Newsmagazines such as 'PrimeTime Live', '20/20' or 'Dateline' were some of the most-watched 10.00 pm shows on American television in the 1990s. The first and most successful was '60 Minutes'. "There are TV shows about doctors, cowboys, cops," Don Hewitt explained. "This is a show about 4 journalists. But instead of actors playing these 4 guys, they are themselves." It was noted when newsmagazines competed against each other in the same time period, those shows ran the risk of splitting the available audience without attracting any new viewers. An hour-long newsmagazine was said, cost significantly less to produce than an hour-long drama. "That's why you opt to go into commercial broadcasting as opposed to public broadcasting," Don disclosed. "You want to produce something prestigious that is also profitable." Of formula, Roone Arledge remarked, "Somehow, in the original explanation of ('PrimeTime Live')... the idea of liveness was distorted, so that everything had to be live. That never really was the intention. The idea was to go live only when there was a sound reason to do so."
'48 Hours' debut in 1988. It was TV's first single-topic newsmagazine. In 1998, '48 Hours' became the only newsmagazine to achieve an increase in year-to-year viewership. The success of '48 Hours' gave rise to 'Turning Point'. Its March 1994 debut story on Charles Manson attracted 30% of the audience share - a ratings record for a newsmagazine first screen outing in TV history. "There don't seem to be enough compelling stories to carry all these newsmagazines," one network programmer remarked. Dan Rather described '48 Hours' as "the cutting edge of a real story." Bob Simon believed, "Doing '60 Minutes' pieces is really pretty much what we used to do when covering news." In June 1994, the 'Turning Point' special on O.J. Simpson was watched by some 25.4 million viewers in 94.2 million TV homes. It was the No. 1 show of the week.
Network news were undergoing budget cut in 1988. News coverage was in question. Peter Jennings told Garrick Utley, "Well, I think if you look at the evening newcasts of today and compare to 20 years ago the American viewer is infintely better informed than he or she was then. But I think if you compare the average television viewer in America to the average viewer in other countries - particularly in the industrialised world - he or she is under informed. And it is clearly an important rule for people to remember that you think you can get all your news in television you're badly mistaken." Tom Brokaw offered, "We've had the luxury in the last 10 years or so of just being able to go out and cover eveything. Now we just have to make better judgement in the course of the day. We also have to determine what it is that an audience expect from a network news program when it comes on the air and concentrate on that."
Peter also made the point, "Most of us who now do this job in this cycle - and I wasn't here in the last cycle and we may not be here in the next cycle - are somewhat horrified at the degree of attention which these jobs get presently done by, in large measure 3 white middle-aged men. You do your very best to simply ignore that aspect of this business as oppose to this craft and concentrate on those aspects of that craft which is journalism." Andrew Heyward founded '48 Hours'. He made the comment, "Dan is an enormous asset to us. At the same time, Dan and I have talked about and agree on the need to develop the next generation of CBS News anchors."
'48 Hours' debut in 1988. It was TV's first single-topic newsmagazine. In 1998, '48 Hours' became the only newsmagazine to achieve an increase in year-to-year viewership. The success of '48 Hours' gave rise to 'Turning Point'. Its March 1994 debut story on Charles Manson attracted 30% of the audience share - a ratings record for a newsmagazine first screen outing in TV history. "There don't seem to be enough compelling stories to carry all these newsmagazines," one network programmer remarked. Dan Rather described '48 Hours' as "the cutting edge of a real story." Bob Simon believed, "Doing '60 Minutes' pieces is really pretty much what we used to do when covering news." In June 1994, the 'Turning Point' special on O.J. Simpson was watched by some 25.4 million viewers in 94.2 million TV homes. It was the No. 1 show of the week.
Network news were undergoing budget cut in 1988. News coverage was in question. Peter Jennings told Garrick Utley, "Well, I think if you look at the evening newcasts of today and compare to 20 years ago the American viewer is infintely better informed than he or she was then. But I think if you compare the average television viewer in America to the average viewer in other countries - particularly in the industrialised world - he or she is under informed. And it is clearly an important rule for people to remember that you think you can get all your news in television you're badly mistaken." Tom Brokaw offered, "We've had the luxury in the last 10 years or so of just being able to go out and cover eveything. Now we just have to make better judgement in the course of the day. We also have to determine what it is that an audience expect from a network news program when it comes on the air and concentrate on that."
Peter also made the point, "Most of us who now do this job in this cycle - and I wasn't here in the last cycle and we may not be here in the next cycle - are somewhat horrified at the degree of attention which these jobs get presently done by, in large measure 3 white middle-aged men. You do your very best to simply ignore that aspect of this business as oppose to this craft and concentrate on those aspects of that craft which is journalism." Andrew Heyward founded '48 Hours'. He made the comment, "Dan is an enormous asset to us. At the same time, Dan and I have talked about and agree on the need to develop the next generation of CBS News anchors."
