This sucks, I’ve been watching Ebert since I was little (though he was with the late Siskle as the article explains) and then I went on to see it with Roeper. I think ABC is stupid for trying to change the format of a great show like this into something that its not and I hope that they learn that you can’t fix something that’s part of Americana like Ebert and Roeper! Even today I go to check out their reviews to see what they think. I do feel that Roeper has more of an open mind when it comes to pop culture movies but I have seen Ebert enjoy movies that no one did and he had his own little twist on it. If they don’t fix this it is really a loose to the critics out there.
from Darkhorizons.com:
“Ebert & Roeper” Are No Longer
By Garth FranklinTuesday, July 22nd 2008 12:11am
image America’s most famous film critic Roger Ebert and his regular co-host Richard Roeper are leaving their movie review show which first began airing in 1975 with Ebert and the late Gene Siskel.
Ebert and ABC have been engaged in difficult contract renegotiations for the past year and its been revealed that the departure is mainly due to ABC wanting to take the show in a more “Entertainment Tonight”-style gossip direction.
Their departure, taking place in mid-August, leaves the program’s future unclear.
Wow. ABC is a bunch of morons! The show was good because it had integrity – gossip would spoil that.
That said, I hadn’t realized the show was still on. They do nothing to promote it, unfortunately.
No, they don’t in fact, Ebert had been out (I don’t even know if he’s really back or not–he had a bunch of cancer operations about a year ago and he had been out of action) and Roeper had taken over with a guest critic. They were awesome but they don’t advertise them. About two summers ago I would download their show on my iPod off of the iStore and listen to them on my way to work.
Oh yeah, I read that Ebert hadn’t ever come back. Still though, guest reviewers would be cool. I think Ebert’s got a blog now, it’s supposed to be really good.
I’ve never seen an ad for the show, I’ve never heard anyone talking about it (until now), and I’ve never seen it online for download. The show failed because of that, not because it needed to include more gossip.
I’m glad Ebert and Roeper are taking their integrity with them.
I honestly don’t even think the Siskle and Ebert show was ever adverstised. It was on at like 1 in the morning but I guess for something that doesn’t cost much to make people must have watched it. But whatever. They were never the deciding factor in me seeing a movie. Especially with Netflix I pretty much get everything that’s out there. Which reminds me, I haven’t updated my on-line list for Netflix in a long long time.
I think you can make your Netflix list public, if you wanted to. Then, you could link to it here. 🙂
I’m using friendfeed.com which supports Netflix, and a bunch of other stuff. Pretty neat.
1 AM? Jeez, that’s terrible. They’re better off not doing the show, or at least maybe putting up clips on YouTube.
I agree. That’s why I liked listening to the show off of iStore/iTunes. It was convienent.