• by Wayne Friedman , February 14, 2011

Big event television is still strong. A week ago the Super Bowl posted another TV viewing record, and now the Grammys score its best numbers in seven years. 

CBS' "The 53rd Grammy Awards" gained 1% over a year ago to a Nielsen 10.0 rating/27 share among the 18-49 audience and a 3% hike to 26.5 million overall average viewers. Earlier in the evening, "60 Minutes" upped its number by 50% to a 2.1/7 from its last original episode.

All this left many shows in the dust -- mostly around the 2.0 rating line among 18-49 viewers.

For example, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" at 9 p.m. was flattened to another series low, a 2.6/5 share -- down almost 20% from its recent original episode. ABC's 10 p.m. show also hit the skids, landing a 1.8/5, while NBC's "Dateline" at 10 p.m. sank to a weak 1.1/3.

Fox's animation efforts through 9:30 p.m. got dinged -- down anywhere from 5% to 17%. Its usually strong 9 p.m. show "Family Guy" was the next best after the Grammys for the night, with a 3.2/8; "The Simpsons" also sank to a 2.7/7; "Bob's Burgers" mustered a 2.1/5; and "American Dad" earned a 1.9/6.

"The Cleveland Show" at 9:30 p.m. actually grew a bit from its most recent original episode -- a 2.4/6 -- coming very close to "Housewives," which scored 2.6/6 in its second half-hour.

Fox was understandably down versus its big Super Bowl record numbers of a week ago -- 36.6 ratings in the adult 18-49 category. This week it came back to earth in the single digits, with a 2.3/6 -- good for second place.

NBC went into its cave for the night -- two hours worth of "Dateline NBC" earlier in the evening and then another two hours of "Harry's Law" repeats.

CBS came in first with a 8.3/22; Fox scored a 2.3/6; ABC earned a 2.0/5; NBC took a 0.9/2; and Univision finished at a 0.9/2.