this interesting bit of info related to the whole Playboy scam. Even she admits she found the entire episode somewhat suspect!

After I got over the initial shock of, "who, me?" when the request came, I did think it was a bit odd. I don't know diddly about how these things work though

.

Really now? But yet you seemed so familiar with these kind of matters and that using a pen name wasn't in the least unusual! So which is it? Ignorant or savvy? Or just willing to break rules when they apply to Olbermann?

There were two conditions that would have given me pause: if I had been requested to not mention the circumstances of my involvement or if writing under a pseudonym was a problem. Since Mr. Rowe had no qualms about my disclosing anything save for his email address, I didn't think about my concerns again. After all, I wasn't dealing with the National Enquirer here.

Oh well, just so long as they met your PERSONAL standards, I guess it's okay then. But now that we know that Playboy does allow pseudonyms in their letters to the editor I guess the National Enquirer is looking a little better these days.

I realize that it sounds like a conspiracy theory for me to think that this was some wingnut sending tips. But I have been on this block too long with my ear too close to the ground to be able to think otherwise.

Ahhh--another fine example of Olbyloon paranoia, up close and personal. They have yet to uncover any site that openly solicited for negative letters to the Olbermann Playboy interview but yet they remain convinced it happened, despite the utter lack of evidence that it did!

When I say that this blog is obscure, I mean that if you Google "olbermann" it doesn't come up until somewhere around page 12. And while traffic here is good enough for it to be a "mid-level" blog by Technorati's standards, that doesn't mean much more than I've got people besides my friends and family reading it.

Yes "Becky" about that-how is it that Playboy found YOUR obscure little website? After all, some of your competitors have placed Google ads to have THEIR sites come up before yours. Why was YOURS chosen? Might it have been at the suggestion of say. .. one Keith Olbermann or someone on the Countdown staff? In fact looking at some of the other Olbyloon sites, they seem a bit miffed that no one asked them to do the same for him.

The idea that this was some sort of round robin, each outlet cribbing it from the next, is fine. Except pro blogs will always cite where it came from, like NY Magazine and Conde Nast Traveller did today in citing Page Six. By and large those cites weren't in place, making me reasonably sure that this wasn't a game of Follow the Leader. (I won't go into how this morning's spate of nasty taunts full of the usual code words has corresponded to a larger than usual influx of site referrals from webmail.)

We have no idea on earth what this woman is talking about here. The links we saw clearly lead to her website or cited another when talking about this incident. (But thanks for pointing out two links we'd missed earlier). Yet "Becky" still insists it was part of some vast, right-wing conspiracy. And "code words"? Gee what would those be exactly-those websites quoting exactly what she admitted to doing?

I never wanted ERT to be big and if I did, infamy is certainly not the path I would have chosen to achieve that.

Relax honey, your web stats prove that your blog is indeed only seen by a select few fans. It seems your site has more "editors" than actual readers. And infamy? No dear, that's saved for the likes of your beloved Keith Olbermann who sincerely seems to believe that Fox News is worse than the terrorists who crashed into the WTC on 9/11.

Yes, I have found the entire situation to be hella amusing. It's also been exhausting, as I am quite uncomfortable with attention. If I hadn't kept a sense of humor about it all I would have ended up hiding under my blankets. I'm sorry you see it as basking, I'm just trying to make the best of being thrust into a very strange situation.

Yes, it's all very strange indeed. And you poor, shy, retiring thing. Posting on the Playboy blog must have been such a difficult thing for you to do seeing how you just hate drawing attention to yourself. And I know it must have been so terribly difficult for you to make the decision to link to all of those gossip sites on your blog who carried the story because as we know, you're not in this for any kind of attention. Why it must have been just hell for you to use the opportunity to welcome your influx of new visitors and then encourage them to stay-what with it being your desire to keep your blog small and unoticed and everything.

