TVSquad

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.

When the folks at The Daily Show announced that they were going to do a live broadcast from Washington on Inauguration Day, I'm sure a lot of people envisioned Jon Stewart behind a desk in some D.C.-area college auditorium, with up-to-the-minute field reports and maybe even a brief appearance from President Obama ... or at least someone near and dear to him.

What we got was Stewart sitting behind his New York desk, and ... pretty much a normal episode of TDS. In fact, nothing about it indicated to me that they needed to make it live. The only parts that came from the nation's capital, in fact, were a shot of reporter Wyatt Cenac at the Youth Inaugural Ball and a satellite interview with Bishop Gene Robinson, who did the invocation at the Lincoln Memorial concert on Monday.

I've been waiting a long time for a piece of history big enough to justify writing a running diary for this column. I thought I had it when Rock of Love: Tour Bus was announced (has one show ever advanced the cause of dimwitted, surgically-enhanced skanks more than this one?), but my editors wanted to wait until we had something just a little bit bigger.

It occurred to me last fall that Barack Obama being inaugurated would be a pretty big deal. So I called some of my friends in the liberal media and asked them to arrange for Obama to win the election, then waited patiently until yesterday. Now, after months of waiting, we're ready to roll.

The running diary starts after the jump...

If you're a regular Top Chef watcher -- like me -- you know that when it comes to being a straight-shooter, down to earth, regular person, professional chef Tom Colicchio fills the bill. He's a tough judge, but pretty fair. He's also supposedly a world-class chef and restaurant mogul, but since I've never been to any of the Craft restaurants to had him cook a meal for me, I have to assume that's true.

One thing I do know is true, however, is that Tom Colicchio saved a life. Seriously.

On Monday night at a pre-Inaugural benefit in Washington, D.C., hosted by cookbook scribe Joan Nathan, when the hostess choked on a piece of chicken and author Alice Waters screamed for someone to help her, Chef Tom rushed over, assessed the situation and gave Ms. Nathan the Heimlich maneuver. After a few pulls, the chicken was dislodged and the party resumed.

I started watching the Inauguration coverage this morning on ABC, where Charlie Gibson intoned about the historical aspects of this event while Diane Sawyer awkwardly tried to keep up. In the third chair was George Stephanopoulos, who I like, but have never paid a whole lot of attention to. He got my attention, however, during this coverage with his constant interjections of random facts.

A few things I learned from George Stephanopoulos this morning:

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.

Have you gotten Inauguration Fatigue yet (I capitalized it because I hope to make it an official, WebMD-listed affliction)? Hopefully, you haven't, because it's going to be "All Obama, All The Time" today, so you might as well sit back, get a cup of coffee, and enjoy the pomp and circumstance.

Thanks to our friends at Hulu, you don't even have to leave the computer. They're streaming Fox News' coverage of the ceremonies (hopefully, Sean Hannity is being kept in a safe location so we don't see him sobbing and rending his garments). For convenience, I've added the stream after the jump (Warning: it plays automatically, so put those headphones on now).

Ah, life in the near-teens is good, isn't it? You can watch the inauguration and slave away at your soon-to-disappear job without even having to get up from your desk. Now get back to work, people!

If you have the attention span of a mosquito on espresso but still want to witness what will surely be the most historic moment in television since the night of the moon landing and the day Fonzie jumped that literal and metaphorical shark, Comedy Central has the cure.

The Daily Show will go live in their usual time slot on the day of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.

For those of you who don't read the newspaper anymore, that's Tuesday, January 20. Don't worry, I had to Google the date too.

If you want to watch the star-studded inaugural ceremonies for the President-elect Obama, you have exactly one choice for the channel to watch it on: HBO. Don't worry, HBO is allowing anyone with a cable box to watch, even if they don't subscribe.

I recognize that someone has to pay for such an event without burdening the taxpayers (although the taxpayers do pay for the actual swearing in and security), but doesn't this contradict the Obama's campaign pledge of no corporate sponsorship? After all, HBO is part of a larger corporation, Time Warner.

On the other hand, for a star-studded event, I'd rather have an entertainment company sponsor it. Since it will probably be watched by many people (Obama lovers and haters alike), it's a good advertising opportunity for HBO. Also, HBO can make money on anyone who re-broadcasts even a portion of the event. And if it's an entertainment company that finances the event, better HBO than MTV. It would be quite tasteless if the event had any wardrobe malfunctions.

At least in terms of geography. Oprah has recently been named the most powerful woman in entertainment. And now, she's going to prove it by heading to Washington D.C. to be near President-elect Obama when he takes the oath of office on January 20th. She'll be taping a live episode of her show on January 19th, the day before.

I can never prove this, but I'm fairly certain that it was the Oprah endorsement that drove Democratic primary voters away from Hillary Clinton and towards Obama (and if that isn't a display of power, I don't know what is). I don't know how difficult the choice was for her, considering her audience is a female majority. It does beg the question of whether society would benefit more from a victory of race or one of gender.

Mind you, I don't think there was a wrong decision in this instance, but she made her choice and backed a particular horse and is now reaping the benefits. Good for her.