Suddenly At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper is a show without the two people named in the title.
It’s been missing Roger Ebert for over two years now and after the episode airing the weekend of August 16-17, Richard Roeper will be vanishing from the balcony as well.
And judging by some of the quotes and facts from this shocking development, it certainly doesn’t feel like a happy parting between Roper and Disney-ABC Domestic Television.
“Several months ago, Disney offered to extend my contract, which expires at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season,” Roeper said. “I opted to wait. Much transpired after that behind the scenes, but an agreement was never reached, and we are all moving on.”
Doesn’t sound too great. But there’s more:
Roeper said 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.”
“I will be free to share the details on that program in the near future,” he said.
He also said he wishes Disney “the best of luck with their new show, whatever form it may take.”
I wonder if he meant anything by the “honors the standards” comment? Was he saying his current show was going in a direction that he didn’t approve?
I’m pretty bummed over this news, because At the Movies was just a fantastic show for a very long time. I loved finding out about little known indie films from these guys and good things to rent on DVD each week.
When Ebert left, Roeper really stepped up to the plate and kept the show alive and breathing. The stream of guest hosts eventually got narrowed down to Michael Phillips after some time, and the show has been as good as it could be without Ebert.
“Over the last two seasons, as Roger has bravely coped with his medical issues, I’ve continued the show with a number of guest co-hosts,” Roeper said. “It’s never been the same without Roger, but I’m proud of the work we’ve done and I’m grateful to all the co-hosts who stepped in — and to the viewers that stayed loyal to the show.”
We’ll keep you guys updated on this new show that Roeper will be doing whenever we find out more information.
What do you think? Will Roeper be missed? Can the show go on without him?
This is sad. I like watching this show each week… They must be planning on canceling it. What else could Disney do?
Yeah, no clue if that is the reason or not…maybe they wanted to change it too much for Roeper's tastes.
I just watched this last night, odd. I remember watching Siskel and Ebert as a kid on PBS. It was like Friday Night Videos or Howard Cosell doing half time highlights on MNF, can't miss tv.
Was still that for us…we never miss an episode.
” loved finding out about little known indie films from these guys and good things to rent on DVD each week….” I dunno if you subscribe to HDNET, but the ultimate trailer show is much better than at the movies, and gives you a ton of these types of tidbits with a much better sense of humor…
I stopped watching this show a looonnnggg time ago, but still catch the occasional part of an episode. It's okay, but watching it now I just think it should be me and Mike up there reviewing the flicks.
Yeah, I may start watching those…but some of those shows do stuff like trailers from last year, etc.
Trailers are okay, but I like the actual movie REVIEWS…I hope to see what Roeper does next. Would be awesome if he joined HDNET, because he had that one guy from UTS on his show a bunch of times.
I would suck on TV…
Fine. I'll do it alone! I don't need you! Are you sure?
Yeah some are trailers, but this is called the ultimate trailer show where he gives a review of it all, its really good you should watch a couple, you'd like it i bet…
I've seen a bit of it, but I'll start DVR-ing it to make sure I see the whole thing
Positive…I tried to do a radio show once and almost passed out
Guess it could be At the Movies with the Pop Critic…just doesn't have the same ring to it, though… I'll have to have guest hosts like Cap'n and the Ape…
I think you'd need better photogenic people than myself.. though I'm happy to help out !!!
[...] the heels of the announcement that Richard Roeper would be exiting At the Movies, we now get the word that Roger Ebert is also [...]