Time Machine

But the show that created its own category that fall was the so-called television magazine thought up by the “CBS Evening News” producer Don Hewitt and co-edited by Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner. “60 Minutes” premiered on September 24 as a biweekly program. Wallace’s first interview in this new forum was with Attorney General Ramsey Clark; as the show progressed, he applied his argumentative pressure to kings, radicals, and accused war criminals. Even before Watergate unleashed a generation of TV investigators, “60 Minutes” laid into all kinds of failed figures of authority, from deadbeat insurers to overcharging defense contractors. Wallace became the master of the closed-door indictment, and the line “They wouldn’t talk to us” became nearly a guilty verdict. Harry Reasoner was his perfect complement on the program, a wry antidote to Wallace’s tough style. In 1970 Reasoner left “60 Minutes” for ABC and was replaced by Morley Safer.