'60 Minutes' started the genre in 1968 and over the years had generated over $1 billion in revenue for CBS. Its success had inspired a host of other newsmagazines including 'Eye To Eye' in 1993. By 1994, the 'American Journalism Review' reported, "Collectively, the three networks will make about $100 million from their shows this year in a growing international market, according to 'Broadcasting & Cable' magazine.
"NBC, for example, shows 'Dateline' on its recently acquired SuperChannel, an advertiser-supported channel reaching 56 million European viewers. CBS News sells the right to use the '60 Minutes' logo and program format to international buyers, who then produce their own stories. The network also sells '60 Minutes', '48 Hours' and 'Eye to Eye' internationally."
Harvard graduate Andrew Heyward's 'Eye to Eye' was a retooling of 'Face to Face' which was a retooling of 'Saturday Night'. Host Connie Chung spoke to the 'Washington Post' in 1993, "I'm not worried about this show. Jeff Sagansky said, 'If it doesn't work in one time period, we'll move you to another. We expect you to be a success.'"
'AJR' noted, "The 10 pm strip could turn out to be one of the most important programming stories of the season. Ten o'clock weeknights is when adult dramas like 'Hill Street Blues' and 'L.A. Law' have traditionally played. It costs between $400,000 and $500,000 to produce an hour-long newsmagazine versus a minimum of about $1.4 million paid to studios to produce an hour-long drama like 'NYPD Blue' or 'Murder She Wrote'. Each of the Big Three networks would like to have a newsmagazine on at 10 pm Monday through Friday as a lead-in to its affiliates' late local news."
Andrew Heyward explained, "The 10 o'clock strip is a huge thing, an amazing phenomenon. The affiliates love it because it feeds a news-oriented audience into local news." It was understood, "Because the majority of local stations make more money off their late local news than any other broadcast, a network that can help its affiliates make money at 11 pm is a network that is going to have the best chance of holding them."
Joe Lewin of WMAR told the press at the time, "One of the things that makes me happiest about joining ABC is that strip of newsmagazines that it has at 10 o'clock." 'Turning Point' finished the 1993-94 season as the highest-rated magazine among adults 18-49, prime time's target audience, and the second-highest among adults 25-54, the main audience for news programs.
Connie Chung conceded, "Since there are so many (newsmagazines) on the air, it's important for us to distinguish ourselves." 'AJR' pointed out, "Historically, there are now three generations of newsmagazines. '60 Minutes' and '20/20' are the first, '48 Hours' and 'PrimeTime Live' the second, with all the rest that have signed on recently forming a third generation."
Peter Herford of CBS stated, "Some of the magazines at least still maintain – and not without some justification – that they're a mixed bag. There are times when they're the old white knight in shining armor and they are out there doing God's work. There are other times when they are doing Tonya (Harding) and Nancy (Kerrigan). And that can be on the same broadcast. So, it depends what broadcast you're looking at, what week and what the flow of news is."
Connie Chung continued, "We all go after the same stories. Whenever I call on a story, all the prime-time magazines and talk shows have already called or are on the verge of calling." Hence, "for one thing, we're ('Eye To Eye') going to be topical - news of the day or of the week, we'll try to do. We'll see how well. Pieces will be taped in advance. It's likely that we'll tape the program itself the day of, unless it is a really big story and we think we ought to do it live. We are going to vary the length of the pieces. Most of the programs are 3 pieces and a kicker. People are such channel surfers. Maybe we can drag them back when they leave. We're going to hope they come back, anyway."
By the 1994-95 season, 'AJR' reported, "Prime time newsmagazines which have become such big moneymakers for the networks have replaced the evening newscasts as the centerpiece of the networks' news divisions." Peter Herford of CBS conceded, "It's absolutely true that newsmagazines, not the nightly newscasts, have become the primary business of the network news divisions. In fact, with the exception of ABC News, which is sitting atop the pile right now (in 1994), I think CBS News and, to a certain extent, NBC News would be delighted to do something else with 6:30 to 7:00 or 7:00 to 7:30 pm Monday through Fridays."
