CBS Sunday Morning

“Victory Gardens” for the pandemic

With spring in the air, people are looking to plant gardens. But the coronavirus pandemic and the challenging times facing those in lockdown have brought to mind among some green thumbs the victory gardens of World War II. Tracy Smith reports on how nurseries are now selling out, not of flower bulbs, but of vegetables, and how online tutorials about growing your own food are sprouting up everywhere.

Crowding the internet

With so many people working from home nowadays, there has been a dramatic rise – as much as 50% – in internet traffic on residential networks that weren't built for data-heavy two-way video conference calls. Will the internet be able to handle it all? David Pogue reports.

Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and George Takei on getting through a national crisis

For millions of Americans, these are challenging times. For some insight into resilience from a generation that survived a depression and world war, Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz turns to funnymen Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. Via cyberchat, the two comedy writers, who first met in the 1950s ("Call it laugh at first sight"), talk about enduring World War II and coming out on top. Mankiewicz also talks with "Star Trek" actor and activist George Takei (who as a child was detained in a Japanese-American internment camp in the 1940s) about what Americans look for when facing an uncertain future.

The toilet paper shortage of 1973

In the early 1970s Americans had experienced gasoline shortages owing to the OPEC oil embargo. So, when Johnny Carson made a joke about a shortage of toilet paper on "The Tonight Show," rolls of toilet tissue began disappearing off store shelves as nervous consumers hoarded the prized commodity, thereby creating a genuine shortage. Mo Rocca talks with documentary filmmaker Brian Gersten and Boston University economics professor Jay Zagorsky about the real-world implications of a joke.

"Little Fires Everywhere" writer Celeste Ng

For her second mega-bestselling novel, "Little Fires Everywhere" (now a Hulu miniseries), author Celeste Ng was inspired by the Cleveland, Ohio suburb where she grew up as the daughter of Hong Kong immigrants. In February she returned to Shaker Heights with correspondent Martha Teichner, to talk about her childhood in a progressive and diverse community, her stories of class and racial divides, and how she dealt with internet trolls.