Never would have guessed this:

The hottest show on television right now isn’t about doctors or celebrity dancers; it’s the long-in-tooth “60 Minutes.” The Sunday newsmagazine has been the No. 1 program on television among total viewers for two weeks running. Last week, the week ended Nov. 16, it was also No. 2 in adults 18-49, generating its best ratings in nearly a decade across a slew of demos thanks to an interview with president elect Barack Obama and wife Michelle. “Minutes” averaged 25.1 million total viewers, 5.83 million more than the No. 2 show for the week, NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” It was the newsmagazine’s largest audience since a January 1999 episode drew 25.8 million viewers, when the program got a huge boost airing out of a highly rated NFL playoff game.

Obama got the kid-glove treatment from 60 Minutes, of course, but Mrs. Obama was in her usual mode: “I looked at him and said, ‘You are the 44th president of the United States of America.’ Wow, what a country we live in.” Because there is nothing remarkable about the United States of America — which is “downright mean,” &c. — beyond the career of Barack Obama.

To his credit, Steve Croft of 60 Minutes, unlike the folks at Salon, did not touch on the subject of Mrs. Obama’s buttocks.