CBS Stars Past And Present
It was billed as the greatest television reunion of all time. And Sunday night, the live celebration "CBS at 75" did not disappoint, bringing together some of the biggest and brightest stars to ever appear on the small screen.
The men and women of CBS News received one of the night's biggest ovations, while Bob Newhart and Suzanne Pleshette received one of the night's biggest laughs.
CBS first took to the airwaves back in 1928 and over the course of the next 75 years became home to notables ranging from Edward R. Murrow to Carol Burnett.
Sunday, Nov. 2, the network celebrated its history in a live entertainment special, "CBS At 75," remembering the programs and people that made it memorable.
CBS Chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves tells Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, "When you go through the history of CBS, there is one great show after another and the hardest part in putting this altogether was what not to show."
His favorite shows being, "'All In The Family,' 'Mash,' and 'Mary Tyler Moore Show.' CBS was the network we watched in my house. Walter Cronkite was god in my house."
This special event,was attended by CBS personalities representing decades of popular and beloved CBS shows. It featured salient moments from the network's archive of entertainment, news, sports and radio broadcasts.
CBS stars ranging from Alan Alda and Loni Anderson to Betty White and Tom Wopat (and even Lassie IX) convened for the live broadcast at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan.
Once known as the Tiffany network, the standard against which all others were judged, CBS has its luster back, Moonves says, "The greatest compliment we ever receive nowadays is, 'You know, what? CBS is back on top again with 'CSI," and 'Raymond' and still with '60 minutes.' We're, once again, the quality network and I think that's the best part of it."
Seventy-five years ago it was the vision of a cigar salesman who made it all happen. His name was William Paley.
Moonves says, "He's the guy that put together a group of radio stations in 1928 and built it into CBS. The remarkable thing about him was until he died, which was in 1990, I believe, he was still very involved with programming. He still loved his network. And I think the quality that stayed on CBS was because of Bill Paley."
If we were to look back 25, 30 or even 50 years from now, Moonves says, "'Everybody Loves Raymond' will still be watched. I think it's a relatable show. Obviously, '60 Minutes' has been on for 35 years and still going strong and I think 'CSI' has a chance to live on for many years."
Asked how he moves forward, after turning the network around, Moonves says, "You got to keep finding the new shows. You got to keep replacing the ones that are getting tired and getting old and I think every year for the last five years, we've been able to put on 'Without A Trace' and 'CSI.' I think you got to keep striving for up the ante and up the bar and we've been doing that."