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Among the most recognized and revered television newsmagazines, "20/20" was ABC's answer to CBS's "60 Minutes." Though some stories were humorous, light-hearted and sometimes frivolous features, the meat of "20/20's" programming was investigative reporting many times exposing corporate, medical, educational and governmental wrongdoing, incompetence and criminal negligence and reports on news events of the week from (often) different angles than was seen on the nightly news. Oftentimes, co-host Walters interviewed a prominent celebrity, politician or other newsmaker (among her most famous interviews included her fearless interview of feared Libyan dictator Muhammar Qaddafi; and her inspirational story of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, who was interviewed shortly after the Persian Gulf War had ended). The show's regular cast of contributors filed the reports, with the most prolific including John Stossel (who once had his nose broken while interviewing a World Wrestling Federation wrestler), Lynn Sherr, Stone Phillips (before he joined "Dateline NBC") and Catherine Crier. Though most of the reports proved to be factual, some were heralded as sensationalist; others led to allegations of libel while at least one story later proved to be an embarrassing hoax. —Brian Rathjen <briguy_52732@yahoo.com>
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20/20 needs glasses
Back in the days of Barbara Walters and Hugh Downs, 20/20 was the best news magazine show on TV. I especially liked their undercover investigations, busting scams and criminals. John F. Stossel did his "Give Me A Break" part very well at the time. The older 20/20 shows were the best! And I never missed a show. But ever since Hugh Downs left, the show just hasn't been the same. And now that Barbara Walters has left too, the show has become much of a joke. 20/20 used to be all about protecting the consumer and busting scams and criminals. But now, all they do on 20/20 (besides covering stories that are already all over the news, a lot of which is simply entertainment news) is bust myths. This is sadly, the exact same concept that has also brought down the Discovery Channel. The Discovery Channel used to be all about shows investigating both a lot in science and law, but now all they do is show stupid "reality" shows and bust urban myths. I just can't understand all of this, obviously the people in control of these TV networks today are just some really stupid (and lazy) people.
helpful•123
- crash21
- Feb 4, 2007
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