Oh-and one more bit of Olbyloon BS to expose while I'm at it today: This letter from "Houstonian" who is also a regular at Democratic Underground appeared at Becky-Using-A-Fake-Name's website:

KO's supporters (and editors of this blog) would never attempt to look up a person's e-mail address, check out the commentator's background, attack that person or that person's family, just because they have a different viewpoint about Keith Olbermann. That's what makes the Playboy incident necessary.

KO's supporters would NEVER look up a person's email address, check out their background, attack that person or their family? Hmm. Tell that to the Blogger at Tom Paine who wrote a piece on Olbermann's overt sexist remarks. Not only did the DUmmies track down the woman's email, they also found her personal blog and began an organized campaign to send her nasty emails! Truth is just so. . . inconvienient sometimes isn't it?

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/tv/keith_olbermann_blogging_for_daily_kos_75037.aspSo just how negative was the feedback that Playboy magazine received from their fawning interview with Keith Olbermann?

So negative that one of their editors (Chip Rowe) went to the very unusual, and dare we say, highly unethical extent of soliciting a positive one from an Olbermann fan site. The editor even allowed the Olbyloon Blog owner to use a fake name to print her fake letter!

I'm sure you all remember the Playboy interview back in September. Shortly after the release of the magazine (and after a couple of discussions of it here on ERT) I was contacted by Playboy editor Chip Rowe via the site's contact form.

He said that they were getting overwhelmingly negative response on the interview: mostly for the Fox Noise remarks, though some were just general anti-KO sentiment, and that he'd like to balance that with something positive from someone with my "expertise". (No, really, that's the word he used. I quickly denied being an expert on a man I'd never met.) After exchanging several emails, I wrote up a couple of hundred words for him to use on the "Letters to Playboy" page. The letter appears in the January issue.

Updated to acknowledge the many bloggers who got why this little charade was such a breach of journalistic rules & ethics, not that ethics or the truth matter much to an Olbyloon:

TVNewser, MediaBistroFishbowl NYC, Inside Cable News, Gawker, Jossip, Huffington Post, Newsbusters, and finally, the NY Daily News (Page Six).

KXMC.Com has a very good editoral on the sheer stupidity of the comments Keith Olbermann made in the October issue of Playboy.

Keith Olbermann responding to a question Rudy Giuliani in a Playboy interview: Sez Keith: Giuliani tried to out-Bush Bush. He tried to get votes by talking about casualties as if another attack like 9/11 were inevitable, suggesting that voting for anyone but him would lead to more people getting killed. That's about an inch from saying, "If you don't vote for me, you'll die, which is another inch from saying, "If you don't vote for me, I'll kill you." And that, to me, is not America. In fact, it's not Earth. I don't usually single out candidates for praise or brickbats, but if they're going to politicize terror, to do the work of the terrorists by terrorizing the populace, I'll come down on them like a ton of bricks. That's my job.

KXMC links to blogger Tom Maguire who asked the following:

So let me see if I have mastered this "logic"---when Al Gore says that global warming is a gathering threat, and so on, he is one inch from saying that if we don't vote for environmentally sound candidates we will die, and two inches from saying that he will personally kill us (I presume a coroner would rule it death by boredom, but really, anyone listening to Al Gore for more than a nanosecond ought to be ruled a suicide.) Or, work with me, Keith---Nancy Pelosi thinks if we don't vote for stricter gun control we will die, which is two inches from saying she will personally gun us down like Michael Vick's dogs. Of course, to a liberal like Olbermann, the as-yet-unproven threat of anthropomorphic global warming and the private ownership of firearms really are threats. Islamic terrorism, by his own words, apparently is not.

Exactly. And oh by the way? Olbermann does in fact single out candidate Joe Biden for praise in the Playboy interview after stating that he usually doesn't do that sort of thing. Yet another Olbermann lie, this time captured in black and white on the pages of Playboy.

Another hit from Olbermann's interview with commentary from Noel Sheppard: Fox News is worse than al Qaeda! Something to which Noel Sheppard responds with: An anchor for one of the leading television news networks in the world has stated that a competing network is worse than the world's leading terrorist organization responsible for the killing of thousands on September 11, 2001, and many others around the globe. He's also stated that this news network is as dangerous as the most racist organization to ever exist in America. Can anyone explain how this man can say these things and continue to represent MSNBC and NBC?

