All episodes Season 49 S49E18 2017-01-29 60 min 1980s CBS

60 Minutes

Avalanche | Enhancing the Bike

TV Flash files “Avalanche | Enhancing the Bike” as hour 453 of 767 in the TV Flash guide — 60 Minutes (1968–present) on CBS, season 49, episode 18, aired 2017-01-29, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S49E18: listed hour 453 of 767 in the 60 Minutes guide, hour 18 of 37 in season 49. It aired 2017-01-29 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Barack Obama: Eight Years in the White House” (S49E17). Next is “A Front Row Seat” (S49E19). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

60 Minutes still

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

Avalanche: It took 10 hours for rescue crews to reach Hotel Rigopiano after an avalanche buried the Italian resort. No one expected survivors, but rescuers never gave up on those who'd been buried alive. Enhancing the Bike: Bill Whitaker investigates whether pro cyclists have used secret bike motors to win races -- like the Tour de France -- in a sport notorious for its culture of cheating.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Avalanche | Enhancing the Bike sit in the 60 Minutes guide?

S49E18 is listed hour 453 of 767 — hour 18 of 37 in season 49, season 49 episode 18.

When did 60 Minutes S49E18 air?

Avalanche | Enhancing the Bike aired 2017-01-29 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

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 49 hub

Filed against

Also in season 49

← Full episode guide · Show package · All shows