'60 Minutes': 4 takeaways from the season premiere

"60 Minutes" launched its 59th season opener Sunday, the first edition since firing the show's top production staff and three lead correspondents — Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega and Scott Pelley. How would this classic regroup? Would it? Four takeaways:

1. The ticking continues

Some assumed the first casualty of the new "60 Minutes" would be that totemic cold open, notably the ticking clock. But assume no more. The ticking wisely remains. What is gone is that old visual conceit of an open magazine spread framing each story. Show founder Don Hewitt, who died in 2009, had said he'd borrowed the idea of "60 Minutes" from Life Magazine, hence the magazine spread. But CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss — in charge of this overhaul — has vowed to adapt "60 Minutes" to the new era of media, not hold on to ancient print vestiges. Life ceased weekly publication in 1972, and (finally) as a monthly in 2007. Ironically, Life is set to resume publication of some sort, later this year.

2. A '60 Minutes' scoop, with missing pieces

Sunday's first story, "Shot Down Over Iran," was a Norah O'Donnell scoop about two missing airmen shot down near Isfahan in April, with one on camera identified by his code name "Bravo," the weapons-system officer on the F-15E, who offered moving quotes and shocking details about his ordeal. There was also riveting footage, and lots of access — to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Brad Cooper, commander of the United States Central Command. This was a triumph for "60 Minutes," but one that came with asterisks nevertheless. How, after all, did "60 Minutes" get this access, this story?

Last spring Hegseth enforced new Pentagon press-access and credentialing restrictions, which CBS News and others had refused to endorse because of the degree of obeisance, or genuflection, required. Not even addressed here: Why not interview "Alpha," the Eagle's pilot? Turns out, this was covered over the weekend by CNN, which reported that Hegseth had "pressed" both airmen to appear on camera, but Alpha had refused for security reasons. (The Pentagon dismissed this as a "complete lie.") Yet by not acknowledging Alpha's reasons for not appearing, an impression was left that "60 Minutes" had something to hide. This asterisk — this question never addressed — leads to yet a third: Was there a quid pro quo to get this story? The chief concern any longtime "60 Minutes" fan had going into this season was whether the broadcast would sacrifice its independence to the Trump administration. Was "Shot Down Over Iran" the first instance of that?

3. Back to hidden cameras (but why?)

At least in memory, the classic "60 Minutes" hidden camera investigation lives on as another of those vestiges of the swashbuckling days, when Mike Wallace cornered some malefactor with the raw footage, invariably a confession. Sunday night's second big story, "The Pardon Economy" — about the presidential clemency industry that has reached new and ludicrous heights during the second Trump presidency — was "60 Minutes'" gauntlet thrown, and proof that the show would continue to do hard-hitting reporting on the Trump administration. But was this hidden camera story really so hard-hitting? Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, operatives with close ties to the Trump administration, and leaders of the pay-for-release industry, were seen on hidden camera bragging about how "you have to put pressure on the president from all directions in a consistent way to force his hand." A few minutes later, Lesley Stahl had both on camera effectively admitting to the same thing. So much for hidden cameras: Maybe all she had to do was call them in the first place. "60 MInutes" stopped doing these sorts of investigations years ago because of legal, ethical and practical reasons, but at least they had explosive payoffs. Not this one.

4. 'The Last Minute' bombs

For years "60 Minutes" has discarded ideas to replace the once monumentally successful closing segment, "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney," which ended with his death in 2011 (more recently it's been devoted to viewer letters). Sunday night, Ross Douthat, the new correspondent from The New York Times, closed out the show with an opaque reference to artificial intelligence and the program's continuing struggles: "That clock is ticking, and so is ours. For almost 60 years, it has meant the same thing: Journalism you can trust. Where we’re headed, we’re going to need it." Meaning ... what? It was an unsettling way to end this first "60 Minutes" of the Weiss era and, like the rest of Sunday's program, left viewers with even more questions. Meanwhile, the search for the perfect "Last Minute" goes on (and on).