"We are an appointment program," Victor Neufeld, former executive producer of '20/20', told 'The New York Times' in 1991. "They tell us we bring ABC a whole new audience at 10 o'clock." In the 1987-88 season, ABC decided to move '20/20' from Thursday night to fill a prime-time slot on Friday. "Our audience (some 11 million viewers in 1988), who watched us on Thursday night, came with us to Friday night.
"We don't have to rely on whoever is still watching after the show before us ends. In fact, a big part of our audience isn't even watching TV during the hour before we come on the air. We work very hard at the concept of being close to our viewers. We do pieces that reflect what we think is of interest around the country. We are not into ourselves and do stories we think we want to do."
The stories on '20/20', Victor Neufeld told 'The New York Times', would appeal to "the conservative, traditional American household," such as consumer and health-oriented topics and "high-impact, high-emotion stories. We're not an urbane, hip, ultra-sophisticated program and we don't want to be. Barbara (Walters) is a major entity and she deserves consideration. Hugh (Downs) and Barbara are the soul of the program. They're not hip and they're not boringly old; they're middle-American superstars."
Don Hewitt of '60 Minutes' confessed to being a fan of '20/20' but made the point, "We're lucky. We pull great ratings every week. We don't have to do exorcisms to get them." In one segment, '20/20' "presented a live exorcism, performed with the full co-operation of the Roman Catholic Church." The difference between '20/20' and '60 Minutes', Victor Neufeld explained, "There are some stories we would both do. The major world leader. But we wouldn't do the quirky event in some small English village. We wouldn't do the obscure musician (such as Vladimir Horowitz)."
Of Don Hewitt, Sheila Nevins of HBO observed, "In any story, no matter how obscure, he finds the tangible, human thing that makes it interesting." 'The New York Times' noted, "Mr. Hewitt likes to say he uses the 'hey, Mildred' test: 'If I can hear a viewer at home saying to his wife, 'Hey, Mildred, you got any idea what these guys are talking about?' then we're off track.' On paper, I have 22 producers and 5 correspondents. To me, I've got 27 reporters."
On reflection, Victor Neufeld remarked, "To develop a successful newsmagazine, the key is to have people who the audience likes and wants to be with for an hour. I just think that there's a great deal of affection for Barbara and Hugh out there." By the 1988-89 season, '20/20' reportedly began beating its competition 'Dallas' on CBS. Then at the start of the 1995-96 season, '20/20' held a rare lead over '60 Minutes' after landing major gets.
Victor Neufeld told the press at the time, "We want to wait a year (until the end of the 1995-96 season) before we uncork the champagne. We're in our 17th season. We've always been in the shadow of '60 Minutes'. We have a long road before we can celebrate. We're happy with slow, steady growth." At the time '20/20' was averaging 14.5% households ratings and 26% audience share (or an average of 21,030,000 viewers).
However 'New York Daily News' pointed out, "There are a couple of reasons for '20/20's' lead. The program has scored huge ratings with shows featuring interviews with Colin Powell and Christopher Reeve (which was watched in about 18.8 million homes). Moreover, '60 Minutes' is suffering fallout from CBS' sagging prime-time slate, as well as from not having NFL football as a lead-in.
"It's very possible that '20/20's' lead won't hold up. When football ends next month (in January 1996) on Fox and NBC, some of the viewers drawn away from '60 Minutes' will likely return. Also, overall audience levels tend to remain steady on Sunday nights throughout the season, while they decline on Fridays, where '20/20' airs, as the weather warms up."
Victor Neufeld stressed '20/20' "has always differentiated itself from '60 Minutes' 'by being extremely relevant and by going after stories of high impact and close connection to the audience. ('60 Minutes') is a strong, vibrant program. (Don Hewitt) has a great vision that has worked for (over) 25 years (1968-1995). We just elected to go in a slightly different direction. It works for us.'"
"We don't have to rely on whoever is still watching after the show before us ends. In fact, a big part of our audience isn't even watching TV during the hour before we come on the air. We work very hard at the concept of being close to our viewers. We do pieces that reflect what we think is of interest around the country. We are not into ourselves and do stories we think we want to do."
The stories on '20/20', Victor Neufeld told 'The New York Times', would appeal to "the conservative, traditional American household," such as consumer and health-oriented topics and "high-impact, high-emotion stories. We're not an urbane, hip, ultra-sophisticated program and we don't want to be. Barbara (Walters) is a major entity and she deserves consideration. Hugh (Downs) and Barbara are the soul of the program. They're not hip and they're not boringly old; they're middle-American superstars."
Don Hewitt of '60 Minutes' confessed to being a fan of '20/20' but made the point, "We're lucky. We pull great ratings every week. We don't have to do exorcisms to get them." In one segment, '20/20' "presented a live exorcism, performed with the full co-operation of the Roman Catholic Church." The difference between '20/20' and '60 Minutes', Victor Neufeld explained, "There are some stories we would both do. The major world leader. But we wouldn't do the quirky event in some small English village. We wouldn't do the obscure musician (such as Vladimir Horowitz)."
Of Don Hewitt, Sheila Nevins of HBO observed, "In any story, no matter how obscure, he finds the tangible, human thing that makes it interesting." 'The New York Times' noted, "Mr. Hewitt likes to say he uses the 'hey, Mildred' test: 'If I can hear a viewer at home saying to his wife, 'Hey, Mildred, you got any idea what these guys are talking about?' then we're off track.' On paper, I have 22 producers and 5 correspondents. To me, I've got 27 reporters."
On reflection, Victor Neufeld remarked, "To develop a successful newsmagazine, the key is to have people who the audience likes and wants to be with for an hour. I just think that there's a great deal of affection for Barbara and Hugh out there." By the 1988-89 season, '20/20' reportedly began beating its competition 'Dallas' on CBS. Then at the start of the 1995-96 season, '20/20' held a rare lead over '60 Minutes' after landing major gets.
Victor Neufeld told the press at the time, "We want to wait a year (until the end of the 1995-96 season) before we uncork the champagne. We're in our 17th season. We've always been in the shadow of '60 Minutes'. We have a long road before we can celebrate. We're happy with slow, steady growth." At the time '20/20' was averaging 14.5% households ratings and 26% audience share (or an average of 21,030,000 viewers).
However 'New York Daily News' pointed out, "There are a couple of reasons for '20/20's' lead. The program has scored huge ratings with shows featuring interviews with Colin Powell and Christopher Reeve (which was watched in about 18.8 million homes). Moreover, '60 Minutes' is suffering fallout from CBS' sagging prime-time slate, as well as from not having NFL football as a lead-in.
"It's very possible that '20/20's' lead won't hold up. When football ends next month (in January 1996) on Fox and NBC, some of the viewers drawn away from '60 Minutes' will likely return. Also, overall audience levels tend to remain steady on Sunday nights throughout the season, while they decline on Fridays, where '20/20' airs, as the weather warms up."
Victor Neufeld stressed '20/20' "has always differentiated itself from '60 Minutes' 'by being extremely relevant and by going after stories of high impact and close connection to the audience. ('60 Minutes') is a strong, vibrant program. (Don Hewitt) has a great vision that has worked for (over) 25 years (1968-1995). We just elected to go in a slightly different direction. It works for us.'"
