Big Head DC couldn’t help but notice Jacques Steinberg’s hit piece on the Fox Business Network ratings in the NY Times this morning. We hear Steinberg had been working on the story for weeks, but he ended up having some company in the form of Howie Kurtz, Phil Rosenthal and Richard Huff…all of whom had FBN executives commenting on the nascent network’s eight-week performance. Talk about having your ass handed to you! But what really stuck out in all of this was Steinberg’s overly cozy relationship with NBC. Big Head DC did a quick search and found more than 10 fawning features in one year involving NBC networks. We just have one question, does Jeff Zucker rub Steinberg’s belly every time he lays down for NBC, MSNBC and CNBC:

5 Dec 2007 NBC Newscaster…

6 Nov 2007 Cable Channel Nods…

23 Dec 2007 Talking Politics…

4 Oct 2007 New Video gives SNL…

23 Sept 2007 30 Rock Lives…

11 Sept 2007 A Today at a Time…

14 June 2007 NBC Developing Web…

17 May 2007 New Producer at Nightly News…

22 March 2007 Ann Curry’s Ambition…

7 Feb 2007 Zucker’s Bumpy Ride…

17 Jan 2007 NBC to add… 

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So, you might be hearing that the Democratic party has voted to keep Stephen Colbert off the ballots in South Carolina. But it might get even worse for him very soon: His Comedy Central show could be in jeopardy, too!

With a TV writers’ strike looming, his program would be one of the first to go off the air, since it relies on fresh material each day. Experts say there’s no way the show could function if its writers stop working.

Unless Colbert is willing to put on his dancing shoes, that is. Notes a commenter on Zap2It: “I recall a 1988 episode of MOONLIGHTING, where David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybil Shepherd) filled the last 10 minutes of the show with singing and dancing because they ran out of script, as the writers were on strike! It was a classy way to make fun of a bad situation!”

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Big Head DC hears that FOX’s 24 is heading to Washington in early November. Get ready for some explosions — and hopefully not from any of Kiefer Sutherland’s now infamous drunken antics.

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Big Head DC hears that Maria Bartiromo, CNBC’s perennial “money honey,” is quite dismayed by some remarks Chris Matthews made regarding Republicans at last week’s 10th anniversary Hardball bash. The financial reporter is scheduled to co-host a GOP presidential debate along with Matthews on Tuesday night, to be aired on both CNBC and MSNBC.

TV news insiders tell us that Bartiromo is concerned that Matthews’ statements could hurt ratings for the debate, and she’s already apparently received some blow back from conservatives regarding the situation.

“God help us if we had Cheney during the Cuban missile crisis,” Matthews was quoted as saying last week regarding the vice president. “We’d all be under a parking lot.” He added that the VP’s office has called MSNBC honchos many times to complain about the content of his program.

“They’ve finally been caught in their criminality,” Matthews continued.

Bartiromo had hoped that the debate would shine a positive spotlight on her network with the launch date of a new competitor, FOX Business Network, fast approaching. Read more…

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Sources close to the production of NBC’s 30 Rock tell Radar that former Vice President Al Gore has recently taped an appearance for an upcoming episode.

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