I generally like (and subscribe) to Salon but their coverage of television — especially late night — often demonstrates a lack of understanding the business and what the reporter is watching. This morning, they have a story up about how Keith Olbermann made a surprise return to TV with a silent cameo on Letterman's show the other night. That might be news if Olbermann had done any such thing. It says there "The former MSNBC shows his face to American viewers." I think the word "host" is missing from that line but even with that in there, it's wrong. The more correct line would be, "Letterman's show reuses old footage of Olbermann from 2008."
Remember when John McCain "suspended" his campaign for the White House and bailed at the last minute on an appearance with Dave? Olbermann was brought in to be the replacement guest. While K.O. was there, they recorded a couple of little bits with him and the show's stage manager Biff Henderson and used them on subsequent programs. Letterman would allude to the fact that they had someone standing by in case another guest didn't show…and then they'd cut to the tape of Olbermann backstage, waiting for an opening. That was the same piece of video.
The article quotes a Tweet that Olbermann put up afterwards referring to his "cameo" (he put it in quotes) and mentioning how it looked surprisingly like a cameo from 2008. But they still headlined the piece to suggest Olbermann had decided to show his face on TV again by showing his face on Letterman's show. The fact is that Mr. Olbermann didn't go anywhere or lift a finger to make that happen. CBS might have asked his permission to reuse the old footage but I doubt they even did that.