Time Up For ‘60 Minutes’ As Ratings Leader

ABC’s “20/20” has overtaken CBS’s once-untouchable “60 Minutes” as king of the TV news magazines, but Victor Neufeld is in no hurry to wear the crown.

“We want to wait a year before we uncork the champagne,” says Neufeld, 49, executive producer of “20/20” since 1987.

“We’re in our 17th season. We’ve always been in the shadow of ‘60 Minutes.’ We have a long road before we can celebrate. We’re happy with slow, steady growth.”

Thanks to major gets such as Colin Powell and Christopher Reeve, “20/20,” hosted by Barbara Walters and Hugh Downs, ranks 10th on Nielsen’s Hit Parade this season with a 14.5 rating and 26 percent audience share at 10 p.m. Fridays. It attracts an average 21,030,000 viewers.

Airing at 7 p.m. Sundays, without the benefit of NFL football as a lead-in or a strong affiliate base, “60 Minutes” has slipped to 11th with a 14.3/23 and 20,050,000 viewers per week. (Each rating point equals 959,000 homes.)

While refusing to compare his show with “60 Minutes,” Neufeld says “20/20” has always differentiated itself from CBS’s crown jewel “by being extremely relevant and by going after stories of high impact and close connection to the audience.”

“60 Minutes” “is a strong, vibrant program,” Neufeld continues. Don Hewitt, its legendary creator and executive producer, “has a great vision that has worked for 25 years. We just elected to go in a slightly different direction. It works for us.”