Image Source: USA Today
BY AUSTIN FAX
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
You're watching multisource entertainment news analysis from Newsy.
He’s got, what some call, the obnoxious bushy eyebrows. The grouchy demeanor. The complaints about... basically everything. For more than three decades, America’s disgruntled Grandpa, Andy Rooney, has been a fixture on 60 Minutes.
But Tuesday, CBS Evening News’s Scott Pelley announced Rooney will step down from his weekly segment-- marking the end of an era for the crusty curmudgeon.
PELLEY: “That last commentary comes this Sunday on 60 Minutes at the end of a broadcast that features a story about Andy’s life and times reported by Morley Safer. We always save the best for last.”
Rooney’s final commentary will be his 1,097th for 60 Minutes. AV Club’s Sean O’Neal jokingly suggests he knows what Rooney will be saying on Sunday.
“[It] will feature a retrospective interview with Rooney about all of his most important commentaries—such as that time he said he didn’t like that new thing very much, far preferring an older thing [and] may feature Rooney pointing out the specific flaws of every single person in America until he vanishes in a puff of cinder.”
We all get it. It’s easy to make Andy Rooney the butt of jokes. But a blogger for TIME reminds us Rooney has had a hefty impact on current journalists.
“His style has been easy enough to spoof—fair play, after all, for a guy whose meal ticket is making fun. [And] perhaps Andy Rooney has finally exhausted life's supply of irritations. But they will remain for the rest of us, and many writers who use snark as a weapon carry a little of his influence.”
The anchors for Access Hollywood don’t want to be left with a legacy. They want Rooney to stay on television.
ANCHOR 1:“He's done it since 1978. Why stop now, Andy?”
ANCHOR 2: “Don't do it. Last Sunday, we watch every night -- every Sunday night and I was waiting, we wait for Andy Rooney and he wasn't on. It was the first time I thought, don't do it, Andy. You have a lot of life left.”
Rooney’s departure leaves 60 Minutes with a difficult decision to make. After all, don’t you hate it when an icon leaves your show without any replacement in sight? Newsday’s Verne Gay might have the solution.
“Of course it's obscenely early to begin thinking about the future of ‘60 Minutes’ without Andy Rooney, but one name has on occasion come up: Jon Stewart. He'd make noise, though intelligent noise. He'd get attention. He'd make some people laugh. Other people furious. [And] he'd get attention for the show.”
For now, CBS has not ruled out having Rooney on 60 Minutes as a guest in the future and they have no timetable for finding a replacement.
Transcript by Newsy
