As a child, I watched a LOT of television. Some of it was my choice, but all of it had to pass the final say of my parents. Which meant watching a LOT of "old people shows". A lot. And every Sunday (especially Sunday) meant not only a large amount of tv viewing due to it being the weekend (plus the whole "Sunday dinner" ritual paired well with after-dinner tv), but it also meant '60 Minutes' at 7pm. PST. Every Sunday. And somehow, Morley Safer & Co. made an impression on me, making their way through the thick layers of cartoons and comic books. I was mesmerized with all the exotic locals, the hard-nosed investigative reporting, the blunt language (no, I don't mean swearing, this IS CBS after all). And the reporters. Ed Bradley had the calm demeanor and the piercing gaze with that stern face that called people on their bullshit without uttering a single word. Morley Safer, as I mentioned earlier, was the old curmudgen with the heart of gold. Lesley Stahl was the lone female who held her own with the boys yet also played the "good cop" role with interviewees, winning them into honesty submission with the bubbly personality you could trust. Mike Wallace was the guy whom looked like you knew he was handsome when he was younger. The star quarterback role amongst this team of reporters. And all of them wanted to get to the heart of the matter in whatever the segment was about. They wanted to hit that main vein of truth @ the center of the story. Every time. And by and far, they succeeded. And for a long time (and still, currently) '60 Minutes' ruled the "news magazine" portion of television with an iron fist. But every reign must come to an end. Half the on-air reporters I named have, unfortunately, passed on and/or retired. Indeed, 60 Minutes continues to reign supreme @ 7pm on Sundays weekly. But there's also a new kid in town. Well, he's been here for a few years - first in online/quarterly magazine format, then rising thru the cyber ranks to become popular enough for an HBO half-hour news show. That kid's name is Vice (.com, Magazine, and News on HBO).
If anything proves that Vice and it's various supporting companies/websites/formats are here to stay;], it was yesterday, when Disney announced that they would be investing over $200 million dollars to own a portion of the company. Yes, the house of Mikey Mouse himself and all that it represents (read: "good, wholesome fun") wants to own a part of the company responsible for an article/video short entitled "Heroin Holiday" where the video reporter spent the weekend with a group of Dutch junkies who went into the hills where opium poppies were being grown by companies for poppy-seed bagels, etc. during harvest and reap the narcotic rewards. But Vice is so much more than that. Disney obviously knows a good thing when it sees it. They see that Vice represents a new generation. It IS the 60 Minutes for the millenial crowd. For me. It takes what 60 Minutes started with having an unabashedly honest, unbiased view of the subject their reporting on and the people they interview and takes it a step further into the digital age. 15 minutes snooping around on Vice.com will prove that. So congratulations to one of my select few sites I checked on na daily basis. Usually in the morning, with coffee. And a danish on Friday sometimes. I like my daily dose of real-world problems and violence with a side of sweet breakfast pastry and caffeine like any red-blooded American (I guess).
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