All episodes Season 57 S57E31 2025-05-18 60 min 1980s CBS

60 Minutes

China's Spies | The Future of Warefare | Sounds of Country

TV Flash files “China's Spies | The Future of Warefare | Sounds of Country” as the last listed hour of season 57 — 60 Minutes (1968–present) on CBS, season 57, episode 31, aired 2025-05-18, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S57E31: listed hour 735 of 767 in the 60 Minutes guide, last listed hour of season 57. It aired 2025-05-18 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Fraud | To Walk Again | Jamie Lee Curtis” (S57E30). Next is “A Lonely Voice | The Mystery of the Eagle S | Dana White” (S58E01). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

60 Minutes — China's Spies | The Future of Warefare | Sounds of Country (S57E31)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

China's Spies – Chinese hackers have infiltrated U.S. government systems, the private sector and critical infrastructure, but hacking has not replaced Beijing's pursuit of old-fashioned human intelligence, aka: spying. Norah O'Donnell reports on Chinese covert agents who monitor and influence events outside their own borders and surveil and intimidate Chinese dissidents right here in America. Keith Sharman and Roxanne Feitel are the producers. The Future of Warefare – Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi travels to Costa Mesa, Calif., to meet with Palmer Luckey, the 32-year-old tech billionaire who founded Anduril, a defense products company that makes autonomous weapons, some already in use by the U.S. military and in the war in Ukraine. Alfonsi explores the artificial intelligence that powers Anduril's systems and reports on some of the company's most advanced weapons, including a submarine that operates without sailors. While several international groups refer to lethal autonomous weapons as "killer robots," Luckey says that these innovations represent the future of warfare. Lucy Hatcher is the producer. Sounds of Country – Correspondent Jon Wertheim visits southwest Louisiana, where the sounds of Cajun and Zydeco music - long the soundtrack in this singular pocket of America - are experiencing a remarkable revival. David M. Levine is the producer.

Viewer FAQ

Where does China's Spies | The Future of Warefare | Sounds of Country sit in the 60 Minutes guide?

S57E31 is listed hour 735 of 767 — last listed hour of season 57, season 57 episode 31.

When did 60 Minutes S57E31 air?

China's Spies | The Future of Warefare | Sounds of Country aired 2025-05-18 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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