TV news pioneer Joseph Wershba, an Emmy-winning CBS News producer and reporter, whose work helped to bring the McCarthy witch hunts to an end, has died at the age of 90.

The Associated Press reports that Wershba, who was one of the original '60 Minutes' producers, died at his home at Long Island, New York of complications from pneumonia.

In a statement, CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager said, "Joe Wershba was a wonderful man who was a pioneer of broadcast journalism, without the notoriety of his more celebrated colleagues Ed Murrow and Don Hewitt. ... Almost everything he touched became part of the foundation for CBS News, including '60 Minutes.'"

In 1954 Wershba led a report on Sen. McCarthy for Edward R. Murrow's CBS TV news segment, 'See It Now.' The exposé helped discredit McCarthy, and was one of the inspirations for the movie 'Good Night and Good Luck,' in which Wershba was played by Robert Downey, Jr.

Don't tell Keith Olbermann -- he of the Countdown special commentaries -- but CNN's Anderson Cooper is the Edward R. Murrow of our era. That's according to Lisa DePaulo of Elle, but the popularity and proliferation of Cooper, from CNN to CBS's 60 Minutes to anchoring Times' Square on New Year's Eve and filling in for Regis Philbin on Live with Regis and Kelly, backs up her assertion.

"He is our generation's Edward R. Murrow; that is, if Murrow were this good-looking and had lived in a world with Gawker and TMZ," DePaulo writes. "This is not just because of Cooper's exacting standards of journalism-hard work, legwork, no-divaness. He's a purist, really-like Murrow."

When I look at some of the people who have emerged as today's biggest stars on TV, I scratch my head and wonder, "how did that happen?" There are a few stars who have completely exceeded my expectations -- and I bet yours, too. In fact, after you read my five (no cell phone pun intended), I'm betting that you'll have a few more overachievers to add to the list.

1) Ty Pennington
I'm not ashamed to admit that for a couple of years I was hooking on TLC's Trading Spaces. It may have been the perky Paige Davis, the home improvement on a $1,000, the cool things that the designers did in just 24 hours -- whatever it was, I was a regular viewer. Oh, yes, there was also a carpenter on the show named Ty Pennington.
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