All episodes Season 51 S51E12 2018-12-16 60 min 1980s CBS

60 Minutes

Taking Aim at Opioids | Plastic Plague

TV Flash files “Taking Aim at Opioids | Plastic Plague” as hour 521 of 767 in the TV Flash guide — 60 Minutes (1968–present) on CBS, season 51, episode 12, aired 2018-12-16, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S51E12: listed hour 521 of 767 in the 60 Minutes guide, hour 12 of 30 in season 51. It aired 2018-12-16 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Elon Musk | Screen Time | Ryan Speedo Green” (S51E11). Next is “To Catch a Spy | Malta | The Wolves of Yellowstone” (S51E13). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

60 Minutes — Taking Aim at Opioids | Plastic Plague (S51E12)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

Taking Aim at Opioids: The attorney behind a multibillion-dollar tobacco settlement in 1998 has turned his attention to the opioid epidemic. And he wants drug companies to pay. Plastic Plague: Discarded plastic is piling up around the world and pooling in the ocean. Sharyn Alfonsi reports on the problem's deadly consequences for wildlife and what can be done to stop it.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Taking Aim at Opioids | Plastic Plague sit in the 60 Minutes guide?

S51E12 is listed hour 521 of 767 — hour 12 of 30 in season 51, season 51 episode 12.

When did 60 Minutes S51E12 air?

Taking Aim at Opioids | Plastic Plague aired 2018-12-16 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…

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