West 57th (news magazine)
Better known as the "yuppie" version of 60 Minutes, West 57th originally premiered as a summer magazine series on CBS during the mid-1980's. The original correspondents were Jane Wallace, Bob Sirott, Meredith Vieira, and John Ferrugia. Later additions were Steve Kroft, Selina Scott, Karen Burnes, and Stephen Schiff.
The style of the program was intended to the under 40 audience.
CBS cancelled West 57th in September of 1989 due to lack of resources. According to Peter Boyer in his book Who Killed CBS?, Dan Rather was always obsessed with having enough resources for the CBS Evening News. He was very upset when his star reporters, Jane Wallace and Meredith Vieira, were recruited to join West 57th. After the cancellation, the show was replaced by the short-lived "Saturday Night with Connie Chung". Vieira and counterpart Steve Kroft moved to 60 Minutes.
In addition, West 57th also made Meredith Vieira a regular CBS correspondent until her departure in 1991.
Categories: CBS network shows | News television series