TV Flash
All episodes Season 48 S48E33 2016-05-15 60 min 1980s CBS

60 Minutes

Breakthrough Status | Collateral Damage

TV Flash files “Breakthrough Status | Collateral Damage” as hour 431 of 767 in the TV Flash guide — 60 Minutes (1968–present) on CBS, season 48, episode 33, aired 2016-05-15, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S48E33: listed hour 431 of 767 in the 60 Minutes guide, hour 33 of 37 in season 48. It aired 2016-05-15 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Russia's Dark Secret | The Killing Machine | Earthquake Alley” (S48E32). Next is “Inside Edge / Valerie Jarrett” (S48E34). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

60 Minutes — Breakthrough Status | Collateral Damage (S48E33)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

Breakthrough Status - FDA grants breakthrough status to Duke University cancer treatment documented by 60 Minutes. Collateral Damage -The U.S. Justice Department bungled the economic espionage case against Xiaoxing Xi. The Department investigated him for contact with Chinese scientists that was required by his U.S. funded research grants. Now cleared, Xi, a naturalized citizen of the U.S., fears the false accusations may have lingering repercussions on his promising career. Xi appears in his first television interview in a Bill Whitaker story about Chinese American citizens wrongly accused of economic espionage related crimes for China.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Breakthrough Status | Collateral Damage sit in the 60 Minutes guide?

S48E33 is listed hour 431 of 767 — hour 33 of 37 in season 48, season 48 episode 33.

When did 60 Minutes S48E33 air?

Breakthrough Status | Collateral Damage aired 2016-05-15 and is listed at 60 minutes.

Is 1980s 60 Minutes different from today's?

The grammar is the same: multi-segment hour, stopwatch motif, investigations plus profiles. In the 1980s it frequently outrated sitcoms — proof news could dominate prime time.

In the series

Why this series still plays

Filed by Vivian Cross · The Carpet Report · Show package

The template of TV newsmagazine power — for the craft of the package and the history of broadcast investigation. Hewitt's stopwatch, Wallace's ambush, Safer and Bradley and Rooney's endnotes: Sunday night investigative theater that outrated sitcoms. Appointment news before the infinite scroll. Tick, tick, tick.

Tick, tick, tick — not a theme song, a weapon. CBS's 60 Minutes, Don Hewitt's stopwatch since 1968, was an 1980s Nielsen bully that outrated sitcoms on Sunday night: investigative pieces, profiles, commentator segments, correspondent star power. Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Harry Reasoner, Ed Bradley, Diane Sawyer, Andy Rooney's endnotes. **Ambush interviews and gotcha lore made Wallace a fearsome brand.** The museum guard wants the package as civic virtue. The flash is the ambush. Appointment news before the…

Open the 60 Minutes package · Season 48 hub

Filed against

Also in season 48

← Full episode guide · Show package · All shows