Tick... Tick... Tick...: The Long Life & Turbulent Times of 60 Minutes [Hardcover]

David Blum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2004

The story of how CBS's 60 Minutes grew from a little network experiment into a Sunday-night-at-seven addiction for most of the country would itself make a raucous and typically compelling 60 Minutes episode. Or, maybe, an opera, complete with rival tenors, backstage intrigues, imperious divas, vulnerable ingenues, tragic deaths, a handful of big and small wars, and a brilliant if maniacal maestro running the whole production. For two years, author David Blum talked to everybody connected to 60 Minutes, and, incredibly, everybody talked to him -- about themselves, about the show, about one another. Blum's unprecedented inside access takes us into story meetings, blood-on-the-wall editing sessions, turf wars, and to the heart of the rivalries and the myths -- who got hired, who got fired, who got screwed -- going as far back as theearliest black-and-white days.

In a history that spans four decades, 60 Minutes has piled up an encyclopedic list of first-and-onlys: it has aired fourteen-hundred-plus times, hauled in a profit of two billion dollars for CBS, finished in TV's top ten for twenty-two consecutive seasons, and garnered sixty-eight Emmy Awards. In the process, producer-guru Don Hewitt's beloved "tigers" -- correspondents Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl, Steve Kroft, Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer, Meredith Vieira, the late Harry Reasoner, and cranky essayist Andy Rooney -- have become brand names and media demigods. Hidden cameras, "gotcha" interviews, in-your-face confrontational journalism -- this is where it all began.

And thirty-six years later, Hewitt's still there, pounding his desk, swearing at his tigers (most of whom are also still there), and holding in his tightly clenched fist the patent on the mother of all magazine shows.

Or, rather, he was, until just recently, when a bunch of younger guys in suits decided it was time to take 60 Minutes away from its eighty-one-year-old boss. The changes, the innovations, the stop-the-presses big stories -- for Hewitt, and maybe a couple of the others -- are, at last, winding down. But the story of the most successful and contentious program in TV history is not over yet: the new guys are settling in and the future is up for grabs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

60 Minutes has been on the air nearly 40 years, and as readers near the end of this behind-the-scenes history of the stalwart newsmagazine, they might feel as if they’ve been reading about it just as long. Blum writes for Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal and other national publications, and (perhaps unintentionally) captures the famished, breathless tone of a celebrity-driven feature story. Using interviews and the numerous books, articles and memoirs about the show and its correspondents, Blum tells the epic tale. Don Hewitt began as a merchant marine reporter, came to CBS News and launched his dream show as part of the new Tuesday night lineup in September 1968. Although initial critical response was positive, ratings remained poor while the show struggled to establish its identity. By the mid-’70s, however, the producers’ investigative journalism had grabbed viewers’ attention, and as the audience grew, so did the cast. Blum weaves backstories about Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace (the original front-of-camera team) with relentless administrative squabbles between Hewitt and network honchos, and the cycles of professional ambition and personal egotism are regular and monotonous. Blum attempts to give shape to the ongoing drama of outsized personalities (many come off as predictably power hungry or disingenuously careerist), but the energy dissipates long before book’s end. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Blum begins with the retirement party for Don Hewitt, the egotistical 60 Minutes executive producer who dreamed up the idea behind the most popular television news show and who managed to stay at the helm until recently. Despite on-air camaraderie, the show has been a rancorous place to work, plagued by Hewitt's wild ideas and insults, balanced by his desire for hard-hitting journalism. The show pioneered news-gathering techniques, including hidden cameras and "gotcha" interviews. Aggressive reporting by Mike Wallace and others provoked lawsuits by the tobacco industry and General Westmoreland. This is a compelling, behind-the-scenes look at the rise of Hewitt and 60 Minutes, including the illustrious careers of the show's correspondents: Wallace, Morley Safer, Dan Rather, Ed Bradley, Diane Sawyer, and others. Blum details the clash of egos and personalities, the individual quirks of the on-air luminaries and their producers, and the ongoing battles with management at CBS, all against the backdrop of 36 years of domestic and international news coverage. Readers interested in the workings of television news shows will thoroughly enjoy this book. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harper (September 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060558016
• ISBN-13: 978-0060558017
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,550,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating inside look, September 21, 2004