Our question exactly. Bravo to the blogger at KXMC.com, Maguire,and Sheppard as well.

Olbyloons? Spin away. Or do what you usually do, just divert.

The reactions to Keith Olbermann's new gig on the NBC NFL show have not been good. Universally panned, loathed by sports fans, and apparently, disliked by his colleagues. But we can depend upon the ever-reliable Liberal Elitist NY Times to come rushing in to praise their boy and fellow jihadist, Keith Olbermann.

FOOTBALL NIGHT OVERHAUL When NBC returned to carrying the NFL last season, it created the Football Night in America studio program, with Bob Costas, Jerome Bettis, Cris Collinsworth, Sterling Sharpe and sometimes Peter King. It was static and stiff. The lead foursome moved from one set to another as if they were linked in a giant charm bracelet. A shot of the four men looked as if no wide-angle camera could contain them and still make out their faces. Much has changed, all of it positive, since last year.

Oh really? So why is it being universally panned by both critics and fans? Oh right, it's the NY Times.

Olbermann's presence should remind fans from his SportsCenter time that few can deliver highlights with as much wit, verve and snark. He might have alienated some viewers on the political right with his MSNBC program, but forget that. He is not commenting on Dick Cheney's marksmanship lowlights here. Olbermann elevates the show, as does Barber.

Who is this guy trying to kid? Olbermann wasn't even liked when he was at ESPN. Especially not by his co-workers or management!. Witness the following quote about how Olbermann's former ESPN co-workers still feel about him years after his departure:

Olbermann didn't just burn bridges since he left Bristol, Conn., he apparently obliterated them. It's a shame he'll miss the reunions, but ESPN says it didn't have much of a choice. "We didn't want to bring him into the workplace," said ESPN executive vice president Mark Shapiro. "The damage he could do in one day in the newsroom could put us in damage control for two years. . . I was blown away by how much people reacted to me even (meeting with Olbermann)" Shapiro said, adding he had no idea how many "bodies were buried along the way. Even though he did leave a tremendous legacy and helped chart the course of the show, there was too much bad stuff that came with it, unnecessary bad stuff."

Yeah that Olby, he sure wins hearts and minds wherever he goes doesn't he? Well, at least at the NY Times.

And oh yeah, don't forget the NBC NFL fans. They just love him. That must be why so many want NBC to fire him immediately.

Olbermann has jumped the shark. . . so sez the San Diego Union Tribune. Even this Olbermann media fan (aren't they all?) believes Olbermann went one step too far in his Playboy interview fiasco.

Unbelievable. Olbermann is a hugely talented broadcaster and one of the smartest guys around, but his tunnel vision on politics is wearisome. The mainstream media is loaded with liberals as dishonest and slanted as Fox News' GOP stalwarts; sorry, as bad as Fox News is, nothing it has done compares with Dan Rather's use of forged documents to try to prevent W.'s re-election.

You know it's bad when even the Olbermann promoters jump ship and call him out for what he truly is!

Beyond that, both parties are full of contemptible hacks who protect their donors and who are more interested in manipulating people with wedge issues than solving problems.

This statement does make me wonder if Mr. Reed actually watched Countdown. Because if he did, he'd know that only the GOP makes the "news" on Olby's Official Democratic Approved "Countdown".

For someone as sharp as Olbermann to look at this landscape and see only one class of bad guys is baffling and off-putting.

Hey Mr. Reed-we here at Olbermannwatch have been trying to point out Olbermann's failings for years. But glad to know someone in the MSM finally took notice and called Olby out on it.

