This week on "Sunday Morning" (September 23)
COVER STORY: Fighting the lies about Sandy Hook | Watch Video
In the nearly six years since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the community of Newtown, Connecticut – and all 26 families who lost a child or a loved one – have slowly tried to move forward. But some families feel they have no choice but to look back, to stare down something they never imagined they would face: an outlandish myth launched online and spread through social media that the shooting at Sandy Hook never actually happened, or that it was staged with the help of paid "actors," including the grieving parents themselves, and that the children who were killed had never lived in the first place.
Earlier this year, several families of victims filed lawsuits against Alex Jones, the online provocateur whom they feel is mainly responsible for spreading lies and conspiracy theories concerning their murdered children. Tony Dokoupil reports.
For more info:
- Ben's Lighthouse
- "Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire – A 500-Year History" by Kurt Anderson (Random House), available via Amazon
- Floyd Abrams, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
- Complete CBSNews.com Coverage: Sandy Hook shooting
ALMANAC: Typhoid Mary | Watch Video
September 23, 1869 marked the birth of the woman who would become a "healthy carrier" of a communicable disease, who would end her life in quarantine. Jane Pauley reports.
For more info:
- The Frightening Legacy of Typhoid Mary (Smithsonian Magazine, March 2015)
- The Strange Case of Typhoid Mary (Quanta, August 2016)
- NYC Parks: Visiting North Brother Island, site of Typhoid Mary's quarantine
BEHIND THE HEADLINES: The Supreme Court: Every seat "a chess piece in the struggle for power" | Watch Video
Martha Teichner on the controversy surrounding decades-old allegations of sexual assault against a politically-charged figure: a nominee for a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court.
For more info:
- Nina Totenberg, NPR
- Follow @NinaTotenberg on Twitter
- jonmeacham.com
- "The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels" by Jon Meacham (Random House), available via Amazon
- Follow @jmeacham on Twitter
HOLLYWOOD: Michael Ovitz: Closing old wounds | Watch Video
Once the most powerful agent in Hollywood and later the number-two man at Disney, Michael Ovitz, co-founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), talks with Rita Braver about his new memoir, "Who Is Michael Ovitz," in which he looks back at his legacy in the entertainment industry with both pride and regret.
BOOK EXCERPT: How "Schindler's List" and "Jurassic Park" came to be
In his new memoir, "Who Is Michael Ovitz," the agent discusses how he was able to work deals involving Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Michael Crichton, and the germ of an idea about dinosaurs.
For more info:
- "Who Is Michael Ovitz?" by Michael Ovitz (Portfolio), in Hardover, eBook and Audio editions, available via Amazon
- Follow @MichaelOvitz on Twitter
COMMENTARY: Dr. Sanjay Gupta on how alcohol affects memory | Watch Video
Some answers to the question that hangs over the current Supreme Court confirmation battle of Brett Kavanaugh - and some wrong assumptions.
For more info:
- Follow @drsanjaygupta on Twitter and Facebook
TELEVISION: RuPaul: All dressed up | Watch Video
The successful VH1 game show "RuPaul's Drag Race" features remarkably-named contestants (such as Sasha Velour, Kalorie Karbdashian Williams and Mayhem Miller) who compete for cash prizes and the title of America's Next Drag Superstar. RuPaul explains to Nancy Giles the power of a man performing in women's clothes, heels and makeup. (Originally broadcast March 11, 2018.)
WEB EXTRA VIDEO: Judge Judy hands down her opinion on RuPaul
RuPaul, star of "RuPaul's Drag Race," expresses his devotion to Judge Judy - and hears via Nancy Giles a special message for RuPaul from the lady in black robes herself.
WEB EXTRA VIDEO: RuPaul on what he learned from his family
RuPaul, renowned as a celebrity drag queen, talks about his mother (a "rebel"), his father (the "life of the party"), his sisters (who were his universe growing up), and why he describes himself as "an introvert masquerading as an extrovert."
