No surprise here: The Obama interview pulled huge numbers for "60 Minutes" last night. The final figures are still being crunched, because CBS had a roughly 30-minute football overrun in East Coast markets.

But it looks like about 24.5 million people tuned in to Steve Kroft's sit-down with Barack and Michelle Obama, which amounts to the highest score for "60 Minutes" since January 1999.

The Obamas came off as remarkably relaxed, given everything that's transpired in the past two weeks. As always, Barack and Michelle exude love and respect for each other and their family in a way that is inspiring, touching and comforting. You want these qualities in a first family.

The seg, which was devoted to the interview other than the Andy Rooney bit at the end, had a healthy adults 18-49 aud (6.4 rating/16 share) and adults 25-54 (8.2/19), although those numbers are also subject to revision once the finals come in tomorrow.

For "60 Minutes," as important as the ratings harvest is the prestige that the Obamas have conferred by granting this coveted first major interview to the venerable granddaddy of TV newsmags. You can't go wrong by going with the Rolls-Royce of TV news, of course, but Kroft has also clearly earned the trust of the Obamas. He's covered Barack Obama extensively during the past few years, and he did an insightful profile of the then looooooong-shot candidate shortly after Obama announced his presidential bid in January 2007.

Click here for a glimpse of our first couple-in-waiting, from "60 Minutes," which is the envy of all news orgs this weekend for landing the first post-election sit-down with President-elect Obama and Michelle Obama.

They're young, whip-smart, good-looking and they have a sense of humor. What's not to love?

CBS won't let us grab the vid to embed just yet, but they did provide a handy transcript of the clip from the interview conducted today by "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft.

STEVE KROFT: When did it sink in?

MICHELLE OBAMA:  I remember, we were watching the returns and, on one of the stations, Barack's picture came up and it said, "President-Elect Barack Obama." And I looked at him and said, ‘You are the 44th president of the United States of America. Wow. What a country we live in.” 

BARACK OBAMA: How about that?

MICHELLE OBAMA: Yeah.

BARACK OBAMA: Yeah. Yeah. And then she said "Are you going take the girls to school in the morning?" (LAUGHTER)

MICHELLE OBAMA: I did not. (LAUGHTER) I didn't say that.

Right off the bat, Tribune's innovator-in-chief Lee Abrams wanted to get one thing straight: That 3,000-word memo he wrote about newspapers needing to be more rock 'n' roll? He meant that the business of gathering and disseminating news and information in the Internet age has as much raw potential as Elvis had in his pelvis in 1952. ("America needs a heartbeat, and we can deliver that on 21st Century terms," Abrams opined in March.)

The news biz "has never been more vibrant," Abrams said Thursday night during a Q&A at the Los Angeles Press Club. "It's alive. It's exciting. It's the place to be. Let's get on board this thing. The opportunities are stronger than ever."

To reiterate, "It's an exciting time to be reporting on all the shit that's going on in the world," Abrams observed. Abrams, senior veep and chief innovation officer for Tribune Co., was 50% of a panel on the future of news that also included former Los Angeles Daily News editor Ron Kaye, who has found his blogging calling at RonKayeLa.com since getting fired from the Daily Snooze in April. (Pictured from left, Abrams, Kaye and moderator Ezra Palmer)

Appointed to Sam Zell's extreme Tribune makeover team in April, Abrams is seen as the guy behind all of the redesigns and "rethinking" going on at the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and other Tribune-owned newspapers. He has a long resume in radio and marketing, but none in newspapering, which made journos in and outside of Tribune highly skeptical of his ideas for "reinventing" newspapers.

Abrams stressed on Thursday that he's an idea and inspiration guy, but final decisions on redesigns on content are left to the local management of each paper. ("Until they're not" -- You just could see the thought balloon hovering over the heads of the crowd, which numbered about 50.)

All in all, Abrams came off as affable, smart and well-meaning, though I couldn't get the image of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers out of my head as I tried to think of the character actor that he resembles.

Barack Obama looked so ... presidential in his first live televised news conference.

Where was the smirk? The pathetic attempts at humor? The wincing and squinting and squirming at tough questions? The tripping over the tongue?

Obama, sporting a dark suit and baby-blue tie, came off so calm, cool, collected and in charge, and telegenic as all get-out. Goodness knows we never got much of that from "The George W. Bush Show," with all of its bad acting, ridiculous scripts and horrendous plots.

With Obama's resonant voice and natural ease in front of cameras and microphones, he could have had a career in broadcasting had he not gone into politics.

Given the flood of bad economic news this morning, Obama opened Friday's newser in what felt like an appropriately somber tone. At first he seemed to be keeping a close eye on his prepared remarks, but he warmed up during the Q&A period. He also knows how to warm up a room full of reporters, paying respect to the local print journos who covered him when. Obama made a point of calling out for a question from Chicago Tribune's John McCormick ("let's give the home town local guy a little bit of time"), and a few moments later asked Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet "what happened to your arm?"

(Those of us watching on TV couldn't see exactly but I'm guessing she had a brace or cast on. From what we could gather it was some kind of injury she got in the crowd at Grant Park on Tuesday night for Obama's victory celebration. As the prez-elected noted, Sweet's injury "was probably the only major incident during the entire Grant Park celebration.")

Sweet asked the sweet question of exactly what kind of dog the Obamas are planning to get for their daughters, as the president-elect noted in his victory speech on Tuesday night. Obama showed a sense of humor by noting that "this is a major issue for the Obamas" and that there are "two criteria that need to be reconciled" in regard to the procurement of the pooch.