Someone else had some serious questions about Keith Olbermann's claims in the Playboy interview. Jeff Bercovici from Conde Nast Portfolio has an interesting little think-piece up on the Portfolio blog:

Olber-the-Top Rhetoric: Remember when Luke Skywalker, having just sliced off Darth Vader's hand, looks down at his own mechanical hand and realizes he is becoming Darth Vader? Someone needs to tell Keith Olbermann that his hyperbolic attacks on Bill O'Reilly are turning him into another O'Reilly.

When even the "liberal media elite" begins to question your act, maybe it's time to reel it in.

Comic exaggeration is part of Olbermann's shtick -- this is, after all, someone who names a new "Worst Person in the World" every night. But equating Fox News and Rupert Murdoch with racists and killers is neither funny nor particularly insightful. It's shrill and unattractive, and reeks of the same blowhardism that Olbermann is usually the first to skewer. I know the O'Reilly feud has been great for Countdown's ratings, but it's time to ease up.

Finally, one of Olby's own is calling him out. It's about time!

The October Issue of Playboy has the latest Mainstream Media spin on how Olbermann is a "great success". Inside Cable was the first to report on the Playboy article which contains the quote (among others) that

Al Qaeda really hurt us, but not as much as Rupert Murdoch has hurt us, particularly in the case of Fox News. Fox News is worse than Al Qaeda--worse for our society. It's as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was

.

Olbermann is seriously comparing Fox News to Al Qaeda and the Ku Klux Klan????? When was the last time that Fox News used airplanes to topple buildings and kill thousands of innocent people? When was the last time Rupert Murdoch was responsible for the murder of thousands of American civilians on American soil? When was the last time Fox News or Murdoch burned a cross on anyone's front yard? Answer? Never. Not one. But that doesn't stop the Olbyspin Machine. Read on!

Olbermann also writes off more than half his audience with this statement:

People over 25 have no money; people over 54 are set in their ways and understand that advertising is largely bullshit. It's fine to have viewers outside that group, but they don't cout as much. They're like people who get free tickets to a ball game.

Then he takes a slam at his own fan groups, such as they are, with the announcement that he only wants the "hot ones" oogling him.

There are chat rooms that get bawdy. One group of women will start analyzing the issues but soon it will devolve into talk about my tie and what they'd like to do about removing my tie. That's a strange thing about TV, it's like being on the wrong side of a one-way mirror. You don't know if it's a group of Jennifer Lopezes out there undressing with you with their eyes or a bunch of Leona Helmsleys.

Keith we've seen photos of some of your fans. A more apt comparison would be a bunch of Mama Cass Elliots.

And I was particularly amused when ole' Keith weighed in on how much smarter his sports audience is than his "news" audience:

Sports fans aren't dumber than the rest of America. They're smarter. It's the rest of America that believes in crazy plots. But the sports fan is reality-based.

Gee, guess this is why the sports fans at the NBC Football boards can't stand your guts. Neither can these guys. And Newsday isn't too wild about him either. Maybe that's got something to do with the fact that last night he apparently made a racially offensive remark about a black player? And this is the guy who is comparing Fox to the KKK?

And then there was this unbelievable comment about what the Republican party plans for 2008 and beyond, totally devoid of facts to back up his BS statement of course:

We will see a draft if the Republicans win in 2008, because they've got a plan to invade very country except Liechtenstein but not enough shoulders to do it. To get enough soldiers they would need a draft. And that would be interesting. You'd have rioting in the streets within 48 hours.

And this one just made us laugh as it's not only a contradiction in terms, it's total Olby doublespeak:

I went to an ACLU dinner with 700 lawyers, 700 honest lawyers. . . .

And finally there was this:

I'm unbearable in the morning

No Keith, you're unbearable and unbelievable at any hour of the day.

UPDATE [J$]: The Olbersphere weighs in...

Hot Air
Michelle Malkin
Newsbusters
Inside Cable News
johnny dollar's place
Right Wing Sparkle
Captain's Quarters
Ace of Spades
Papa Mike's Blog
Extreme Mortman
The Outspoken Roman
Sister Toldjah

And Daily Kos, which is requesting that its Kossacks go to Inside Cable News to defend Keith Oralmann! The Kos War Room swings into action once again!!

