What smart people are saying about the '60 Minutes' relaunch

• CBS is back with the 59th season of “60 Minutes.”
• The show was on shaky ground in recent months, following a string of high-profile departures.
• Media pundits have thoughts on the first episode, released on Sunday.

Here’s what smart people in media are saying about the new season.

Brian Steinberg, Variety TV editor

Brian Steinberg, a senior TV Editor for Variety, wrote in a Sunday article that the new season, which promised change, “relied on many elements from the program’s past.”

“Viewers on Sunday night got only a brief glimpse of Ross Douthat, and none of Sebastian Junger, Gianna Toboni, Trevor Phillips or Ariel Levy, but were rather greeted by three correspondents who already have an association with the program,” Steinberg wrote.

Alex Marquardt, Al Jazeera English host

Alex Marquadt, the former CNN chief national security correspondent and host of Al Jazeera English’s “This is America,” wrote about the “60 Minutes” segment on X.

“The Pentagon rolled out the red carpet for this 60 Minutes piece: Sec Hegseth, Gen Caine, Adm Cooper + the weapons systems specialist all sat down with Norah O’Donnell,” he wrote.

Tim Miller, host of The Bulwark Podcast

Tim Miller, a political commentator and host of The Bulwark Podcast, criticized one segment of Sunday’s show hosted by Lesley Stahl: the story about brokers offering people who have committed felonies a path to receiving pardons from President Donald Trump at high cost.

“Doing a story about pardon abuse and making it about Burkman and Wohl is like doing a story about crypto corruption and focusing on Hawk Tuah girl,” Miller wrote on X. “Like yeah they are scammers and that’s bad it’s fine to do. But they aren’t in the same universe as the real corruption.”