By Amanda Ernst on Nov 12, 2009 03:30 PM

The Internet has been abuzz about Palin-impregnator Levi Johnston's plans to pose for Playgirl, so let's just assume you know all about the photo shoot that's going down right now here in New York. It seems the magazine, which went online only after its January/February 2009 issue went to press last year -- with little success -- is planning a comeback of sorts.

So we asked Nicole Caldwell, who formerly served as editor-in-chief at Playgirl before its print edition was shuttered, to let us in on the behind the scenes workings at Playgirl today. Caldwell has been brought back on board to help put together one "special" issue of the magazine for this year and four more for 2010. She will be interviewing Johnston during his shoot today and tomorrow, and the whole package (ahem) will run online only -- and may be up on Playgirl.com by next week. She spoke to us about the relationship between Johnston and the struggling Playgirl brand, shooting down the idea that the magazine faltered because of a disconnect between the staff and the magazine's audience.

"What matters is Playgirl being back in the public eye if for no other reason than the one I joined the magazine in the first place for: Women should have every available sexual outlet men do," Caldwell told FishbowlNY. "Levi is symbolic: He's become a public figure, he holds allure for a wide cross-section of the American public, he knocked up the VP contender's daughter, and he's willing to pose nude at a time when most people stubbornly continue to consider male nudity more extreme than female nudity. He's young, he's hot, he's virile, and he goes against every stereotype out-of-touch people have for a magazine they've never read: that Fabio-type guy with locks down his chest who I've only seen in 1980s Playgirls."

[Read the rest of this article here.]
[Originally published at FishbowlNY.com]