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Andy Rooney at 92

Heh... Not that I like to proverbially piss on people's graves, but that's probably how Andy would have liked to have for the epithet on his tombstone. Well put, emailfailed.

I had a feeling that his abrupt departure from "60 Minutes" was health-related. He didn't even wait until a sweeps month to step down.
 
DToTheJ said:
I had a feeling that his abrupt departure from "60 Minutes" was health-related. He didn't even wait until a sweeps month to step down.
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I saw it too and thought he might pull a Steve Jobs on us and he did, only he died even faster.

He was 92 and had a short time in the hospital. Nothing sad about it, as some people have posted on FB and Tweeted. We all gotta go sometime and 92 is pretty good!
 
As a kid, I used to groan when my parents watched 60 Minutes. The first Andy Rooney commentary that stuck with me, I believe, he was complaining about the nine-tenths of a cent on the price of a gallon of gasoline. To illustrate his point, he bought one gallon of gas at $1.09.9 (in New York), paid $1.10 and asked for change. Obviously that was a long time ago. I figured he would only leave 60 Minutes because of declining health.
 
I was visiting a friend at CBS News, and he brought me down to the famous CBS Commissary for coffee. I couldn't help but notice this little old man at the cash register. By little, he was probably about 5 feet 5 inches. And he was wearing a rumpled grey suit that looked a size or two too big. He was sort of shuffling his feet, walking slowly, and I wondered who this old guy was. My friend pointed out that it was Andy Rooney. Sure enough, I looked a little closer, and it was! I'm here to tell you that TV make-up works wonders. He looked a lot younger and a lot more energetic on TV.
 
I remember that .9 gallon segment too. Must have been in the early 80's.

Living until 92 is well past the golden age. Had he retired at 65 or even 70, he would have had himself a long ass retirement. He was retired almost as long as a Kim Kardashian marriage.
 
Rooney was clearly a guy who didn't want to retire, and his job could have probably been considered semi-retirement, anyway. As grouchy as he seemed, I'm sure he enjoyed what he did for 60 Minutes, and on those weeks he didn't want to put in many hours, I'm sure he could whip off a fast script, have it taped, and be out the door for home in a few hours.
 
Lkeller said:
Rooney was clearly a guy who didn't want to retire
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Especially after his wife died a few years ago. From what I read, he used to have lunch with a lot of retired CBS guys like Cronkite and Kuralt. He did obits for all of them, and it couldn't have been easy or fun.
 
DToTheJ said:
Heh... Not that I like to proverbially piss on people's graves, but that's probably how Andy would have liked to have for the epithet on his tombstone. Well put, emailfailed.
Click to expand...

I think it's normally bad form to point out people's malapropisms...we all do it after all. But that's a cute one.

An "epithet" is a word used to describe a person by expressing a quality of that person, and the modern usage of the word generally means in a negative sense.

I think "epitaph" (an inscription on a tombstone) is the word you were looking for.
 
TheBigA said:
Lkeller said:
Rooney was clearly a guy who didn't want to retire
Click to expand...

Especially after his wife died a few years ago. From what I read, he used to have lunch with a lot of retired CBS guys like Cronkite and Kuralt. He did obits for all of them, and it couldn't have been easy or fun.
Click to expand...

I remember one he did at the end of 1991 which he concluded by saying (and I'm approximating his words) "Last year at this time, Harry [Reasoner] was with us." Reasoner died in 1991, and you know that had to be tough on Rooney, since the two of them worked together on many CBS News specials as well as on "60 Minutes."
 
TheBigA said:
I was visiting a friend at CBS News, and he brought me down to the famous CBS Commissary for coffee. I couldn't help but notice this little old man at the cash register. By little, he was probably about 5 feet 5 inches. And he was wearing a rumpled grey suit that looked a size or two too big. He was sort of shuffling his feet, walking slowly, and I wondered who this old guy was. My friend pointed out that it was Andy Rooney. Sure enough, I looked a little closer, and it was! I'm here to tell you that TV make-up works wonders. He looked a lot younger and a lot more energetic on TV.
Click to expand...
He sure did.

I hadn't taken the time to see the interview because I ended up having to do a lot of time-consuming fast-forwarding to get to it. Once I got there I ejected the tape and put it away to keep from losing it. I'm disappointed they didn't show his final commentary again. But I was amazed at how old he looked in the interview.

