I’m sure by now you know that Andy Rooney, famed writer on 60 Minutes, passed away on November 4th. I’ve loved Andy Rooney for a long, long time, but it was a slow courtship. When I was little, I remember watching the seconds on that darn stop watch tick between segments as I waited for 60 Minutes to go off so whatever show I wanted to watch would come on. Soon I began to realize that just before the show went off, that funny old guy came on.
After a while, I began to watch for that funny old guy. Sometimes he was really funny and sometimes he wasn’t. I noticed that a lot of the times when I didn’t think he was funny, Mom and Dad seemed to think he was especially funny. I didn’t understand that. Through my teenage years I certainly didn’t seek Andy Rooney out, but if I happened to be in the room when he was on TV I definitely paid attention. In my 20’s I didn’t see much 60 Minutes, but began watching it a little more in my 30’s. My husband and I would try to at least catch the end to see what Andy Rooney was complaining about now. In recent years, I’ve rarely missed an episode of Andy’s rants.
So when I heard that Andy Rooney was retiring I of course made certain to watch that last broadcast. I knew I would miss the old bastard. He so often said what was or had been on my mind. You know “crap you’ve probably already thought of”. I wondered what he would do now that he was retired. It seemed that writing had been his whole life. I guess it pretty much was.
I watched 60 Minutes last Sunday but at the end, it just wasn’t the same. I realized just how much I was going to miss America’s favorite curmudgeon. I thought since it was Friday, that we’d all take a moment to watch one of his broadcasts. And besides being cute and classic Andy Rooney, we can all chuckle at the title. We miss you Mr. Rooney!
Ramblings of an Angry Middle Age Woman 