I was surprised when my brother told me yesterday that they had fired the hosts of "At The Movies". If you don't live in the U.S. and/or have never seen this show, it is a half-hour program that is produced out of Chicago featuring a pair of movie critics who review and discuss movies. It began over 20 years ago with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert as the critics. When Gene died, they used different guest-critics until they hired Richard Roeper as a new permanent co-host with Roger...then Roger had to bow out (I understand he can't even speak, though I don't know if that may have changed) and Richard used various guest-critics opposite him. Finally, it was decided to revamp the show and Roger left and they hired two new critics...Ben Lyons (who I've heard referred to once as "the worst reviewer on the planet") and Ben Mankiewicz who I mainly knew as the other guy who introduced movies here in the U.S. on Turner Classic Movies. I forget when this change was made...either last year or the year before. I won't mind seeing Lyons go as I never thought much of his reviewing ability though I have nothing against the other Ben. Maybe if they had retitled the show "Dueling Bens"?
I understand the new critics will be A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips, two actual film critics from newspapers who had appeared often with Richard Roeper in the previous incarnation of the show...I think they come in about a month from now. Maybe once they take over, I'll find myself checking out the show more often than I have been lately.
