SPECIAL EDITION: debate ratings; 'fury in Missouri;' moderator reviews; Billy Bush's uncertain future at NBC; what about the third debate?

By Brian Stelter & the CNNMoney Media team SPECIAL "MORNING AFTER" EDITION... Debate #2 did not beat #1 I'm poring over the metered market data now, and it appears that the Clinton-Trump "rematch" did not top the ratings for "round one." Per Fox Sports research guru/avid twitterer Michael Mulvihill, the debate had a 37.2 overnight rating and 53 share across six major networks/cablers. That's "19% lower than the 1st debate," 46.2/63, across seven networks. The difference, of course, was NBC, which aired "Sunday Night Football" instead of the debate last night. During the first debate, the NFL competition came from cable (ESPN), not broadcast. There are numerous other factors, including Sunday programming on other networks and delayed Nielsen #'s from markets affected by the hurricane. There's also this theory: People are getting sick and tired of this election. "Repulsed," said one top TV exec just now... Here's the link to my rating story... I'm about to update it with more info... Even more online chatter Last night's debate generated even more online attention than the first Clinton-Trump face-off did. According to Facebook, which crunched its numbers overnight, this was "the most talked-about debate on Facebook -- ever." The same thing was true over on Twitter. "Tonight's #debate was the most tweeted ever," the company said...  -- This won't surprise you: Both social networks found that Trump dominated online chatter, garnering a lot more "share of conversation" than Clinton... Was last night the "pilot" for Trump TV? Many political analysts are pointing out that Trump was shoring up his base... Recycling lines from his rallies... And generally acting like a GOP primary candidate. I would just add: He also acted like a host on a hypothetical "Trump TV" network...   -- Flashback: September 16: Trump denies plans for "Trump TV" Is this "the Breitbart election?" Dylan Byers writes: Decades-old stories about alleged sexual violence by Bill Clinton have been sustained by a far-right media echo-chamber that has been at war with the Clintons since the 1990s. With the help of Breitbart, Trump has dredged it all back up...  -- More: Trump surrogates not only defended his tactics, they also praised Breitbart for keeping alive stories that the mainstream media would not cover... never mind that many of Clinton's accusers' stories were thoroughly covered in the 1990s...  -- Dylan's bottom line: Trump has forced the talking points and conspiracies of the far right into the national spotlight. Whether that is a benefit or a detriment to his campaign remains to be seen... "The Spectacle in St. Louis" Dan Balz offers a catchy name for what happened last night. Once again, "Trump took Campaign 2016 to places no one could have imagined when it all began," he writes in this must-read...  -- John Berman suggests another title that rolls off the tongue for TV: "Fury in Missouri" Drudge's banner this morning: "SO VICIOUS"  So much fodder for followups  Check out Brian Lowry's review of the broadcast -- here's an excerpt: Trump's aggressive, occasionally belligerent approach might have helped him get through the 90-plus minutes, especially in light of how much on the defensive he was after a weekend of bruising media coverage. Yet once again, several of his statements figure to have a long tail. These debates are not just about the night on which they are held, and the key moments of them can't be divorced from the attack ads and Monday-morning quarterbacking they'll produce.  Specifically, Trump seemingly confirmed the New York Times report that suggested he hadn't paid federal taxes in close to 20 years; disavowed a statement by his running mate, Mike Pence, eliciting overt surprise from Raddatz; dismissed his videotaped comments about women as "locker room talk," before changing the subject; and again interrupted Clinton multiple times. Read the rest of his column here... About the moderating NYT's Michael Grynbaum: "They dug for revelations, extracting news nuggets... They pressed for specifics, interrupting the candidates to demand concrete strategies... And they posed blunt, provocative questions..." More: Anderson Cooper and Martha Raddatz "seemed to cast off the hand-wringing pressures on this year's crop of moderators — Is fact-checking mandatory? Are interruptions O.K.? — and put themselves