Ebert and Roeper Part Ways with Movie Review Show
Roger Ebert by John Sciulli/WireImage.com and Richard Roeper by Rosemary Goldhar/WireImage.com
This news definitely gets two thumbs down.
Roger Ebert, the
Chicago Sun-Time critic who has been telling TV viewers how they should spend their money at the box office for more than 30 years, has announced he is parting ways with his nationally syndicated show.
Ebert, who has been unable to co-host
At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper for the last two years because of health issues,
told the AP that Disney-ABC Domestic Television had decided to take the show "in a new direction" that he would rather not be associated with. This announcement comes just a day after co-host
Richard Roeper announced he would not be renewing his contract.
Ebert made the show popular by bickering with
Chicago Tribune critic
Gene Siskel, whom Roeper replaced permanently in 2000, after Siskel died of a brain tumor in 1999. While Ebert has not announced his future plans, Roeper says he plans to "to proceed elsewhere... as the cohost of a movie review show that honors the standards established by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert more than 30 years ago."
So, what do you think is so off-putting about Disney's new direction? Do you have someone whose name you'd like to see on either side of the ampersand? -
Adam Bryant
