I never watched "60 Minutes" on a weekly basis but on the Sundays I did I always made sure to tune in during the last 15 minutes to see what topic commentator Andy Rooney had to gripe about.
It goes without saying that what made “America’s favorite grouch in chief”, as 60 Minutes correspondent Morely Safer called him in a tribute that aired Oct. 2, so popular with viewers for over thirty years was how people identified with practically all the topics he talked about.
“I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn’t realize they thought,” Rooney was once quoted saying in a Nov. 5, 2011 article by the Associated Press. “And they say, ‘Hey, yeah!’ And they like that.”
“Now, movie theaters have started doing something even worse to delay the start of the picture you just paid to see: They show actual commercials,” Rooney said. “Don’t they understand that’s what we go to a movie to get away from – commercials?”
How true. Today the notion that a movie will actually start at 11:10 a.m. is like saying your doctor will see you at exactly the time of your scheduled appointment. An 11:10 a.m. showing of "Paranormal Activity 3" at the theater, for example, actually means 11:30 after my time has been wasted sitting through trailers I had already seen on the Internet and commercial advertising of upcoming television shows I have no interest in watching. By comparison an 8 a.m. appointment means I am sitting in the examination room for 15 minutes or longer before my doctor actually sees me.
I couldn’t tell if Rooney was more annoyed with British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen or “Ali G”, the character Cohen played in a segment of "Da Ali G Show" in 2004 as the commentator corrected the entertainer’s grammar.
“It’s English,” Rooney told him. “The English language would say, “Do you think the media has changed not ‘Does you think the media has changed.’ I have 50 books on the English language, if you’d like to borrow one.”
I could go on and on about many of the subjects I agreed with him like his Feb. 26, 2006 commentary on "Man’s Best Friend", for example.
“I think dogs are more dependable. They make better friends than people make. Dogs don’t disappoint you the way your people friends do.”
Every now and then Rooney had reason to be serious, if not celebrate, as when U.S. Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden on May 2.
“There have only been a few times in my life when someone's death has been the occasion for rejoicing,” he said in his May 8, 2011 commentary. “The demise of Adolf Hitler was a good day for the world and a good day for me. The death of Osama bin Laden this week was that kind of day for the world.”
“Writers don’t retire, and I’ll always be a writer,” Rooney said.
His passing may well be the moment viewers and colleagues have dreaded. Rooney’s final request to his television audience before signing off was “if you do see me in a restaurant, please, just let me eat my dinner.”
Somewhere in the Heavens, Andy Rooney is doing just that having dinner with his best friend, Walter Cronkite. I suspect, for all eternity, he probably won’t ever have to worry about anyone interrupting his meal, except maybe God.
©11/9/11
It goes without saying that what made “America’s favorite grouch in chief”, as 60 Minutes correspondent Morely Safer called him in a tribute that aired Oct. 2, so popular with viewers for over thirty years was how people identified with practically all the topics he talked about.
“I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn’t realize they thought,” Rooney was once quoted saying in a Nov. 5, 2011 article by the Associated Press. “And they say, ‘Hey, yeah!’ And they like that.”
When Rooney died Nov. 4 at the age of 92 as a result of complications following minor surgery and practically a month after delivering his final essay Oct. 2 on 60 Minutes, I immediately searched the Internet, youtube.com and cbsnews.com for a few of those ‘Hey, yeah!’ moments that struck a few chords with me over the years.Rooney’s Feb. 29, 2004 commentary about the number of movie trailers and needless advertising audiences are inundated with before the film ever starts was one segment I identified with.
“Now, movie theaters have started doing something even worse to delay the start of the picture you just paid to see: They show actual commercials,” Rooney said. “Don’t they understand that’s what we go to a movie to get away from – commercials?”
How true. Today the notion that a movie will actually start at 11:10 a.m. is like saying your doctor will see you at exactly the time of your scheduled appointment. An 11:10 a.m. showing of "Paranormal Activity 3" at the theater, for example, actually means 11:30 after my time has been wasted sitting through trailers I had already seen on the Internet and commercial advertising of upcoming television shows I have no interest in watching. By comparison an 8 a.m. appointment means I am sitting in the examination room for 15 minutes or longer before my doctor actually sees me.
I couldn’t tell if Rooney was more annoyed with British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen or “Ali G”, the character Cohen played in a segment of "Da Ali G Show" in 2004 as the commentator corrected the entertainer’s grammar.
“It’s English,” Rooney told him. “The English language would say, “Do you think the media has changed not ‘Does you think the media has changed.’ I have 50 books on the English language, if you’d like to borrow one.”
I could go on and on about many of the subjects I agreed with him like his Feb. 26, 2006 commentary on "Man’s Best Friend", for example.
“I think dogs are more dependable. They make better friends than people make. Dogs don’t disappoint you the way your people friends do.”
Every now and then Rooney had reason to be serious, if not celebrate, as when U.S. Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden on May 2.
“There have only been a few times in my life when someone's death has been the occasion for rejoicing,” he said in his May 8, 2011 commentary. “The demise of Adolf Hitler was a good day for the world and a good day for me. The death of Osama bin Laden this week was that kind of day for the world.”
I guess it was just wishful thinking on my part. When Rooney signed off 60 Minutes last month with his final 1,097 essay (it would have been great if he had left us with a nice even number of 1,100), I assumed despite his age that he would a year from now return with a brief commentary. Perhaps this one would be about “retirement” speaking from behind that walnut desk Rooney personally built himself and had placed in his CBS office which he spoke about in a December 6, 2005 column called “Andy’s Favorite Place.”He did after tell viewers he wasn’t retiring.
“Writers don’t retire, and I’ll always be a writer,” Rooney said.
His passing may well be the moment viewers and colleagues have dreaded. Rooney’s final request to his television audience before signing off was “if you do see me in a restaurant, please, just let me eat my dinner.”
Somewhere in the Heavens, Andy Rooney is doing just that having dinner with his best friend, Walter Cronkite. I suspect, for all eternity, he probably won’t ever have to worry about anyone interrupting his meal, except maybe God.
©11/9/11
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