Robert Halderman, the former CBS producer now serving jail time for his failed attempt to blackmail David Letterman, finally received some good news in his cell today, but, unfortunately for him, it had nothing to do with his sentence: he’s nominated for an Emmy.

In a 180 degree reversal from when his lawyer made the media rounds last year, the CBS producer accused of attempted extortion of David Letterman will plead guilty today and serve six months in jail.

Robert Halderman and his lawyer had previously maintained his innocence, but now he’ll take a plea deal.

A “Talk of the Town” item in this week’s New Yorker uses the extortion case involving Dave Letterman and CBS producer Robert Halderman — which keeps getting weirder and weirder, and doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon — as a jumping-off point for a closer look at blackmail.

It was never about money for Robert Halderman. It was about revenge and jealousy. It was about David Letterman hugging his girlfriend. This morning, Howard Kurtz writes in the Washington Post that Halderman, the man who attempted to squeeze Dave Letterman for some $2 million, was motivated to blackmail the late night host after he saw him ‘passionately embrace’ his girlfriend.

Based on the coverage David Letterman‘s alleged love life is getting these days you’d be forgiven for concluding that Letterman wasn’t the victim of a $2 million extortion plot but the subject of an undercover investigation or sexual harassment lawsuit. Accuracy seems to be taking a back seat to scandalous headlines.

Tonight Dave Letterman goes back on the air after one hell of a weekend. And I’m already confused.

Thursday night — as I’m sure you know by now — he went on the air and told an extraordinary story, first about being blackmailed and then about what he’d been blackmailed for. “Creepy” things, that vague descriptor, was put into a little sharper focus like so: “I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.”

Over at The Huffington Post, they’ve been treating the news of David Letterman‘s shocking affairs with staffers — and the extortionist who tried to squeeze Letterman for $2 million dollars, suspected to be Robert “Joe” Halderman — with their trademark blanket coverage, leaving no stone unturned. The secret winner? Jay Leno. Ads for his show are popping up all around the news of his rival’s troubles.

On national television, before an audience of millions (and no doubt many millions more via YouTube in the days to come), CBS Late Show host David Letterman admitted that he had had affairs with female staffers on his show — and was being blackmailed by someone about it, to the tune of $2 million.