Early numbers suggest Grammy telecast was second most-watched in its history

Based on what I saw on my personal Twitter feed last night, many of you tuned in for the Grammy Awards on CBS.

The awards show, which aired just one day after the sudden death of singer Whitney Houston, may turn out to be the second most-watched Grammy telecast in the program's history. Media Life Magazine reports that the show averaged 41.6 million viewers and drew a rating of 14.4, which was up from 10.8 last year.

Those numbers come from Nielsen and are preliminary. More detailed numbers should be out soon, and I'll update them when they do arrive.

CBS' 60 Minutes also received a healthy reception last night. The program's interview with multiple-Grammy winner Adele helped the show to a 2.9 rating.

And CBS wasn't alone in drawing viewers. A special edition of Dateline NBC focused on the death of Houston helped the Peacock Network draw in more viewers to that show than it's had in two-and-a-half years (Aug. 2009). That show grabbed a 1.6 rating, which, for NBC, is quite respectable.