directly in the mix of a high-stakes encounter. The immediate response was praise from many journalists and some grumbling from partisans." Look, I'm biased in favor of assertive questioning, but I think Grynbaum hit the nail on the head here -- praise from journalists, grumbling from partisans. Both Clinton and Trump were asked very tough questions. Both Clinton and Trump were forced to adhere to the time limits... Trump is complaining... Trump objected to the moderators several times. "One on three," he said. His campaign pressed the point afterward, releasing a YouTube video titled "Moderator Fail." Let's see if he comes back around to this critique later today... He hasn't tweeted yet... The view from ABC  An ABC source texts: "Martha and Anderson did their jobs. We feel great about their prep and performance. But the discourse itself -- the vitriol -- the ugliness -- feels dark and depressing." A post-show smile Martha Raddatz just tweeted this post-debate picture and wrote, "True teamwork." What about the third debate? I think we have to ask the question: Is Trump definitely going to attend the third debate? He has not threatened to boycott, but some reporters are predicting that he will. CNN's MJ Lee tweeted: "A lot of complaining about moderators' fairness from Trump tonight. This will be his reason for not participating in a 3rd debate." NYT/CNN's Maggie Haberman made this point: "A Trump adviser predicted last week that if he was seen as doing well at this debate, he might skip next one..."  -- Related: WashPost's overnight scoop: "Trump wanted to put Bill Clinton's accusers in his family box. Debate officials said no." And now there's new tension between the Trump campaign and the debate commission... What media types are saying  -- Mika: "He produced a day-long show that rocked the political world..."  -- Joe: "It was Donald Trump's most effective debate performance to date. There's not a close second..."  -- NH Union Leader's Grant Bosse: "Clinton probably performed badly enough to keep Trump on the ballot. So big win for her..."  -- MZ Hemingway right after the debate: "MSNBC says that it was a bad night for the country, which translates immediately as 'Trump Crushed It.'"  -- Slate: "Rudy Giuliani yelling about 'semen on her dress' was a fitting end to #debate night..."  -- Larry King: "Roger Ailes is hardly the best advisor regarding treatment of women..."  -- Perhaps most importantly: John Dickerson on CBS: "A major party in the United States is having a crisis at the moment..." Billy Bush is unlikely to return to "Today" On this morning's "Today" show, Savannah Guthrie told viewers about Billy Bush's suspension. ICYMI, this was announced last night... Was effective immediately... And has no end date.  My latest reporting: "He will never be on the show again," an on-air source says, reflecting what staffers are saying behind the scenes. A second source at the network confirms that his return is unlikely... What Bill Carter said on "New Day" "He's suspended or perhaps fired for what he said. The other guy's running, still, to be the head of the free world." Alisyn Camerota agreed that the difference is "striking..." Coming later today on CNNMoney.com... Bill Carter has a column in the works about NBC... I just have ONE question Can someone get to the bottom of the sniffling? Congratulations, Andrew Kaczynski!  Via Playbook: Andrew Kaczynski, senior editor and reporter at CNN's KFILE who just left BuzzFeed, recently got engaged to WSJ banking reporter Rachel Louise Ensign." Thanks for reading. We'll be back with a full newsletter this evening... Tell us what you think... What do you like about this newsletter? What do you dislike? Send your feedback to reliablesources@cnn.com. We appreciate every email... Paid Content Share Forward Tweet Subscribe to Reliable Sources Get Reliable Sources, a comprehensive summary of the most important media news, delivered to your inbox every afternoon. Tips, thoughts or questions are always welcome at  reliablesources@cnn.com. ® © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc. A Time Warner Company.  All Rights Reserved. You are receiving this message because you subscribed to CNNMoney's "Reliable Sources" newsletter. Our mailing address is: Cable News Network, Inc. Attention: Privacy Policy Coordinator One CNN Center, 13 North Atlanta, GA 30303 unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences    Reliable Sources View this email in your browser