Douglas Gomery taught the economics of broadcasting at the University of Maryland College of Journalism remarked, "The networks found a way to actually make money on news with these magazines instead of losing it with their nightly newscasts. Of course, making more magazines has become their primary business. That's the way business works." Andrew Lack stressed, "I would rather say that our business has just expanded, and the expansion is in prime time with the newsmagazines."
Andrew Heyward argued, "It's the newsmagazines that have maintained the viability and profitability of the news divisions." CNN's Ed Turner emphasized, "I have no case against newsmagazines. I emphasize news, because in my mind there are only two of those – '60 Minutes' and '20/20.' Most of the others that you're seeing are a combination of news as entertainment and entertainment as news."
'The New York Times' observed, "In the television magazine spectrum, 'Eye to Eye' fits somewhere between its CBS partners, the harder-edged '60 Minutes' and the more pulpish 'Street Stories'. As the title suggests, the appeal of the material, which is not screen-shaking, comes mainly from the interviews." It was reported, "In 1990, 'US News & World Report's' 'Best of America' poll listed Connie Chung as the nation's favorite interviewer."
However Connie Chung's "just between you and me" interview which coaxed Newt Gingrich's mom into whispering on television that the First Lady at the time was a "b----" ended up costing Connie Chung her job. The 'Hartford Courant' reminded, "CBS News was once America's most revered TV news source and now (in 1996) the beleaguered institution was third in the nightly news race, weakened by years of bottom-lining under former owner Laurence Tisch, hobbled by affiliate defections and the failed pairing of co-anchors Dan Rather and Connie Chung and demoralized by corporate interference that stalled a '60 Minutes' story critical of the tobacco industry."
In December 1995, Westinghouse bought the under performing network for $5.8 billion and according to 'The Washington Post', "Almost every division except daytime programming, where the network has been No. 1 for 6 years (since 1990), faces intense scrutiny by the new Westinghouse/CBS management team." In 1998, the clone '60 Minutes II' was created to replace 'Public Eye With Bryant Gumbel'. Don Hewitt told the press, "Certain broadcasts come along once in a lifetime - they don't come along twice in a lifetime. I don't own the title. They could take the Ann-Margret show and call it 'I Love Lucy'."
"NBC, for example, shows 'Dateline' on its recently acquired SuperChannel, an advertiser-supported channel reaching 56 million European viewers. CBS News sells the right to use the '60 Minutes' logo and program format to international buyers, who then produce their own stories. The network also sells '60 Minutes', '48 Hours' and 'Eye to Eye' internationally."
Harvard graduate Andrew Heyward's 'Eye to Eye' was a retooling of 'Face to Face' which was a retooling of 'Saturday Night'. Host Connie Chung spoke to the 'Washington Post' in 1993, "I'm not worried about this show. Jeff Sagansky said, 'If it doesn't work in one time period, we'll move you to another. We expect you to be a success.'"
'AJR' noted, "The 10 pm strip could turn out to be one of the most important programming stories of the season. Ten o'clock weeknights is when adult dramas like 'Hill Street Blues' and 'L.A. Law' have traditionally played. It costs between $400,000 and $500,000 to produce an hour-long newsmagazine versus a minimum of about $1.4 million paid to studios to produce an hour-long drama like 'NYPD Blue' or 'Murder She Wrote'. Each of the Big Three networks would like to have a newsmagazine on at 10 pm Monday through Friday as a lead-in to its affiliates' late local news."
Andrew Heyward explained, "The 10 o'clock strip is a huge thing, an amazing phenomenon. The affiliates love it because it feeds a news-oriented audience into local news." It was understood, "Because the majority of local stations make more money off their late local news than any other broadcast, a network that can help its affiliates make money at 11 pm is a network that is going to have the best chance of holding them."
Joe Lewin of WMAR told the press at the time, "One of the things that makes me happiest about joining ABC is that strip of newsmagazines that it has at 10 o'clock." 'Turning Point' finished the 1993-94 season as the highest-rated magazine among adults 18-49, prime time's target audience, and the second-highest among adults 25-54, the main audience for news programs.