I will certainly miss him. I haven't seen all of his commentaires, though in recent years most of the ones I missed were the result of football going overtime and my not making the necessary preparations.

I haven't read anyone else's comments yet so forgive me if this is repeating someone.

Which one?

"You know what's wrong with Heaven? Nothing. I'm going to be miserable for all eternity."

or

"You know what's wrong with Heaven?"

I think the second one, because he won't be happy unless he's complaining.
 
bpatrick said:
TheBigA said:
Lkeller said:
Rooney was clearly a guy who didn't want to retire
Click to expand...

Especially after his wife died a few years ago. From what I read, he used to have lunch with a lot of retired CBS guys like Cronkite and Kuralt. He did obits for all of them, and it couldn't have been easy or fun.
Click to expand...

I remember one he did at the end of 1991 which he concluded by saying (and I'm approximating his words) "Last year at this time, Harry [Reasoner] was with us." Reasoner died in 1991, and you know that had to be tough on Rooney, since the two of them worked together on many CBS News specials as well as on "60 Minutes."
Click to expand...
I always like Harry Reasoner. Wasn't he Cronkite's usual substitute as well as the weekend anchor? The only person he didn't like was Barbara Walters.

Andy said he was mad at Harry for messing up his health and dying so young so he lost a good friend.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I was amazed at how old he looked in the interview.
Click to expand...

They showed that one clip twice of him walking through the building lobby wearing a topcoat, and that's what he looked like when I saw him.
 
I saw a column Sunday that imagined Andy Rooney already complaining
about three things in heaven: (1) how can anybody sleep with all that
harp music, (2) the long lines at the Pearly Gates, and (3) wearing white
after Labor Day.

As for Reasoner, I always watched him and Howard K. Smith on ABC and
still think he made a mistake asking to do that broadcast solo. I quit
watching ABC and switched to NBC during the Reasoner/Walters era, seeing
how the tension was, to use a cliche, so thick you could cut it with a knife;
I didn't go back to ABC until "World News Tonight" began in 1978. Reasoner
made the right move in going back to CBS and was right back in his element.
I hope, wherever they are, that he and Andy are having some good times now.
(I'm not sure Andy would be too excited about seeing Arthur Godfrey again; he
even admitted that Godfrey was a tough boss.)

In the Rooney story Sunday he mentioned Reasoner's laziness and drinking.
I have to add a personal story that confirms the drinking part: my dad happened
to see Reasoner at the airport in San Francisco one day in the mid-'70s; he approached
him, told him I was a fan and could he get his autograph for me. Reasoner obliged (I
still have it), but my dad said this was about 9 or 10 in the morning and Reasoner was
already hungover.
 
Who will do the editorial for CBS 60 Minutes now that Andy is gone? I like Andy's segment on 60 Minutes. I do know this you can't replace Andy's persona on 60 Minutes but you can make the editorials sane and reasonable to watch.
 
recto101 said:
Who will do the editorial for CBS 60 Minutes now that Andy is gone? I like Andy's segment on 60 Minutes. I do know this you can't replace Andy's persona on 60 Minutes but you can make the editorials sane and reasonable to watch.
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Nobody. Rooney's segment was the only short segment on 60 Minutes that was truly popular over the years. That Point/Counterpoint mini-debate segment ran for a few years...it was mostly famous for spawning the SNL parody ("Jane, you ignorant slut...")

If you recall, they tried replacing Andy a few years ago with commentary by younger commentators, but none of it lasted, and they brought Andy back. Their best bet is to just add a minute or two to the main news segments, and skip the short end segment altogether.
 
Lkeller said:
If you recall, they tried replacing Andy a few years ago with commentary by younger commentators, but none of it lasted, and they brought Andy back. Their best bet is to just add a minute or two to the main news segments, and skip the short end segment altogether.
Click to expand...
That would be my best guess, as well. I was not aware that they had tried replacing Andy, but then again, I'm still under 50; however, I was aware that there were weeks when he was not on.

Since my mother always complains about CBS Sunday night programming running late (football delays), CBS could just drop that five-minute segment altogether, but then it wouldn't be 60 minutes, anymore, would it? ;D
 
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