Blog : TV Worth Watching

41 Years Later, "60 Minutes" Still Delivers the (Very) Goods

This Sunday night at 7 ET, 60 Minutes presents an edition that may draw enough viewers to dethrone Fox's American Idol as the most popular program of the week. Even if not, it's a lock for the week's Top 5 -- an amazing feat for a TV series that is older than Ryan Seacrest.

60 Minutes premiered in 1968, and has been ranked as TV's most popular show in three different decades. So far this season, it's ranked in the weekly Top 10 in all but four out of 18 weeks, and has topped the charts twice. Sunday, when Katie Couric interviews heroic US Airways pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and his crew, and presides over a reunion with some of the surviving passengers, expect huge audiences again.

What's most gratifying, though, is that this venerable CBS News show, this virtual video institution, has survived and thrived without stooping to pander. NBC News, on Dateline, sets traps for for predators. ABC News, on 20/20, stages misbehavior to catch candid-camera reactions. But CBS News, on 60 Minutes, presents... gasp... news.

And talks to viewers like adults. And presents its stories without hyperbole, and absurdly dramatic music, and simplistic narration that makes it all sound like remedial journalism.

For all that, 60 Minutes, I thank you. And I keep watching -- as I have from the start. (Because I'm old.)

1 Comments

Azúcar said:

I'm in my early 30s and 60 Minutes still has a spot on my DVR. I love that I can count on it to provide mostly excellent journalism and in-depth pieces of the sort that I'm used to only getting from outlets like NPR.

Although, I have to say that since 60 Minutes does some story recycling in the spring/summer, that is my favorite time to tune in to catch what I missed when my DVR was a little top heavy in the fall/winter.

And for what it's worth, I nearly always skip Andy Rooney.

Comment posted on February 7, 2009 5:43 PM

Archer T-shirts & fan gear at the Fox Shop!

Behind David in the picture is the first TV owned by his father, Virgil Bianculli, a 1946 Raytheon. (The TV, not his father. His father was a 1923 Italian.)

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air, occasional substitute host for that show's Terry Gross, and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His most recent book is 2009's Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,' and he's at work on another.

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