Maybe They Should Call It "53 Minutes"

I miss Andy Rooney's end-of-show verbal essays on 60 Minutes every Sunday evening, and I've got to believe CBS misses him too. The weekly show topped television ratings for many years, as it usually featured three stories per week on interesting personalities and issues of the day. The skilled interviewers, such as Ed Bradley and the late Mike Wallace, always managed to ask the question or two that the American public wanted asked. Many times I would be surprised, first, that the interviewee agreed to go on camera at all, and secondly, when the interviewer asked that one embarrassing question, that the interviewee didn't just end the interview right then and there.

No matter how hard hitting and serious the three main segments of each 60 Minutes show happened to be, there was always Andy Rooney's three minutes of commentary to furnish more food for thought right at the end. Rooney looked the part of a curmudgeon, but at the same time could come across with a wink as a kindly old grandfather. Sometimes, even if I wasn't interested in any of the three main segments of the program, I would tune in at 6:55 just to hear what Andy had to say. Anything and everything was fair game: old books remaining unread for years on his bookshelf; product labels which were either indecipherable or misleading; gift certificates for stores at which he would never shop; various collections in his possession, such as paperweights or clocks; modern music which, to him, simply couldn't compare to the American standards. Sometimes he would chime in with clever commentary on mundane things that we might never think twice about, such as talking in an elevator or hailing a cab in the city.

After delivering 1097 of his verbal essays for 60 Minutes, Rooney bid adios to his viewers on October 2, 2011. Thirty-three days later he died.

I have continued to watch 60 Minutes this year, and their main stories, for the most part, are still top notch. But the program clearly misses the cherry on the top - - or should I say, at the end - - of its telecast, viz., Andy Rooney. About three or four weeks ago I noticed that after their third main segment ended, the remainder of the hour was filled with promos and commercials. They never put anything substantive on the air to fill the void between that third segment and the sign-off at the top of the hour. In other words, they have not found a way to replace Andy Rooney. My earlier observations have been confirmed by watching the subsequent shows on April 29 and again on May 6. Here is what CBS expected its 60 Minutes viewers to watch last Sunday night after the last of the three segment's ended at 6:53 p.m.:

* A CBS sports update
* A commercial for Ford Focus
* A commercial for Discover Card
* A commercial for Lowes
* A CBS promo for Amazing Race
* A CBS promo for Person Of Interest
* A CBS promo for NYC 22
* A commercial for Menards
* A commercial for the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
* A CBS promo for the local (Channel 4) news
* A CBS promo (with Scott Pelley) for next week's 60 Minutes
* A commercial for Listerine
* A commercial for the US Postal service
* A commercial for V 8 Fusion Energy Drink
* A CBS promo for Survivor
* A CBS promo for The Big Bang Theory
* Closing credits for 60 Minutes
* A CBS promo for the 60 Minutes I-phone app

I, for one, have decided not to watch this barrage of filler any longer. Once the third main segment ends, I am turning off the tube. Maybe ol' Andy is irreplaceable, but if that's the best that CBS can come up with to absorb the final seven of the allotted sixty minutes, count me out.