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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It looks like long-time TV critic Roger Ebert deserves two thumbs up for garnering the top punditry prize in the nation from Forbes magazine. What exactly does that mean? Well! It means that out of all the talking heads you see and read each day, he’s the best of the best. Apparently.

Ebert beat out some really loud people you might have thought to be shoe-ins in such a battle of brawn. Bill Maher was ranked second, followed by FOX News’ king Bill O’Reilly; Senate candidate Al Franken; TV “journalist” Geraldo Rivera; Rosie O’Donnell; film critic Leonard Maltin; legal commentator Greta Van Susteren; CNN news commentator Lou Dobbs; and basketball analyst Bill Walton.

Jesse Jackson, Sean Hannity and Keith Olbermann were among near misses for the top ten.

Interestingly, liberal Web pundits like Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos and Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo scored high “likability ratings” with certain population segments, but their awareness numbers, which are more important than appeal, according to the Forbes polling team, were “barely on the radar screen.”

The same is largely true of elite, but popular, newspaper columnists like Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd, and Robert Novak.

So! What to take away from all this? Grab some popcorn, stow your politics and start watchin’ some movies.

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Brian Steel, a lawyer, has been appointed new Vice President of Public Relations at CNBC. You’ll recall that Big Head DC first told you last month that CNBC was considering replacing Kevin Goldman, who had performed PR for the net to this point. Insiders said at the time that NBC honchos didn’t think Goldman was up to the task of taking on the upcoming FOX Business Channel. Goldman will now be forced to report to Steel.

Good luck, Mr. Steel — and watch out for knives that may one day fly toward your back….

And thanks to TVNewser’s Chris Ariens for noting our scoop. So much classier than Patrick Gavin!

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Former MSNBC’r turned TVNewser editor Chris Ariens seems to be struggling to maintain the relevancy of the once dominant Mediabistro property.  Read more…

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“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,” warns Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici.

As Olbermann makes gains in the ratings against O’Reilly, his “hyperbolic attacks” have also increased, notes the writer.

Well, duh!

Isn’t Olbermann’s grandstanding the precise reason for his ratings increases? Why ease up when it seems to be working? Olbermann loves a cat fight, after all, and we’re more than willing to bear a few scratches for a little entertainment. Just ask our pussies!

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Overall ratings for FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly remain higher than those of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, but Olbermann is making some huge gains in crucial demographics.

In fact, as Olbermann noted on his program last night, he defeated O’Reilly in the 25-54 demographic on Friday. It’s the first time Olbermann has done so when O’Reilly was not in repeats or had a guest host.

Some, including CBSNews.com’s Matthew Felling on Morning Joe this morning, are crediting Olbermann’s gains to his appearances on NBC’s “Football Night in America” where Olbermann has become a halftime panelist.

Others are crediting some odd choices of coverage at FOX News in general. For instance, last evening, while a majority of Olbermann’s show was devoted to the Gen. Petraeus report, O’Reilly spent a sizable segment on a missing UK child.

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