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.

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…
Filed against
- Mike Wallace as Correspondent
Mike Wallace’s ambush made 60 Minutes Sunday-night investigative theater that outrated sitcoms — Hewitt’s stopwatch, Safer and Bradley and Rooney’s endnotes, 1960s-into-1980s newsmagazine power. Appointment news before the internet stole…
- Morley Safer as Correspondent
Morley Safer’s packages helped 60 Minutes outrate sitcoms on Sunday night — Hewitt’s stopwatch, Wallace’s ambush, Bradley and Rooney’s endnotes, 1960s-into-1980s newsmagazine power. Appointment news before the internet stole the clock. TV…
- Harry Reasoner as Correspondent
Harry Reasoner was a 60 Minutes correspondent when the stopwatch became civic theater — Hewitt's newsmagazine power, Wallace ambush, Safer and Bradley and Rooney's endnotes, Sunday night investigation that outrated sitcoms. Appointment…
- Ed Bradley as Correspondent
Ed Bradley made 60 Minutes correspondent craft look like Sunday-night theater — Hewitt's stopwatch, investigative packages that outrated sitcoms, and a presence that treated the story as a public square. Appointment news before the…
- Diane Sawyer as Correspondent
Diane Sawyer worked 60 Minutes as correspondent steel — Hewitt’s stopwatch, Wallace’s ambush, Safer and Bradley and Rooney’s endnotes, Sunday-night investigative theater that outrated sitcoms. Template of TV newsmagazine power. TV Flash…
Also in season 49
- S49E01 The King | The New Cold War | The Picasso Portfolio
- S49E02 The Artic Frontier | Don't Mess with Mary Quin | Nate Parker
- S49E03 Breaking Good | Artificial Intelligence | Gorilla Doctors
- S49E04 Finding Refuge | The Brothers Rosenberg
- S49E05 Ask Ohio | Thrown for a Loss | The Influncers
- S49E06 In God's Name | The Pot Vote | The Music of Zomba Prison