60 Minutes is an American investigative television newsmagazine, which has run on CBS News since 1968. The program was created by long time producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. It has been among the top-rated TV programs for much of its life, and has garnered numerous awards over the years. It is considered by many to be the preeminent investigative television program in the United States. The fall (autumn) of 2008 saw the program's 40th anniversary, and it currently holds the record for the longest continuously running program of any genre scheduled during American network prime time; it has aired at 7 p.m. Eastern Time Sundays since December 7, 1975. The longer-running Meet the Press has also aired in prime time, but currently airs during the daytime, as it has for most of its history. The Disney anthology television series (which premiered in 1954), and the Hallmark Hall of Fame (since 1951) have aired longer, but none of them has aired in prime time continually, as 60 Minutes has done.

60 Minutes is the first regularly scheduled television program in American television history not to have ever used any type of theme music. The only theme sound is from the signature Aristo stopwatch in the opening title credits, before each commercial break, and at the tail-end of the closing credits.

Early years

Initially, 60 Minutes aired as a bi-weekly show hosted by Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace, debuting on September 24, 1968 and alternating weeks with other CBS News productions on Tuesday evenings. The first edition, described by Reasoner in the opening as a "kind of a magazine for television," featured the following segments:

1) a look inside the headquarter suites of presidential candidates Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey during their respective parties' national conventions that summer;

2) commentary by European writers Malcolm Muggeridge, Peter Von Zahn, and Luigi Barzini on the American electoral system;

3) a commentary by political columnist Art Buchwald;

4) an interview with then-Attorney General Ramsey Clark about police brutality;

5) an abbreviated version of an Academy Award-winning short film by Saul Bass, Why Man Creates; and

6) a meditation by Wallace and Reasoner on the relation between perception and reality. Wallace said that the show aimed to "reflect reality," while acknowledging the differing perceptions of it.

The first "magazine-cover" chroma key was a photo of two helmeted policemen (for the Clark interview segment). Wallace and Reasoner sat in chairs on opposite sides of the set, which had a cream-colored backdrop; the more famous black backdrop (which is still used as of 2009) did not appear until the following year. The logo was in Helvetica type with the word "Minutes" spelled in all lower-case letters; the logo most associated with the show did not appear until about 1974. Further, to extend the magazine motif, the producers added a "Vol. xx, No. xx" to the title display on the chroma key; that was seen until about 1971. The trademark stopwatch, however, did not appear on the inaugural broadcast; it would not debut until several episodes later. Alpo dog food was the sole sponsor of the first program.