TVSquad

Governor Blagojevich is nuts. Blame it on his flimsy grasp of reality or his hard-hat like haircut, the current (for how long, who knows) governor of Illinois is not quite there. How do we know this? Well, rather than appearing at his own impeachment trial he's decided to let the good citizens of the U.S. know that he's being railroaded by his own government via various media outlets.

The other determining factor on his nuttiness...he was considering naming Oprah Winfrey as Barack Obama's replacement to the U.S. Senate. Now, while Oprah is a respectable personality who has done much good for people around the globe, she is in no way qualified to become a U.S. Senator. I know that some of you Oprahites would heartily disagree with this, but even you know, deep down inside, that giving Oprah a Senate seat would not be a good idea.

And, frankly, I think Oprah would agree with you.

The celebrations may be over in Washington D.C. as President Barack Obama gets to work, but there's probably still some partying over at the networks as the ratings for the Inaugural Day coverage have begun to come in. Things look good for a number of networks as they continued their upward trend of viewership that began during election coverage.

Overall, nearly 38 million of viewers in the U.S. tuned into one of the 17 broadcast and cable networks to watch the inauguration events. While not the 41.8 million that watched Ronald Reagan's inauguration in 1981, it is the most viewers since that time. Breaking it down further, NBC, ABC and CNN led the way with the most viewers between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. Even further than that, NBC had the most viewers between 11:00 and the end of Obama's speech with a total of 11.5 million. In the world of the Internet, MSNBC was king with a total of 16.4 million unique visitors throughout the day.

By the time you read this the most important part of today's inaugural shebang will be over and the pomp and circumstance will be in full swing. Being such an important event for both America and the world, second only to the season finales of American Idol, every single media outlet known to man is covering every single minute of the day. Heck, I hear Spice is even covering this with a bunch of naked women correspondents in the crowd at the Mall (NOTE: That's a joke. Do not rampage around the area looking for these naked women.)

Because there are so many places to watch these festivities I would like to know where you are watching them from and who, if anyone, you are viewing them with. Myself, I'm dividing my time watching it on television with my wife and 2-year-old twins and via Internet (CBS.com) as I work from home. I know that my compatriots at the office are watching it via laptop hookup on the video conference screen.

So, let us know. And, if you're watching the ceremonies on one of the big Jumbotrons in Washington DC we'd like to hear from you.

Okay, 63 million viewers shouldn't be considered 'measly'. It is nearly 25% of the American population after all. Considering a normal show in primetime only garners a few million viewers each week (excluding shows like American Idol) that number is pretty good. And, while it doesn't compare to the whopping 70 million viewers that tuned into last week's Vice Presidential debate, the number is higher than the first debate between Senators Obama and McCain which garnered only 54 million viewers.

Why the uptick? Well, I'm no political or media analyst but there are probably a few factors. One is that we are one week closer to the election and Americans who are on the fence are now starting to take the race more seriously. Another is the rise in interest after the Vice Presidential debate (which, to me, seemed so rushed it gave me a headache). A third could be the format that the debate took place under -- a town hall style where both moderator and audience were able to ask questions. Unfortunately, moderator Tom Brokaw asked more of the questions than the audience, which made the 'Town Hall' format somewhat pointless.

There's another Bill in Hillary Clinton's life now. Talk show pundit Bill O'Reilly, who interviewed Clinton on his Fox News show, The O'Reilly Factor this week. The interview covered a lot of territory, including the economy, high gas prices, illegal immigrants, the war on terror, and foreign policy.

All the presidential candidates have their strengths and weaknesses, but Clinton made a smart move towards unifying her platform by agreeing to the O'Reilly interview. Although they're on opposite ends of the spectrum politically, O'Reilly and Clinton showed that two diverse personalities can sit down together and have an intelligent debate about the issues without resorting to a screaming match.

Lost is perhaps the ultimate in TV fiction. The storytelling is the stuff of vivid imaginations and it's gotten millions watching and wondering and tuning in for more. Of course, in the midst of all that fantasy, some things we've taken as fact, like most of the technology. For instance, I don't know about you, but I believed those satellite phones they've been using since Naomi parachuted onto the island last season were the real thing. Well, guess what, it's no more of a reality than Mr. Spock's tricorder on Star Trek!

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody that PVR owners are more likely to skip commercials than other people. A recent study shows that while PVR owners skip about 33% of the ads when watching TV, 44% of PVR users say that television commercials are still the most important source of political news.

In other words, candidates are spending their money in the right place -- but only if they're happy getting less return for their money. PVR users tend to be younger and more affluent than other television audiences, and therefore they tend to spend more time online.