Was That the Biggest Super Bowl Ever?

New Orleans Saints feel-good win scores big game's best overnight ratings in 23 years

If David Letterman and Jay Leno were hoping to keep their thing with Oprah secret, they picked the wrong venue.

Last night's Super Bowl—and Super Bowl commercial-fest—was kinda, sorta popular. The New Orleans Saints' upending of the favored Indianapolis Colts scored the highest overnight ratings in 23 years, CBS said today.

It's not yet known exactly how many people tuned in, but we're going to go out on a limb, and guess a whole lot. (The Hollywood Reporter guessed 100 million-plus. So, see? We weren't far off.)

Predictably, more people tuned in as the close game wore on. The final, decisive 15 minutes were the game's highest-rated, while the Who-rocked halftime show led to tuneouts (or maybe just bathroom breaks).

And perhaps Letterman and Leno knew what they were doing, after all.

Their summit—a plug for Letterman's Late Show—aired during the second quarter, early enough in the game to only be watched by a bajillion people, as opposed to, you know, a gazillion people.