EBERT & ROEPER TO LEAVE AT THE MOVIES

Like many of you, I spent my childhood and adolescence watching ROGER EBERT and GENE SISKEL on their syndicated show AT THE MOVIES. (If I’m not mistaken, they originally began reviewing films on PBS.)

It was really never the same after Mr. Siskel’s passing. So this bit of news hits rather hard. Though (unfortunately) it’s not at all surprising.

According to PEOPLE Magazine both ROGER EBERT and RICHARD ROEPER will not be returning to AT THE MOVIES next season. Mr. Ebert, who has been fighting cancer, has not been on the program for the past two years.

Mr. Roeper said it was because he couldn’t come to an agreement on a contract extension with Disney-ABC. Mr. Ebert said in an e-mail that Disney had decided to take the show in a new direction and he will no longer be associated with it.

Mr. Roeper, who joined Mr. Ebert on AT THE MOVIES after GENE SISKEL died in 1999, says he’ll be hosting another still untitled movie review show that “honors the standards established by GENE SISKEL and ROGER EBERT more than 30 years ago.”

Mr. Roeper’s final appearance on the program will air the weekend of August 16.