From The Hollywood Reporter · Daniel Fienberg · · 1m 20s
'60 Minutes' returns, and the sky stays up
The first episode of the Bari Weiss era lands with far less drama than either side of the fight predicted.
In brief
The first episode of the Bari Weiss era lands with far less drama than either side of the fight predicted. Months of noise about Bari Weiss remaking CBS News produced a season premiere that barely moved in either direction. Originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Months of noise, one episode
CBS' newsmagazine spent months at the center of a fight over changes under new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. Then season 59 actually premiered on Sunday night.
Nobody got their proof
The premiere gave very little ammunition to the pundits on either side. The people predicting ruin and the people predicting renewal both walked away with almost nothing.
“very, very limited confirmation to both the pessimistic and optimistic biases”
The outrage script
There is a ready-made case for being furious: that Weiss' tenure has made the nightly broadcast unwatchable, and that the coverage overall has slipped.
Quotes that did not help
New executive producer Nick Bilton has not made the case any easier. Every public quote from him has read as glib and disheartening.
How Pelley was handled
The exits of respected on-air talent, Scott Pelley in particular, were managed with little apparent respect and not much care for how it looked.
Verdict: bland, not broken
The grievances are real, but the premiere itself was unremarkable. Whatever the Weiss effect turns out to be, it has not landed on screen yet.
The key point
Months of noise about Bari Weiss remaking CBS News produced a season premiere that barely moved in either direction.
