Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert revolutionized film criticism with their movie ‘At the Movies.’ After Siskel passed away, Ebert chose Richard Roeper to take Siskel’s place alongside Ebert in the balcony. Then Ebert got sick and stepped away to focus on his health. Michael Phillips stepped in for Ebert and the show kept on rolling.
However, both Ebert and Roeper have left the show over contract disputes with Buena Vista. In their place are Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz. Oh and they’re no longer in the balcony. And they don’t spend a lot of time discussing film. And they don’t seem to have much of a depth of film knowledge. (There’s also a terrible pannel of film critics… Hey guys, here’s a little word of advice: having even more people yell over each other doesn’t make it any more interesting.)
TV producers, I beg of you, put ‘At the Movies’ out of its misery. What Buena Vista failed to realize when they decided to play inredibly hard ball with Ebert and Roeper is that they are the show. It’s not the format, (which has been changed to be terrible,) it’s the hosts.
Hopefully Ebert and Roeper will be back on TV soon, talking about movies in an intelligent and quick-witted way. Until such time, read their writing, watch old shows on-line, or just close your eyes and try to imagine how good it used to be.
This show is terrible. Do not watch it. Pray for cancellation. -Sam