West 57th (TV series)
| West 57th | |
|---|---|
| Created by |
Andrew Lack Howard Stringer |
| Starring |
Meredith Vieira John Ferrugia Jane Wallace (1985-1988) Bob Sirott (1985-1988) Karen Burnes (1988-1989) Selina Scott (1987-1988) Steve Kroft (1987-1989) Stephen Schiff (1988-1989) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Andrew Lack |
| Running time | 60 minutes, including commercials |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | August 13, 1985 – September 9, 1989 |
West 57th is a newsmagazine series that aired on CBS from August 13, 1985, through September 9, 1989. West 57th originally premiered as a summer series, and took its name from the New York address of the CBS Broadcast Center, 524 West 57th Street. The original correspondents were Jane Wallace, Bob Sirott, Meredith Vieira and John Ferrugia. Later contributors included Steve Kroft, Selina Scott, Karen Burnes and Stephen Schiff.
The style of the program was intended to use the contemporary tools of television to tell compelling stories. The show's popularity, a concern for 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt, prompted pundit Andy Rooney to dedicate one of his closing segments on his program to a parody of West 57th correspondents.
After the cancellation, the show was replaced by Saturday Night with Connie Chung. Vieira and fellow correspondent Steve Kroft transferred to 60 Minutes, where Kroft currently remains. Vieira went on to anchor NBC's Today Show (after appearing on The View for 9 years). Sirott moved to Chicago to continue a successful career in local TV and radio. John Ferrugia moved to Denver, where he is the host of "Insight with John Ferrugia" at Rocky Mountain PBS.
The show was criticized for its slickness and superficiality. The Christian Science Monitor called it “a ditsy, disco-beat docu-mag for viewers with a short attention span.” In The New York Times, John Corry wrote that the show "isn't really television, and it certainly isn't journalism; it's video, and it's a mess. Nothing works well except the synthesizer music. It's as if news and entertainment fell into combat and neither side won."
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