That Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann continue playing both hard news anchor and opinionated talking heads is of no consequence to NBC News president Steve Capus. Responding to taunts from Fox News' Chris Wallace made earlier this week at the Television Critics Association annual event, Capus told MSNBC's audience he has no plans to change the formula, where his star power pundits anchor news coverage like elections while going on the air every night to deride the right wing. Says Olbermann: "We know there are different rules for us, and the viewers — I think based on how many of them have turned out — know there are different rules."

And Capus agrees: "The audience gets it, and that’s the single biggest factor that I see."

Hey, remember when a certain other left-leaning institution thought their audience would "get it"?

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Frank Bruni's got nothing on Salon's Heather Havrilesky, whose tales of 30-item breakfasts, hors d'oeuvres, and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate (courtesy Fox) has completely reshaped our opinion on what the Television Critics Association's annual event has to offer. Sure, we've got Keith Olbermann fueling his Bill O'Reilly feud and Katie Couric's revamped position on reporting from the Middle East, but foodie porn at a notoriously stuff event bests any account. Writes Havrilesky:

But most important, there's the food. Why didn't anyone tell me about the food? Apparently, after years of manipulating TV critics, publicists have figured out that we're a comfort-oriented species, likely to do anything in pursuit of a soft chair and a salty snack. Accordingly, food is the absolute highlight of the tour, used to lure pale cave dwellers out of their dim abodes in search of chocolate brownies and strawberry-basil smoothies.

Take the promotional mailing I got in the mail yesterday, which looks just like one of those breakfast menus that hang on the doors of nice hotels, where you can check off the foods you want delivered to your room the next morning. This mailing, for an event promoting something called "The Greg Behrendt Show," briefly details the location and time of the event at the top, then lists more than 30 different breakfast foods that will be available there (I'm not exaggerating), including bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese, chocolate beignets, potato pancakes topped with homemade applesauce, hickory-smoked bacon, espresso, pomegranate juice, homemade blueberry muffins and fresh fruit kabobs.

Though it's easy to trumpet trays of food when compared to Project Runway's offering: orange Tic Tacs and parsley leaves.

I Like to Watch [Heather Havrilesky, Salon]