Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Oprah Didn’t Bring New Viewers to “60 Minutes” Premiere, Same Number as Last Year

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CBS really promoted the heck out of Oprah Winfrey joining “60 Minutes.” She was touted as a special correspondent by everyone on the show. They almost played a fan fare

But in the end, Oprah’s debut scored the same ratings as last year’s season opener– around 13.5 million. It seems the people who watch “60 Minutes” are the same year to year. But at least Oprah’s segment was pretty interesting. She talked to people in Michigan about Trump, and they pretty much seemed to like him. I’ll bet that shocks people (like me) on both coasts. They didn’t care about Russia. They just think Trump is a big F-U to all of us. One woman predicted Civil War.

“Star Trek: Discovery” played its first and last time on the network before heading off to CBS All Access on line. They drew around 8.5 million people. Frankly, I didn’t even know it was coming. It was just…there. But it seemed pretty interesting. Michelle Yeoh is terrific. Once “Discovery” heads to All Access we’ll never know what the ratings are.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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