Episode
60 Minutes: Golf Company/A Blow to the Brain/The Birdmen
Overview
GOLF COMPANY - Scott Pelley spends time with a U.S. Marine company in Helmand Province, sent there as part of President Obama's troop buildup in Afghanistan. Henry Schuster is the producer. A BLOW TO THE BRAIN - New studies show that athletes, especially professional football players, who suffered many blows to the head, became brain damaged. Bob Simon reports. Catherine Olian and Michael Radutzky are the producers. THE BIRDMEN - In the latest craze that has killed several extreme adventurers, men don wing suits, jump off mountain tops and glide at speeds of 140 miles per hour. Steve Kroft reports. Tom Anderson is the producer.
Details
- Series
- 60 Minutes
- Season
- Season 42
- Episode
- Episode 3
- Air date
- 2009-10-11
- Runtime
- 44 min
Episode context
Golf Company/A Blow to the Brain/The Birdmen is Episode 3 in Season 42 of 60 Minutes. It aired on 2009-10-11. The runtime is 44 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 2: The Swindler/130 Million Tons of Waste/The Great Migration
THE SWINDLER - To understand how Bernard Madoff could have done what he did, listen to so-called "mini-Madoff" Ponzi schemer Marc Dreier tell Steve Kroft in his first television interview how he scammed $400 million. Ira Rosen is the producer.
130 MILLION TONS OF WASTE - If coal ash is safe to spread under a golf course or be used in carpets, why are the residents of Kingston, Tenn., being told to stay out of a river where the material was spilled last December? Lesley Stahl reports. Shachar Bar-On is the producer.
THE GREAT MIGRATION - Scott Pelley visits Kenya, the site of the great wildebeest migration, and looks at the threats to this natural spectacle comprised of over a million animals. Henry Schuster and Rebecca Peterson are the producers.
Episode 4: H1N1/The Kanzius Machine/Drew Barrymore
H1N1 - Scott Pelley reports on the H1N1 flu - which is increasingly targeting young, healthy people - and how the government plans to fight the flu pandemic. Michael Radutzky, David Gelber and Sam Hornblower are the producers.
THE KANZIUS MACHINE - John Kanzius fought his leukemia head on, inventing a machine that may someday offer effective treatment for cancers without the debilitating side effects of radiation and chemotherapy. Lesley Stahl reports. Tanya Simon is the producer.
DREW BARRYMORE - The remarkable former child star, actress and now director is profiled by CNN's Anderson Cooper. John Hamlin is the producer.
More episodes from this season
Episode 1: McChrystal/The Liquidator/A Living for the Dead
McCHRYSTAL - As the news from Afghanistan moves to the front pages of Americans' newspapers, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, tasked with turning things around there, tells 60 MINUTES that the spread of the violence in Afghanistan was more than he expected. David Martin reports. Mary Walsh is the producer.
THE LIQUIDATOR - The man in charge of recovering assets from Ponzi scheme king Bernard Madoff says there is about 18 billion still out there that he hopes to recover for victims of the scam. But it won't be easy. Morley Safer reports. Deirdre Naphin and Katy Textor are the producers.
A LIVING FOR THE DEAD - Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elvis are dead and now, so is Michael Jackson. But as Steve Kroft reports, they are very much alive when it comes to earning money for their estates. Frank Devine is the producer.
Episode 5: 60 Billion Dollar Fraud/Fight for a Cure/Tyler Perry
$60 BILLION FRAUD - Medicare and Medicaid fraudsters are cheating U.S. taxpayers out of an estimated $90 billion a year using a billing scam that is surprisingly easy to execute. Steve Kroft investigates. Ira Rosen and Joel Bach are the producers.
FIGHTING FOR A CURE - More Americans are suffering from epilepsy than Parkinson's, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis combined. Katie Couric reports on a disease that may not be getting the attention it deserves. Kyra Darnton is the producer.
TYLER PERRY - When Hollywood refused to produce his films his way, Tyler Perry started his own studio in Atlanta and now his movies - including the popular "Madea" series - are drawing huge audiences. Byron Pitts profiles the new and unlikely movie mogul. Ruth Streeter is the producer.
Episode 6: H1N1 Vaccine/Yakuza/The Movie Pirates
H1N1 VACCINE - Scott Pelley reports on the manufacture, distribution and safety of the H1N1 flu vaccine. David Gelber, Michael Radutzky and Sam Hornblower are the producers.
YAKUZA - How does a foreigner jump the line in America for a life-saving liver transplant? It might be because he is a high-ranking member of Japan's mafia, known as the Yakuza, whose criminal influence is worldwide. Lara Logan reports. Howard L. Rosenberg is the producer.
