At the Movies Without Ebert or Roeper
By Craig Kennedy - July 21st, 2008; 7:42 am
Fly in the critical ointment Richard Roeper was unable to come to terms with Disney on a new contract so he’s bolting movie review show Ebert & Roeper with hints that he’ll be starting his own show somewhere soon.
Not much to say about that except “don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, Dick.”
Source: AP
Filed under: News
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For the life of me, I’ll never understand why Ebert went with Roeper as Siskel’s “replacement.” There were so many interesting guests during the transition time (e.g., Janet Maslin, Elvis Mitchell, Lisa Schwarzbaum, etc.), and he picked this runt? Sadly, that’s when I stopped watching the show. I’ve of course kept up reading Ebert’s reviews throughout all of it.
So yeah, au revoir, creep.
Oh my. I was never a huge fan of his, but this is quite a development. So does that mean one of us can take his spot?
Richard Roeper is one of the absolute worst of critics. At least Joel Siegel had grace, charisma and humility among the Hyperbole People, and Ebert himself, warts and all has some redeeming qualities, (and Shalit has that mustache!;Lyons is a passionate guy but fully incompetant) but Roeper regularly embraced junk and dismissed all the good stuff. A fly in the face of scholarly film criticism. Good Riddance indeed.
Did Disney ever give Ebert what he wanted pay-wise or is he still off the show himself? I haven’t watched it in ages.
Roeper isn’t much of a critic and I’d have no interest in watching him by himself…or with anyone else for that matter. His episodes sans Ebert were pretty boring.
I’m not sure, but sadly, Ebert might not have the vocal ability to be an on-air personality after his operations, joel.
I can’t really stand any of the broadcast TV critics. They’re pretty much carnival side-show clowns, each with their own oddly vaudevillian delivery. It’s the lowest-common-denominator tunnel vision that one would expect from teleprompter monkeys.
I miss Siskel. I’m just saying.
“au revoir, creep.” ahahahha
Hmmm…turns out in my haste to dance on Roeper’s grave, I didn’t read the fine print to see that Ebert was no longer involved with the show either.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080721/FEATURED/150028057
I guess I already counted him out since he was unlikely to ever be on camera again.
I’m guessing Roeper’s hiring was at least partly due to being, like Ebert, based out of Chicago, thereby making it easier for the two to coordinate tapings instead of having to bring someone in from out of town.
Personally, I’m of the school of thought that the show wasn’t worth continuing with neither Siskel or Ebert sitting alongside the aisle. Let Roeper go it alone- it’s not like the rest of us will miss him.
Hey Paul, good to see you again.
We’re of the same mind on the whole thing. As I said on another blog, Roeper was always like The Other Guy and without Ebert, the show was like At The Movies with That Other Guy and That Other Other Guy.
No thanks.
Jay Sherman remains my favorite television film critic. Strange how he sounded and kinda looked like Jon Lovitz
“So does that mean one of us can take his spot?”
Ha ha. Smooth one, Danny.
If only. IF ONLY.
I’d KILL to see one of you guys on there now. Y’all are perceptive, intelligent, knowledgeable about film, cuter than lil blue buttons…
You, Christian, Craig, Nicky, Dorothy, k, Ryan (hope I’m not forgetting anyone - if I haven’t listed particular names here it’s because I’m SURE you wouldn’t want the job) are all eminently qualified…
Who wants to sign a petition?
I continue to watch “Ebert & Roeper,” even though I loathe Roeper, mostly because it’s on around the time I’m waking up on Sunday mornings (at 11 a.m.).
It’s a rickety program. But, frankly, the current most-regular co-host, Michael Phillips, is actually pretty damn good. He’s still beefing up his on-camera chops, but he always seems to say what I’m thinking, I like the movies he tends to like, and I’ve lately gotten more and more annoyed with the way Roeper tries to step on his opinions and get snarky with him.
Phillips champions the more interesting releases, and frequently spotlights Criterion releases and other esoteric DVDs. I mean, Jesus, last week Roeper’s video pick of the week was “21″ and Phillips picked Kurosawa’s “High & Low.” And Roeper bitched at him for playing “the Kurosawa card”!
Phillips is a Chicago critic. Buena Vista would probably never do it, but they should put Phillips in as the main guy. He’s a much more natural successor to both Siskel and Ebert. He’s a good dude.
That’s probably the best case that will be made, Harvey. Good call.
Harvey: I just wrote something about that in the “Movies You May Have Missed” thread. I should have just gone here as you chronicled the incident very well. It was the first time I had watched the show in ages and it put a bad taste in my mouth at the end.
I lookforward to Mr. Phillips.
Boy that Roeper is such a complete moron.
I never saw any of the shows with Phillips. I’d check him out if Disney gives him a real show that just reviews movies without any celebrity BS.
I haven’t watched the show in ages (even if I wanted to, the networks here can’t seem to broadcast that channel), Roeper regularly infuriated me. I think he prides himself on being a populist critic, the guy that regular joes might ask at a party what’s out that’s a good time. There’s nothing really wrong with that, but the way he dismisses so many great films and promotes such drivel, it just makes me mad. He almost never pushes or even encourages his audience to try anything beyond their accessible-to-average-Americans comfort zone.
I’ve never seen Michael Phillips, but he sounds like an improvement.
I miss Siskel, too.
I think we should all start an animated LIC review show–we can all be rotating critics, but we don’t have to have TV charisma (though I’m sure you guys all would). And then when we disagree, we can hit each other with mallets or drop anvils on each other. : )
That’s an excellent idea JB, but only if I’m drawn to look like George Clooney.
Sasha has the news from Anne Thompson that the replacement hosts will be E!’s Ben Lyons and TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz.
I don’t know these cable types hence I have no opinion.
“(though I’m sure you guys all would). And then when we disagree, we can hit each other with mallets or drop anvils on each other. : )”
Sounds like a cross between Punch and Judy and Monty Python.