‘60’ Sticking To One Night For Now

With NBC’s “Dateline” seen four nights a week and ABC’s “20/20” having expanded to two nights, will CBS’s venerable “60 Minutes” follow suit?

“We’ve talked about starting a second edition,” says Don Hewitt, 79, the newsmag’s creator and executive producer. “We haven’t talked about it, to use a phrase (NBC’s) Tom Brokaw thinks he invented, ‘in depth.”’

CBS has plenty of on-air talent to staff another edition, Hewitt says, but not enough first-class producers. (He would need 20.) “I’m not hopeful about that. There’s no question CBS would like a second edition, but I don’t want to be like ‘Dateline.”’

Meaning? “‘Dateline’ is doing very well. What else they’re doing I’m not sure, but well they’re doing. It reminds me of when the Dole pineapple family went to Hawaii as missionaries. People said they went out to do good, and they did well.”

As for future “60” correspondents, Hewitt says he has two in the wings: Christiane Amanpour and Bob Simon, both of whom contribute pieces.