Good evening, and welcome to this week’s ‘Ragebait.’
Justin Baragona here. In tonight’s edition, current and former CBS News staffers tell me how they are worried that the ratings disaster at ‘60 Minutes’ is just the latest example of Bari Weiss killing the Tiffany Network. Plus, John Fetterman parties at the Murdochs, and Fox turns a blind eye to more Trump corruption.
Making Chicken Salad Out of Chicken Shit
“WELCOME TO THE SPIN ZONE!!!”
This was the all-caps text I received from a CBS reporter last night, letting me know exactly what they thought of the network’s official press release about the debut of Bari Weiss’s revamped ‘60 Minutes,’ which pulled in the worst ratings for a season premiere this century.
“The show is dead. We’re just looking at some Frankenstein of bits sewn together of mismatched pieces,” a CBS News senior staffer told me, adding: “I think the season is in trouble.”
According to Nielsen, the iconic newsmagazine – which was chaotically overhauled by Weiss this past spring – averaged 7.9 million total viewers and 1.6 million in the key 25-54 advertising demographic on Sunday, down drastically from last season’s premiere of 10.03 million viewers and 2.36 million in the demo. This marked a 21% drop in total viewership and a troubling 33% in the key demographic.
Indeed, the flacks at the Tiffany Network did their level best to make chicken salad out of chicken shit.
