The fifty-eighth season of "60 Minutes" ended this evening, and the reporters for the news-magazine show - and yes, Lesley Stahl will be back - are already working on stories for a fifty-ninth season starting in September. The most astonishing thing about another season of "60 Minutes" is that there will be one.
"60 Minutes" has been one of the few news programs on American television which has taken a critical eye to the Trump regime, with stories about Trump's migrant policy and Elon Musk's "Department" of "Government Efficiency." Given all that, you'd think "60 Minutes" has the complete trust and confidence of CBS's corporate bosses.
You'd think wrong. While "60 Minutes" hasn't had any of its stories censored or shelved, Paramount - CBS's current owner - has been keeping a watchful eye on the program's staff and editorial activities the same way a security officer at Bloomingdale's might keep an eye on some dude with green hair and a nose ring. This was too much for "60 Minutes"'s executive producer Bill Owens (below), who resigned his position. Owens cited the pressure from Paramount - looking to complete a merger with another media company and wanting to get approval from the Trump regime - not to push Trump too far when speaking truth to power as a reason for his resignation.
Meanwhile, CBS's reboot of the old 1980s series "The Equalizer," starring the rapper legally known as Dana Owens (no relation to Bill) in the title role, has been cancelled. The official reason? Declining ratings, likely. The real reason? Airing a series in which a heavy-set black woman beats up a dozen white men in rapid succession at a time when a racist and misogynistic honky is in the White House (also known as the Honky Château) is not a smart thing to do. For her part, Dana is already promising a new project that she "can't wait to share with" everyone. Uh, Dana? Please don't. Your "projects" in the past thirty-odd years have included two failed daytime talk shows, movies in which you make honky doofuses like even dumber than they already are, and of course your records, which, being rap records, have contributed to the ongoing problem of noise pollution. Not to mention that Moonie-style mass wedding you officiated on the 2014 Grammy Awards with Madonna as a witness. Dana, you've made your millions already, now please get thee to a mansion in Short Hills and enjoy your wealth in blissful retirement.
And having just written all that, I think I'd better get myself into hiding. You know the reason; I won't enunciate it. 😉
As for CBS's compromised broadcasting standards, the late great Andy Rooney said it best and for all time. CBS, which used to stand for Columbia Broadcasting System, stands for nothing anymore. They're just corporate initials now.
Though they could stand for "compromised broadcasting standards . . ." 😉
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