Weekend TV : Crisis in China Dominates Weekend News Shows; Dick Clark to Relinquish Throne

Continuing turmoil in China will again dominate the weekend’s news programming.

“60 Minutes” will devote all 60 of its minutes Sunday to a retrospective look at that troubled nation over the past eight years, beginning at 7 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8. The program will include four previously aired but updated Mike Wallace pieces that focus on the infiltration of capitalism under the nation’s recent economic reforms, the Chinese army and a 1986 interview with China’s senior leader, Deng Xiaoping.

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) will offer his assessment of events in China on “Newsmaker Saturday” today at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Cable News Network. On Sunday, Rep. Stephen Solarz (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) will discuss the crisis and the U.S. response on CNN’s “Newsmaker Sunday,” 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

The weekend’s less momentous developments include Dick Clark handing over the reigns of “American Bandstand” to his successor, David Hirsch, at noon today on the USA cable network.

And “Man in Space,” a documentary about the U.S. space program and the Apollo lunar missions, commemorates next month’s 20th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, 7 p.m. on Channel 7.