'60 Minutes'
the
best hour TV has to offer
A dial is turned until it
clicks; a cathode ray tube hums
to life; dull gray turns into all
colors of the spectrum and
figures solidify and move
across the screen. Music,
narrative or dialogue rises to
match the motion.
And we see an image of
ourselves, our society, customs,
laws, fears, comedies and
tragedies. That machine helps
shape our aspirations, tells us
what's old, what's new, what's
fun and sad, frivolous and
sober, what's in and what's
out.
It has become more than a
reporter, more than an
instrument of amusement,
more than an electronic gadget.
It is a part of the scene; so
much so that it goes unnoticed
and unquestioned as a major
factor in our lives.
TV and plumbing
In 25 years, television has
become as much a part of the
American home as indoor
plumbing. Almost every
dwelling, from a Park Avenue
penthouse to a tarpaper shack
on the outskirts of El Paso, has
a television. And the same
image of what we are, the same
offerings of the marketplace,
the same morality sets and the
same interpretations of crisis
are cycled to rich and poor
alike.
Questions abound: How
accurate are TV's
representations? And does it
matter? When it is good, what
is it that is good about
television? And what is being
featured right now that's good?
Viewers have an
opportunity to catch television
at its best every bunaay at j
p.m. on CBS. It's a good bet
that "60 Minutes" is exactly
what TV pioneers like Lee De
Forest and Gen. David Sarnoff
had in mind before Lucille
Ball, Jack Webb and Monty
Hall crowded into the act.
Wide-ranged experience
Presented as a magazine of
the air, "60 Minutes" moves
across the range of modem day
experience. It can be serious,
such as an interview with G.
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Gordon Liddy or the plight of
the elderly slowly starving on
the Social Security system; or
lighthearted, such as a study of
the centenarian culture of the
Russian steppes. The show
strives to be informative, with
reports on topics such as cities'
handling their sludge problems;
and it attempts public service
programming as exemplified
by a recent program and
follow-up on Arizona land
fraud.
"60 Minutes" offers
weekend news headlines, airs
letters from the viewing public
and offers a weekly
mini-debate on current issues.
And sometimes, just for
fun, the program features
something like their
lighthearted look at the
psyches of pro football players
during an interview with the
team psychiatrist for the San
Diego Chargers.
Yes, there are commercials
too, but they don't seem to
distract from the format any
more than do full page ads in
magazines. And, inasmuch as
the commercials are well done,
they add to the program. At
worst, they provide the viewer
with time to go to the
bathroom.
ron wylie
eye of the
beholder
To be sure, "60 Minutes"
has come up short a time or
two. A few years ago it was the
unwitting tool of the U.S.
Army in an on-screen
destruction of the credibility of
dissident Lt. Col. Anthony
the nicest piece of
falsification this side
Herbert;
evidence
0(1984.
Occasional fudge
And in last Sunday's
broadcast, "60 Minutes"
fudged on an otherwise timely
and provocative piece on the
Southeast Asian opium 'trade
by ignoring the role of the
Central Intelligence Agency in
the business.
Still, week after week, CBS
anchormen Mike Wallace and
Morley Safer and their crews
generally put together a
complete, intelligent and
imaginative magazine.
"60 Minutes" seems to
assume that its viewers are
intelligent, interested, even
hungry for well-researched
portraits of life, its pleasures,
preoccupations and problems.
In its current time slot, the
program is too often
preempted for a Sunday sports
program, and may therefore
lack consistency in ratings,
ilee Haw' won
When "60 Minutes" first
appeared in 1968, CBS
scheduled it for weeknight
prime-time viewing. But the
program lost in the ratings
game to Ike Haw, which says a
great deal about the American
viewers' relationship with TV.
Most Americans, when they
settle in front of the tube in
the evening, seek an anesthetic
for the cerebrum. They want
motion and sound, but not
thought. A musical
kaleidoscope would probably
serve, but network TV is not
really hip enough to try
something like that.
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paqe 14
daily nebraskan
thursday, march 20, 1975