Minute by Minute

Creator and executive producer of CBS's 60 Minutes, Hewitt here reveals that he conceived this popular program as an alternative to ""boring'' TV documentaries. In its 17 years, 60 Minutes has interviewed such diverse personalities as Woody Allen, Katharine Hepburn, Jesse Jackson, Richard Nixon, Eubie Blake, Jean-Pierre Rampal and the Shah of Iran. The program has caused much controversy and exercised influence, for example, in bringing about the release of Lenell Geter, falsely imprisoned, as it turned out, for armed robbery. Hewitt engagingly describes the adventures of staff members Harry Reasoner, Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Dan Rather, Ed Bradley and Diane Sawyer in pursuit of stories, and relates amusing anecdotes about ongoing competition with NBC. Photos. 50,000 first printing; first serial to Cosmopolitan, USA Today and TV Guide; BOMC alternate. Foreign rights: ICM. November 29