Season Premiere: Oct. 10
| Tuesdays 9:00PM ET Season Premiere |  |
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Dan Rather investigates secrecy agreements used in Firestone settlements, Charlie Rose sits down with the creator of Napster and Mike Wallace and Tipper Gore talk about their bouts with depression on the season premiere of 60 minutes II Tuesday, Oct. 10, on the CBS Television Network.
Commentator Charles Grodin debuts on the Broadcast.
The Black Dog: In a revealing 60 Minutes II interview, Mike Wallace and Tipper Gore share their personal experiences with depression, an illness that affects millions of Americans today. Wallace asks Gore if she's thought about suicide. "I confess, I thought about it, did you,"asks Wallace. Gore responds, "I believe I got help before I got to that point."
Napster: Last year, Shawn Fanning started Napster, an Internet song-swap service that has turned him into the music industry's biggest enemy. Napster enables millions of people to get free music through their computers, while companies such as Sony, Universal and RCA say they will lose billions of dollars in sales. Correspondent Charlie Rose talks to Fanning about the record industry's effort to shut Napster down. "It's upsetting to know that we've built something that 30 million people love and has so much potential," says Fanning. "And the fact that it could be destroyed, or could be lost, is – is definitely upsetting."
Hush Money? More than 100 people are known to have died in highway accidents linked to Firestone tires, but could some of the deaths have been prevented? Dan Rather's investigation into the Firestone crisis reveals that although many people, including the families of victims and their lawyers, knew about the alleged defect in Firestone's tires, the truth was kept quiet by a series of secrecy agreements signed as part of the company's legal settlements.
Kim Van Etten signed the agreement after her son was killed, but has regrets. She says, "…I felt like I killed those people and in all honesty, I do have a hand in it and I'll have to answr to it for some time in my life or after my life."
Charles Grodin debuts as the program's commentator and will be featured weekly on 60 Minutes II.
Last season, 60 Minutes II was the second highest-rated news magazine on television, finishing behind the Sunday edition. 60 Minutes II debuted on Jan. 13, 1999 and ranked 25th of 176 regularly scheduled programs in its first full season. The broadcast has been honored with three Emmy Awards, an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award, an AWRT Award, a Sigma Delta Chi Award, a Peabody Award and an IRE Award. 60 Minutes II is broadcast Tuesdays (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Jeff Fager is the executive producer of the broadcast.
NOTE: A new group shot of the 60 Minutes II correspondents was released on AP Express on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
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Press Contact: Kelli Edwards (N.Y.) 212 975-6795 or “kee@cbsnews.com”