Connie Chung conceded, "Since there are so many (newsmagazines) on the air, it's important for us to distinguish ourselves." 'AJR' pointed out, "Historically, there are now three generations of newsmagazines. '60 Minutes' and '20/20' are the first, '48 Hours' and 'PrimeTime Live' the second, with all the rest that have signed on recently forming a third generation."
Peter Herford of CBS stated, "Some of the magazines at least still maintain – and not without some justification – that they're a mixed bag. There are times when they're the old white knight in shining armor and they are out there doing God's work. There are other times when they are doing Tonya (Harding) and Nancy (Kerrigan). And that can be on the same broadcast. So, it depends what broadcast you're looking at, what week and what the flow of news is."
Connie Chung continued, "We all go after the same stories. Whenever I call on a story, all the prime-time magazines and talk shows have already called or are on the verge of calling." Hence, "for one thing, we're ('Eye To Eye') going to be topical - news of the day or of the week, we'll try to do. We'll see how well. Pieces will be taped in advance. It's likely that we'll tape the program itself the day of, unless it is a really big story and we think we ought to do it live. We are going to vary the length of the pieces. Most of the programs are 3 pieces and a kicker. People are such channel surfers. Maybe we can drag them back when they leave. We're going to hope they come back, anyway."
By the 1994-95 season, 'AJR' reported, "Prime time newsmagazines which have become such big moneymakers for the networks have replaced the evening newscasts as the centerpiece of the networks' news divisions." Peter Herford of CBS conceded, "It's absolutely true that newsmagazines, not the nightly newscasts, have become the primary business of the network news divisions. In fact, with the exception of ABC News, which is sitting atop the pile right now (in 1994), I think CBS News and, to a certain extent, NBC News would be delighted to do something else with 6:30 to 7:00 or 7:00 to 7:30 pm Monday through Fridays."
Douglas Gomery taught the economics of broadcasting at the University of Maryland College of Journalism remarked, "The networks found a way to actually make money on news with these magazines instead of losing it with their nightly newscasts. Of course, making more magazines has become their primary business. That's the way business works." Andrew Lack stressed, "I would rather say that our business has just expanded, and the expansion is in prime time with the newsmagazines."
Andrew Heyward argued, "It's the newsmagazines that have maintained the viability and profitability of the news divisions." CNN's Ed Turner emphasized, "I have no case against newsmagazines. I emphasize news, because in my mind there are only two of those – '60 Minutes' and '20/20.' Most of the others that you're seeing are a combination of news as entertainment and entertainment as news."
'The New York Times' observed, "In the television magazine spectrum, 'Eye to Eye' fits somewhere between its CBS partners, the harder-edged '60 Minutes' and the more pulpish 'Street Stories'. As the title suggests, the appeal of the material, which is not screen-shaking, comes mainly from the interviews." It was reported, "In 1990, 'US News & World Report's' 'Best of America' poll listed Connie Chung as the nation's favorite interviewer."
However Connie Chung's "just between you and me" interview which coaxed Newt Gingrich's mom into whispering on television that the First Lady at the time was a "b----" ended up costing Connie Chung her job. The 'Hartford Courant' reminded, "CBS News was once America's most revered TV news source and now (in 1996) the beleaguered institution was third in the nightly news race, weakened by years of bottom-lining under former owner Laurence Tisch, hobbled by affiliate defections and the failed pairing of co-anchors Dan Rather and Connie Chung and demoralized by corporate interference that stalled a '60 Minutes' story critical of the tobacco industry."
In December 1995, Westinghouse bought the under performing network for $5.8 billion and according to 'The Washington Post', "Almost every division except daytime programming, where the network has been No. 1 for 6 years (since 1990), faces intense scrutiny by the new Westinghouse/CBS management team." In 1998, the clone '60 Minutes II' was created to replace 'Public Eye With Bryant Gumbel'. Don Hewitt told the press, "Certain broadcasts come along once in a lifetime - they don't come along twice in a lifetime. I don't own the title. They could take the Ann-Margret show and call it 'I Love Lucy'."
