One thing we never did, apart from an occasional special show, was depart from the format: Two critics debating the week’s new movies. No “advance looks” at trailers for movies we hadn’t even seen. No celebrity interviews. No red carpet sound bites. Just two guys talking about the movies. At one point, our show and two clones were on the air simultaneously. Then we were left alone again: The only show on TV that would actually tell you if we thought a movie was bad.
Roger Ebert on the end of At the Movies.
I’ve always thought Roger Ebert was a better and smarter critic in print than on screen, and, while likable, Richard Roeper was never a match for the late Gene Siskel. But I’m nonetheless sorry to see the show go. Not because I really watched it — it’s anybody’s guess when it airs — but because it will almost certainly be replaced by something dumber and a lot closer in format to the “advance look” show Ebert describes above.