THE MOVIE PIRATES - They are the bane of Hollywood: criminals who copy films - sometimes before the movies even reach the theater - and distribute them illegally on the Internet, costing Hollywood billions in lost revenue. Lesley Stahl reports. Tom Anderson is the producer.
Episode 7: Cyber War/Andre Agassi
CYBER WAR - Could foreign hackers get into the computer systems that run crucial elements of the world's infrastructure, such as the power grids, water works or even a nation's military arsenal, to create havoc? They already have. Steve Kroft reports. Graham Messick is the producer.
ANDRE AGASSI - Katie Couric interviews the tennis champion about his drug use, the depression that made him use methamphetamine and other aspects of his personal life and tennis career in his first interview about his upcoming book. Harry Radliffe and Magalie Laguerre-Wilkinson are the producers.
Episode 8: The Deadliest Weapon/B-Rex/Resurrecting Eden
THE DEADLIEST WEAPON - Byron Pitts and 60 MINUTES cameras spend two days on the road with a bomb-hunting unit in Afghanistan as they encounter one deadly bomb after another. Tom Anderson is the producer.
B-REX - Lesley Stahl meets the inspiration for the lead character in the classic film Jurassic Park and reports on how famed dinosaur hunter Jack Horner is shaking up the paleontology world. Shari Finkelstein and Meghan Frank are the producers.
RESURRECTING EDEN - In Southern Iraq where many biblical scholars place the Garden of Eden, Scott Pelley finds a water world where the "Marsh Arabs" are making a comeback after Saddam nearly destroyed the "cradle of civilization." Jenny Dubin is the producer.
Episode 9: The Cost of Dying / Witness / Cameron's Avatar
THE COST OF DYING - Many Americans spend their last days in an intensive care unit, subjected to uncomfortable machines or surgeries to prolong their lives at enormous cost. Steve Kroft reports Andy Court is the producer. Watch a preview
WITNESS - Recently freed after four months of interrogation and torture at the hands of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari tells his story to Bob Simon and writes about his ordeal in the next issue of Newsweek. Michael Gavshon and Drew Magratten are the producers. Watch a preview
CAMERON'S AVATAR - Morley Safer gets the first broadcast look at how "Titanic" director James Cameron created his $400 million 3D fantasy "Avatar." David Browning is the producer. Watch a preview
Episode 10: Congo's Gold War / Robert Ballard
CONGO GOLD - Five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a war fueled primarily from gold mined in the country by warlords and smuggled out to be sold on the open market. Scott Pelley reports. Solly Granatstein and Nicole Young are the producers.
THE GREAT EXPLORER - Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic, the Bismarck and the PT 109 and now 60 MINUTES cameras are there for his latest discovery, 1,500 feet down in the Aegean Sea off Turkey. Lara Logan reports. Max McClellan is the producer. THIS IS A DOUBLE-LENGTH SEGMENT.
Episode 11: The Zone/Personal Foul
THE ZONE - Geoffrey Canada's remarkable experiment in inner-city education, the Harlem Children's Zone, has helped put historically low-achieving students in New York City on academic par with their grammar-school peers. CNN's Anderson Cooper reports. Tanya Simon is the producer.
PERSONAL FOUL - Disgraced ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy speaks for the first time about betting on pro basketball games, his Mafia involvement and subsequent prison term. Bob Simon reports. Robert Anderson is the producer. (This is a double-length segment.)
Episode 12: President Obama/Growing Body Parts/Ricky Gervais
PRESIDENT OBAMA - In his first extensive interview since his speech announcing his troop build-up in Afghanistan, President Obama talks about his plans for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the economy and the creation of jobs and reacts to the breach in security at last week's White House state dinner. Steve Kroft reports. Michael Radutzky and Frank Devine are the producers.
GROWING BODY PARTS - Morley Safer reports on the emerging technology of growing body parts from human cells taken directly from patients, providing new hope for amputees and patients on organ-transplant lists. Katy Textor is the producer.
RICKY GERVAIS - Lesley Stahl profiles the man who created the hit television program "The Office," which has opened other doors to the stage and screen for the British comedian. Richard Buddenhagen is the producer.
Episode 14: California Water Drought/Oust al Qaeda/The Birdmen
RUNNING DRY - A three-year drought in California is bringing a decades-long fight over water to a head, forcing tough choices. Lesley Stahl reports.
OUT OF THE SHADOWS - Henry Crumpton, the ex-CIA operative who secretly ran the war against terror in Afghanistan after 9/11, describes using local might to oust al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts - a strategy he says is needed in Pakistan now, where terrorist leaders are hiding. Lara Logan reports.
BIRDMEN - In the latest craze that has killed several extreme sports enthusiasts, men don wing-suits, jump off mountaintops and glide down at speeds approaching 140 miles per hour. Steve Kroft reports.