US News

Reduced Role for Rooney on '60 Minutes'

The New royalty Times | Sept 28, 2011 | 09:52 AM EDT

Andy Rooney, whose rural and ofttimes gruff essays hit been a goods of "60 Minutes" for more than threesome decades, will modify his lawful weekly appearances on the program, CBS said Tuesday.

Mr. Rooney, 92, has delivered 1,096 commentaries to the newsmagazine since decent a lawful presenter in 1978, according to CBS. He will formally foretell his low persona in essay No. 1,097 on Sun night.

His essay will be "preceded by a portion in which Rooney looks backwards on his occupation in an discourse with chemist Safer," the meshwork said in a statement.

"It's harder for him to do it every week, but he will ever hit the knowledge to intercommunicate his nous on '60 Minutes' when the propose hits him," said Jeff Fager, the chair of CBS News and chief shaper of the show.

But grouping near to Mr. Rooney said it was implausible that he would attain whatever appearances, if any, in the future. The people, who did not poverty to be identified, said the organisation for him to travel abstracted from the information had been in the entireness for whatever time. Because of the reputable locate he has filled on the show, Mr. Rooney's advise is not existence defined in cost of a conventional retirement, they said.

"There's nobody same Andy and there never will be," Mr. Fager's evidence said. "He'll dislike chance this, but he's an dweller original."

Through CBS, Mr. Rooney declined to comment.

Mr. Rooney was noticeably abstracted when the newsmagazine started a newborn flavour on Sun night, and he was not quoted in the declaration by CBS.

The modify was first reportable by TVNewser. In an discourse with that Web place terminal year, Mr. Rooney said that he designed to impact for "60 Minutes" until he "dropped dead," and he added, "Until somebody tells me different, I'm not feat to quit."

For whatever viewers, Mr. Rooney's weekly observations on the foibles of life, mercantilism and persuasion became a selection feature of the program, which was for eld the most watched on television. But modify as his popularity soared, he occasionally ran tangled of whatever groups, including Hispanics, dweller Indians and gays and lesbians, because of his comments.

A struggle newswriter during World War II, Mr. Rooney connected the meshwork in 1949 as a illustrator for a exhibit titled "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts." In the 1960s he wrote and produced broadcasting essays for the newswriter Harry Reasoner, and when CBS ingrained "60 Minutes" in 1968, he produced whatever of Mr. Reasoner's segments for the program. Ten eld after he became a lawful commentator.

"60 Minutes" relic by farther the most favourite newsmagazine on dweller television. The exhibit has worn whatever sort of changes over the years, including the modification of the newswriter Ed politico in 2006. Another stager correspondent, Mike Wallace, old from full-time impact that year.