Moonves has new Fresh Face for 60 Minutes Sunday

Understanding that 60 Minutes Sunday is starting to look long in the tooth, Leslie Moonves, Chairman of CBS, has decided to add some youth to the show. With the demise of the 60 Minutes II show, he recognized the need to move some talent over. So CBS announced the addition to 60 Minutes Sunday of

Dan Rather.

The chairman of CBS, Leslie Moonves, announced yesterday that he had canceled the Wednesday edition of “60 Minutes,” a six-year-old spinoff of the Sunday evening staple.

The most visible result of Mr. Moonves’s decision is the reassignment of Dan Rather, a full-time correspondent on the weekday edition of “60 Minutes,” to the Sunday program. Mr. Rather, whose contract does not expire until late 2006, said yesterday that his transition to the new job would begin immediately

Mr. Moonves acted in the midst of a particularly volatile period in the Wednesday program’s history. Eight months ago, the program touched off a journalistic firestorm by broadcasting a report critical of President Bush’s Vietnam-era military service – a segment that was based on documents the network later acknowledged it could not authenticate.

This, in my humble opinion, is just what 60 Minutes need. Rather is the ultimate team player, and his youthful demeanor will liven up the show.

Oh, and Fox and Disney’s stocks are probably a better play today  than yesterday.