In 1976–77, Reston was David Frost's Watergate adviser for the historic Nixon interviews which forced ex-President Nixon to apologize for his Watergate crimes and remains the most watched public affairs television program in broadcast history. (The Watergate interrogation had an audience of 57 million viewers.) Touted in an April 1978 Playboy article as Frost's "top gun," Reston wrote an 80 page interrogation document for Frost, before the Watergate interrogation that included tapes of incriminating conversations between Richard Nixon and his aide, Charles Colson that surprised Nixon and allowed Frost to take control of the interchange. Reston's book on the historic interviews, "The Conviction of Richard Nixon," is the basis for the play Frost/Nixon, in which the Jim Reston character is the narrator. In the Hollywood film adaptation of the play, directed by Ron Howard, Reston is played by the actor Sam Rockwell. The movie received five Academy Award nominations.