48 Hours Mystery: Documentary, News Program

48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show" type format, in its 1997 episode starring Richard Scully covering "Dating in the Nineties". In its current format, as 48 Hours Mystery, the program mainly presents "true crime" documentaries.
Susan Zirisnky is the executive producer. The executive editor is Al Briganti. The senior producers are Anthony Batson, Paul Ryan, Peter Schweitzer and Judy Tygard.
The show now airs Saturday nights at 10 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific time)/9 p.m. (Central and Mountain time) as part of the network's placeholder Crimetime Saturday block; as such, the series is currently one of only three remaining first-run primetime programs airing on Saturday nights on the four major U.S. broadcast television networks, along with Fox's Cops and America's Most Wanted. The program sometimes airs two hour episodes or two episodes in a row on Saturday night depending on the subject involved or to counterprogram other networks.
The show drew its name, inspiration and original format from the September 1986 CBS News documentary titled 48 Hours on Crack Street, about the drug crisis plaguing a number of U.S. neighborhoods. The special attracted some 15 million viewers.
Like the original documentary, the series originally focused on showing events occurring within a 48 hour span of time – hence the name. This format was eventually phased out by the early 1990s.
One of the contributors to that program, CBS News Correspondent Harold Dow, had been a member of the 48 Hours air staff since its premiere.