For more info:
- "RuPaul's Drag Race" (VH1)
- rupaul.com
- Follow @RuPaul on Twitter and Facebook
HARTMAN: Answered prayers: What happens "when God shows up" (Video)
Although no one knew it at the time, Jerome Jones, a poor preacher at the Springfield Baptist Church in Monticello, Ga., recently went through a crisis of faith, until he received a message from the heavens – actually, a note attached to three balloons. Steve Hartman talks with Jones about how a cry for help renewed his faith.
TELEVISION: Murphy's back! | Watch Video
Lee Cowan visits the set of the reincarnation of "Murphy Brown," and talks with star Candice Bergen, who won five Emmys for her role in the original show; series creator Diane English; and other members of the cast, many returning to roles they left 20 years ago.
WEB EXTRA VIDEO: Candice Bergen and Diane English on expected backlash
From 1988 to 1998, the sitcom "Murphy Brown" tackled some hot political and social issues. With the series' return in the era of #MeToo and Donald Trump, star and executive producer Candice Bergen and series creator Diane English tell correspondent Lee Cowan that they expect they will once again hit some hot button topics - and face some backlash for doing so.
WEB EXTRA VIDEO: Impact of "Murphy Brown" on breast cancer screenings
Candice Bergen and Diane English talk with correspondent Lee Cowan about the impact their comedy "Murphy Brown" had when its lead character faced breast cancer.
For more info:
- "Murphy Brown" (cbs.com)
MUSIC: Leonard Bernstein at 100 | Watch Video
It's hard to believe that Leonard Bernstein was just one person. He was the classical music world's first American-born superstar conductor; a composer of legendary Broadway shows like "West Side Story," and a pied piper for millions of future music lovers in his "Young People's Concerts" on television. Mo Rocca visits the Grammy Museum exhibit now touring the country in honor of Bernstein's 100th birthday, and talks with Bernstein's daughter, Jamie, and with New York Philharmonic musician Stanley Drucker.
WEB EXTRA VIDEO: How Leonard Bernstein mixed composing with teaching
In 1982, while working on his opera, "A Quiet Place," famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein spent several months at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. There he engaged students in an unconventional way to workshop the material while he composed it, as Dean Emeritus Charles Webb describes to correspondent Mo Rocca in this web exclusive.
For more info:
- leonardbernstein.com
- Grammy Museum Exhibit: Leonard Bernstein at 100 – at the New England Conservatory's Student Life and Performance Center, Burnes Hall, Boston (September 24-November 11)
- Bernstein at 100 | List of centennial celebration events
- "Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein" by Jamie Bernstein (HarperCollins), available via Amazon | Read a sample chapter
- Moving Pictures: "West Side Story" (New York Public Library)
- "Bernstein: Complete Works" (Deutsche Grammophon), CD Box set
- "Bernstein Conducts 'West Side Story'" (Deutsche Grammophon), available via Amazon
- "Leonard Bernstein: The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon & Decca," CD box set, available via Amazon
PASSAGE: Arthur Mitchell and Robert Venturi | Watch Video
"Sunday Morning" remembers the co-founder of Dance Theatre of Harlem and a prize-winning architect. Jane Pauley reports.
NATURE: Dolphins (Extended Video)
We leave you this Sunday Morning in waters of the Red Sea, where bottlenose dolphins play.
WEB EXCLUSIVES:
CALENDAR: Week of September 24 | Watch Video
"Sunday Morning" takes a look at some notable events of the week ahead. Jane Pauley reports.
GALLERY: Scenes from Riot Fest
The three-day Chicago music festival featured such acts as Elvis Costello and Pussy Riot.
NATURE UP CLOSE: One huge crocodile
Today's animal fact, demonstrated in gruesome detail: While crocodiles have many sharp teeth, they can't chew, so they must tear off chunks of an animal to swallow them.
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