Now that the clock has run out on Jeff Fager‘s reign at 60 Minutes, CBS News is looking for someone new to right the ship at the iconic newsmagazine, which kicks off Season 51 on Sept. 30.
CBS News president David Rhodes announced Wednesday that executive editor Bill Owens is managing the 60 Minutes team in the interim, while Rhodes and Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews are leading the search for Fager’s permanent replacement as executive producer.
Owens has already been identified as a candidate for the permanent ep job. He launched the companion series, 60 Minutes Sports, for Showtime in 2012, and has worked closely with correspondent Scott Pelley during his time at CBS News.
Two other TV newsers who immediately come to mind are CBS Sunday Morning executive producer Rand Morrison, and 48 Hours senior executive producer Susan Zirinsky. The latter is a favorite among CBS News staffers, and has been a producer on the network’s Saturday night newsmagazine for decades.
CBS News could look at external candidates as well. Will the network make a big splash, and reach out to executive producers from other networks, particularly those with experience in producing newsmagazines? Perhaps someone like Dateline senior ep David Corvo, 20/20 senior ep David Sloan, or even Frontline ep Raney Aronson-Rath.
Vice evp of content and news Josh Tyrangiel would be an interesting choice. He has done great things steering HBO’s 30-minute nightly newscast Vice News Tonight, which earned nine News and Documentary Awards nominations for 2018. That’s more nominations than any other nightly news program on a major network.
Tyrangiel could bring a younger, more bold and modern sensibility to the broadcast which has a reputation for being, shall we say, “traditional.”
Or, could Rhodes and company bring back veteran TV news producer Rome Hartman? Not only was he a longtime 60 Minutes producer, but he helped launch the short-lived Rock Center with Brian Williams, BBC World News America, and the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
60 Minutes senior producer Tanya Simon is also a rising star on the broadcast. She has been around the program for most of her life, as the daughter of 60 Minutes legend Bob Simon.
We came up with a handful of names, and are asking you, the ever-loyal TVNewser reader, to make your predictions about who you think will be the third executive producer in the 51-year history of 60 Minutes: