Heyward says '60 II' won't be knockoff
Hewitt to guide development of new broadcast
"It's a respectful offspring, not a clone," the Eye exec promises. "We're not going to be cavalier about the original franchise."
As expected, Heyward and CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves Wednesday officially announced plans to produce "60 Minutes II," with "CBS Evening News" executive producer Jeff Fager on board in that capacity for the newsmag spinoff. CBS News veep and Washington bureau chief Al Ortiz has been tapped to replace Fager on "Evening News."
The web hopes to have the new broadcast on the air by early next year.
The new "60 II" will include a mix of new material and updated reports on "classic" segments from the Sunday night program, CBS said (Daily Variety, July 15). Mike Wallace and most of the other current "60" correspondents have indicated a willingness to update their previous work, despite their previous outspoken objections to the idea of a second "60."
The "60" creator and exec producer Don Hewitt, who's also gone back and forth on the planned spinoff, will guide the development of the new broadcast.
"I think that under Jeff Fager, '60 Minutes II' is a natural to be the second best broadcast of its kind on television," Hewitt said in a statement. "Inasmuch as I can help without shortchanging the first best broadcast of its kind on television, I'm happy to do that.""'
Fager said his priority in producing "60 II" will be to maintain the same journalistic standards as the original.
High quality to continue
"I want it to live up to the high quality of reporting (as the Sunday show),"' he said, adding that he's already heard from producers who want to be a part of the new show.
"A lot of people have been waiting for something like this to come along," he said.
Eye anchor Dan Rather, not surprisingly, isn't thrilled about losing his exec producer. Fager's reassignment comes just as the "Evening News" has emerged as a consistent No. 2 in the ratings, ahead of ABC's "World News Tonight" and just behind NBC's dominant "Nightly News."
"Jeff has given so much to the 'Evening News' ... He could have stayed here forever as far as I was concerned," Rather said. "However, he earned this promotion. I applaud him as he goes."
Rather also gave Ortiz a big thumbs up. "We call him 'Hard News Al,' " Rather quipped, referring to Ortiz's passion for serious news.
Indeed, Ortiz said that while he's not planning any major changes to what appears to be a successful "Evening News" formula, he would try to make the already hard-news focused broadcast even newsier.
"In a matter of months, you may detect a slightly harder rhythm or possible, some more hard news in the first half of the broadcast," Ortiz predicted.