New York Magazine has decided to play 21 questions with Keith Olbermann and hilarity ensues.

Who's your favorite New Yorker, living or dead, real or fictional? Fred Merkle. If you can imagine the Bill Buckner play and blame happening to a rookie first baseman for the Mets or Yankees, and the guy coming back to play another seventeen years, nearly all of them in New York, and play on five pennant winners here, you get some idea of this man's mettle.

Olbermann is such a Merkle fan that his user name on Ebay is Merkle923.

What's the best meal you've eaten in New York? Either the Three Filets at Quality Meats or the Crusted Tuna at Redeye Grill. But the BLTs at a long-gone deli in Hastings in the mid-eighties could not be defeated.

One thing is for sure, whatever Olbermann eats, he's eating plenty of it.

In one sentence, what do you actually do all day in your job? I read, and I think, and I write, and then I read aloud, amid about 150 individual deadlines, and often under lights that can melt the skin off your bones.

But not that hideous orange man-tan Olbermann sports no matter what the season. And Keith thinks? You sure wouldn't know it from the lack of diversified opinions aired on his commentary program disguised as a news show.

Where do you get your coffee? Occasionally I have some at a restaurant. Otherwise I'm a chai-latte guy.

That Keith, always trying to stay hip and happening.

What's the last thing you saw on Broadway?The History Boys. Don't laugh. Before that, it was Amadeus in 1981. I get inexplicably anxious for the actors.

No wonder, he identifies with the actors because he is an actor, portraying a (bad) news guy on television.

Do you give money to panhandlers?I have on occasion, but a lot less frequently ever since a day 25 years ago when I saw the pitiable looking woman always camped in front of Bryant Park, pull her pink Cadillac out of an alley across the street.

However Keith is totally open to handing over checks to ex-presidents right before an interview, on air.

What's your drink? White Rock 2002 Napa Valley Claret. Bill Murray bought me a bottle. Says the sommelier had brought him the wrong bottle one night. If they're out, a Guinness.

Hmm. What happened to Merlot? Guess that's not his favorite drink anymore. Gee, wonder why. And Guineness beer huh? Isn't Olbermann supposed to have a Gluten allergy? Another Olbermann lie?

How often do you prepare your own meals?Do you count cereal? Salad bar at work? If so, once, often twice daily.

Funny, for someone eating ceral and salad, Olbermann seems inexplicably fat.

What's your favorite medication? Protonix. I can get asthmatic episodes from acid reflux (and from the current administration). This stuff takes care of the first kind.

According to this website, some of the side effects of Protonix include: anxiety, chest pain, dizziness, gastrointestinal disorder, nausea, and rectal disorder. Sounds like what Olbermann himself causes if you ask

What's hanging above your sofa? A map of the U.S. made out of each state's license plates by Aaron Foster.

How much is too much to spend on a haircut? Not competent to answer. I get mine gratis from Mary and Tonya, two gifted hairstylists at work

. Toupees aside, there are a lot of things you're not competent to answer Keith but it's good to see you finally admit it.

When's bedtime? With any luck, 1 a.m. I do work nights after all. Sounds exquisite, but as long as I've had that kind of schedule, everybody else in this city has insisted on getting up two to seven hours before I do and apparently conspiring to bring me with them.

Brunch: pro or con? Pro. Norma's in the Parker-Meridien serves it until 3 p.m. I believe I patronized them virtually every day from July 1, 2001, through February 1, 2003. I actually was the only customer a couple of times right after 9/11. Great food, greater people.

Again, we're not sure what Olbermann eats but by the looks of his ample backside, he eats plenty of it.

What's your thread count? When they start gettin threads hangin off dem, I toss dem. Oh, youse mean something else.

Oh that Keith, he made a funny.

What do you hate most about living in New York?Rent and real-estate prices. And that I was stupid enough not to buy my studio apartment at 55th and Second in 1983 because I feared the concept of a $30,000 mortgage.

