SkimIt
Spend all week huddled under a pile of blankets because it's so insanely cold outside you just don't want to get out of bed? Here's what you missed on TV.
Inauguration Moments
You would think the biggest moment of the President's Inauguration would have been, well, the Inauguration. Way too much time was spent on the question of whether or not Beyoncé lip-synched the national anthem (answer: it doesn't matter if she did or not). But the highlights coverage wasn't all controversy. There were some great moments of the First Family as they waited for the ceremonies to begin, with Barack and Michelle Obama mugging for photos their daughters Sasha and Malia were taking with their phones (apparently they even snapped a kiss pic). It was completely charming. Similarly, an unplanned moment where the President took a few seconds to look out over the crowds on the mall, saying "I'm not going to see this again," felt humble, human and touching.
Meeting of the Minds
Two of my favorite people in popular culture are Today weatherman Al Roker and Vice-President Joe Biden. So it was a particular giggle during the Inaugural Parade to see Roker become absolutely giddy as the Veep and his wife came closer to his spot on the parade route, and to see Biden rush over to shake Roker's hand. Roker's dance of triumph, complete with a hip-hop drop-the-mic moment, was the goofy highlight of the day.
Getting Out of Brooklyn
Allison Williams, best known as good girl Marnie on Girls, concluded her guest stint on The Mindy Project as a potential love interest for the perpetually grumpy Dr. Danny Castellano (Chris Messina). Her description of the date she has planned for them -- a night at an experimental theater troupe doing audience-participation versions of old Golden Girls episodes -- fit right in with the increasingly quirky tone of this series, which is really finding its footing. The opening scene, featuring Mindy taking a nap in a face mask straight out of a low-budget horror film, was the funniest the show has been.
The End, Or Not
Parenthood wrapped up its season early with the show's ultimate fate still on the bubble. So this episode had the feel of a potential series finale as well. All of the season's story lines were neatly wrapped up, most notably that of Kristina (Monica Potter), who received a complete all-clear on her breast cancer screening. Which is good, because with this show's occasionally tendency to go the tearjerker route, the writers could easily have chosen to go the other direction with it.
The End, For Sure
Grey's Anatomy spinoff Private Practice never really seemed to find a reason to exist other than the fact that ABC let showrunner Shonda Rhimes do a spinoff, and with Rhimes now preoccupied with the much buzzier Scandal, there was no reason for the series to extend beyond this week's series finale. So it ended, as it must, with a wedding. Actually, two weddings: not only did Addison (Kate Walsh) marry Jake (Benjamin Bratt) as planned, but exes Sam (Taye Diggs) and Naomi (Audra McDonald) reconciled following an impulsive hook-up and unplanned pregnancy; the series ended with their own ceremony.