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Howard Gnome (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Tick... Tick... Tick...: The Long Life & Turbulent Times of 60 Minutes (Hardcover)

I grew up watching "60 Minutes." I have always wondered what Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley and the others are really like. Now I know. They're a bunch of brilliant, petty, inspired, horny egomaniacs! The book is fascinating and very often hilarious. "60 Minutes" is a real American institution and now I understand how it became one. In spite of, and because of, the people who created it.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars incredibly timely...and fascinating, September 21, 2004

By 

Robert Kelton (St. Louis, Mo.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tick... Tick... Tick...: The Long Life & Turbulent Times of 60 Minutes (Hardcover)

As soon as I heard there was a book about "60 Minutes" available, I raced out to get it -- and ended up staying up all night reading it. I literally couldn't put it down. This is a wildly readable, well-reported and profoundly juicy account of the people who put together the best TV newsmagazine around. Blum's depiction of the show's creator and resident genius, Don Hewitt, is tough but respectful, and it's filled with great stories. I love "60 Minutes" and hope these guys live forever --even Dan Rather! I'm buying copies for my dad, my father-in-law, and everyone I know who reserves Sunday nights at 7 for the best show on TV.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Look at People, Stories, Behavior and Ethics, October 22, 2004

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tick... Tick... Tick...: The Long Life & Turbulent Times of 60 Minutes (Hardcover)

60 Minutes is one of those television icons that all of us know something about. My daughter has a list of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows Ever!" on her bulletin board and it lists 60 Minutes in 6th place.

But how many of us have watched every broadcast? Probably no one saw them all but those who worked for the show from the beginning. Certainly, if you're under a certain age, you haven't watched them all because the show is older than you are.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Mr. Blum had captured as many of the pivotal stories over the years as possible, both in terms of how they were developed and how they were reported. These stories also include 60 Minutes's biggest flubs and embarrassments. As a result, you can catch up on stories you missed the first time around. You also learn details that you didn't know when you first saw the stories you have seen. And you will find out about the aftermath that was often obscure at the time. The key interview lines and responses are usually in the book.

Beyond that, you find out what it's been like for all of these prima donnas to work together all these years. Predictably, they get on each other's nerves and the blow ups can be explosive. Don Hewitt, the show's executive producer and founder, turns out to be one of those high energy, aggressive people who has a million ideas a minute . . . and most of them are worthless. So he's drove people crazy for all of those years. There's a convincing portrait of how his instinct for entertainment in news added a lot of profits for CBS but often undercut reporting professionalism. You will also learn about the personal vices, quirks and flaws of the key players.

When they weren't on deadline cranking out a story, what were Mike Wallace, Harry Reasoner, Dan Rather, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Andy Rooney, Diane Sawyer, Steve Kroft and Lesley Stahl really like? There's plenty of material there, as well as brief bios of how they came to join 60 Minutes.

There's also excellent material for those who are interested in the technical side of production on how the many pioneering techniques that 60 Minutes uses were developed.

Mr. Blum had a lot of individual access to reporters, producers and staff so the extensive public record of the shows themselves and the many books published by the leads is amplified by current observations of long ago and current events. The result makes for dramatic reading, particularly the parts about Don Hewitt being ushered off into retirement.

I was pleased to see the many times that Mr. Blum raised ethical issues about what 60 Minutes did or didn't do. Like any show, mistakes happen. It's often what you do about the mistakes that makes all of the difference. There the record is checkered also at times. Mr. Blum points out the issue, but doesn't rub your nose into it. You're left to draw your own conclusion in a pleasant way.

There's a nice insert of publicity photographs in the book to remind you what Mike Wallace, Harry Reasoner, Morley Safer, Dan Rather, Ed Bradley, Diane Sawyer, Steve Kroft and Meredith Vieira looked like in their prime.

The book is balanced, apparently quite factually accurate, and informational from many perspectives. I think you'll like it if you ever watched 60 Minutes and enjoyed the show.

I should note before concluding that I watched the very first broadcast and seldom missed one for the first 20 years or so of the show's history. Around that time, I lost interest. If a touted segment strikes my fancy now, I'll tune in occasionally. But for me, this show doesn't fit my needs any more. I'm usually watching the pre-show for Sunday Night Football or something else instead. That's too bad. 60 Minutes was once the highlight of the viewing week for me.