Yes Keith, we all know how difficult it can be living in a 40th Floor, 4.2 million dollar Trump apartment on the Upper East side.

What's your brand of jeans? Levi's. And he wants them back.

Again, with the comedy. Only not so much.

When's the last time you drove a car? 1984. I hit my head on the 7 train at Shea four years prior and destroyed my depth perception while in motion. I did not fully understand this until I took some refresher driving lessons before moving to suburban Boston. And wound up on the sidewalk.

Yes we suspect the head injury damaged far more than Olbermann's driving ability.

Who should be the next president? Elizabeth Edwards.

Of course it would be a Democrat. We're just surprised he hasn't made a crack about her weight or age yet.

Times, Post, or Daily News? Times. The News is nearly as good as when I read it every day when I was a kid. Is the Post still publishing?

Of course he would say the NY Times, that's where his old-buddy, the former TVNewser is now employed.

Yankees or Mets? Very tough. Grew up with the bad Yankees of the sixties and seventies. Worked with Joe Torre in TV in L.A. But the Mets are good people top to bottom. Just to muddy it further, I like the Red Sox, too.

More pandering to the audience. You can't love the Mets and the Yankees. And if you're a Yankee, you can't like the Red Sox. Any sports fan knows that. But Olbermann? Clueless.

What makes someone a New Yorker? Not standing gawking in the middle of the busiest sidewalk. And looking before you turn, or start walking backwards.?

And what makes someone a real news anchor? Just do the exact opposite of what Keith Olbermann does and you'll do just fine.

That bastion of left-wing radical thinking, the NY Times is ready, willing, and able to declare Olbermann the reason why NBC won the prime-time Nielsen ratings fight on Sunday night

CBS Outscores Football: Despite preseason football on NBC, CBS finished first in the ratings on Sunday, getting a boost from 60 Minutes and Big Brother. Nielsen estimated that the CBS news magazine attracted 8.8 million viewers at 7 p.m., while Big Brother, its 8 p.m. reality show, drew 7.6 million. Among adults 18 to 49, however, NBC finished on top, as the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles delivered 8.7 million viewers after a special broadcast at 7 of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann (4 million). CBS ranked second in that demographic, ahead of ABC's all-repeat lineup. Fox was fourth overall, as its Teen Choice Awards earned 4 million viewers from 8 to 10.

So Keith Olbermann was the reason that NBC won the night? That's certainly the impression that the NY Times wants the reader to have although a close look at the numbers provided in this article quickly reveal that in the 7 p.m. time slot, CBS's 60 Minutes got 8.8 million viewers; Olbermann? Just 4 million.

But let's go to a less-biased source shall we? How about Broadcasting & Cable, a "Bible" of the broadcasting industry.

NBC Wins Sunday Prime Despite Weak Olbermann Pre-Game. NBC won the 18-49 demo Sunday night with its coverage of the preseason intrastate rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. However, its tryout of Keith Olbermann in a pre-game edition of his MSNBC Countdown show was last among the Big Four in the 8-9 time period with a 1.3. NBC averaged a 2.7 rating/8 share in the demo for the night.

Much different take on Olbermann's ratings from B&C for sure. We especially liked this quote from B&C:

Obermann said last week he expected it to be a one-shot deal unless it was a success with viewers and affiliates.

Olbermann may lie but the numbers never do and the numbers here reveal that Olbermann does as well on Broadcast television as he does on Cable, i.e., a solid fourth placed finish! He must be so proud. But with Olbermann, everything is a ratings success. We're just surprised he's not trying to spin this to talk about how many times he was viewed on You Tube to try and boost his pitiful ratings numbers.

But lest the Olbyloons declare that B&C, the Bible of the Television industry is biased, let's go to the Hollywood Reporter. Hey, it's Hollywood, they love liberals right? Surely that has to have better news for Olbermann and his faithful band of lunatics? Nope. Numbers still don't lie.

NBC's preseason NFL battle of Pennsylvania seems to be the winner in Sunday night's primetime, though the one-shot "Countdown" on the broadcast network