In announcements that came just a day apart, Chicago-based film critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper both say they're leaving their nationally syndicated movie-review show, At the Movies With Ebert & Roeper.
Roeper, who came on the show to replace Ebert's longtime cohost, the late Gene Siskel, said yesterday that he had failed to reach a new contract agreement with Disney-ABC Domestic Television. In what may have been a dig at the company's plans for the program's future, he said that he intends to "proceed elsewhere ... as the co-host of a movie review show that honors the standards established by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert more than 30 years ago."
Today, Ebert said that he'll no longer be associated with the program either, adding that Disney-ABC is taking it in "a new direction." Ebert, of course, hadn't appeared on the show himself for the past two years, due to health problems and surgeries that made it difficult for him to speak. Since then, Roeper had been continuing with a series of writers and celebrities as guest hosts -- most often serious-minded fellow newspaper critics Michael Phillips and A.O. Scott.
Our take on this whole thing? It was pretty clear that Ebert has been distancing himself from the show when, a few months ago, he decided it could no longer use his trademark "thumbs up/thumbs down" rating system. And while Roeper and his guest hosts provided excellent film critiques, they were never as much fun to watch as Siskel and Ebert in their prime. So it's no surprise that, after so much upheaval, Disney-ABC has decided to give the show a complete overhaul.
We're guessing the new incarnation will feature a couple of young, good-looking film buffs, lots of celebrity appearances, and more of a carefree Entertainment Tonight-style approach. And while movie ads may still brag about receiving two positive reviews from the show, that'll never mean the same thing again.
Photo: ABC