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Despite Some Criticism, ’60 Minutes’ Icon Has No Plans to Retire: ‘I Will Work Until I Drop’

Jun 22, 2010  •  Post A Comment

TVnewser.com recently asked one of the iconic cast members of "60 Minutes" how long he’ll continue on-air.

To which the crusty Andy Rooney replied, characteristically, "How long am I going to work? How long am I going to live? That’s the question." Rooney, who turns 92 in January, added, "I will work until I drop, or until I lose my head. Until somebody tells me different, I’m not going to quit."

Rooney tells TVnewser.com that he doesn’t remember the last time he signed a contract, but he believes it was five or six years ago. "It doesn’t mean anything" he says. "They [management] don’t even call me about it. They’re not changing the amount of money I make, which is plenty. I’m just here. I’ll be here until I die or get too sick to work."

But Rooney’s plan to keep going displeases at least one TV critic. Ed Bark, for one, describes Rooney’s two-minute essays as "the discomforting ramblings of an old man" and describes his continued "hanging on" as "unseemly," according to the article.

12 Comments

  1. Ed Bark is an idiot. I know that I, and most of my friends basically wait through mostly repetitive and boring stories just to get that ‘2 Minutes’ with Mr. Rooney at the end. When they skipped him a few timnes, we were totally disappointed.
    Here is one case where someone who knows the score is still on TV, which has been taken over by “Pretty Boys” and young vaccuous chicks.

  2. I agree with the previous post. Andy Rooney is our favorite curmudgeon. Nobody has the guts he has to take on anyone and anything. We hope he works until he’s 100!

  3. I was sitting at a Sushi Bar last night and there was a 13 year old boy with his mother. When I mentioned I had worked at CBS in my career, the 13 year old responded that his favorite show is 60 Minutes, especially Andy Rooney. He found him interesting.
    I hope Andy Rooney lives forever!!

  4. Andy Rooney Voice: “Ever notice how no one cares what critics say!… Ever notice how they never got a statue built for themselves!… Quite frankly, I don’t even read reviews… if there good reviews or bad since I’ve outlived most all of the critics. So review this!” SFX OUT: (Tick, Tick, Tick…) FTB. ###
    God bless you Andy! Don’t ever stop… and make sure when you are gone someone uploads all your segs. to YouTube so you will work on forever. A few years from now when your brand of common sense is fully gone, maybe some kids will learn what the greatest generation did for our country! Thank you!

  5. Get him off the air!! He has been a joke for at least the last 20 years…but then again so is 60 Minutes.

  6. Ed, whoever you are, I hope you have the opportunity to work hard and prosper as long as Andy Rooney has. You will get old, you know. What does bug me just a bit, is that I’d like to see some cranky old ladies have some camera time too. Although, my guess is that the chicks will not let themselves ‘age’ like the dudes.

  7. Sadly, someday we won’t have Andy Rooney on 60 MINUTES.
    Until that day I will treasure his every word.
    In this world today where everybody is so ‘stuck-on-themselves’, it is refreshing to have some words with true perspective and life experiences that go back to WW-II in Europe.
    I had some wonderful conversations with him during my days at CBS. We were at one of The Super Bowls in Pasedena in the eighties and were chuckling at the spectacle of it all over a football game. When I pointed out that we both were being paid extreemly well to be there and experience it, our laughing got even stronger.
    Could he be described sometimes as a crazy old man ranting his frustrations? Perhaps…he’s earned his position…just know that his ‘crazy’ is like a fox.
    Peter Bright

  8. Hope Andy lives and thrives for many years – he’s insightful, fun and irreverent-but-with-heart: a TV legend, and a true asset for CBS now as he’s been for so many years. Hope he keeps going as long as he wants. Hands off, image-makers. We’ll never have another one like him!

  9. Hertha Veigel

  10. These old dodgers who love archaic Andy Rooney are the same ones crying because Larry King won’t be interviewing Debbie Reynolds anymore. Pathetic.

  11. Peter: How do you get a ‘profile’ and picture here? I have read your comments before, and didn’t realize that you, too, are an ex-CBS guy.
    Yes there will come a day without Andy Rooney – he is my age – and I probably won’t be around to miss him; but most others will.

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