Despite Olbermann Being Out, March is Best Month for ‘Countdown’ This Quarter

As we reported, yesterday was Keith Olbermann’s official return to MSNBC after being away for more than a month. And with the March ratings period now complete (it ended Sunday), Olbermann’s substitute host, Lawrence O’Donnell, helped give “Countdown” its best month of the quarter, but still down — 21% — compared to March ’09. March was also the best month of Q1 2010 for The Ed Show (6p), Hardball (7p) and Rachel Maddow (9p).

We’ll have the quarterly ratings for each of the cable news networks this afternoon…