TVSquad

When illness prevented Roger Ebert from doing the movie review show he had done since 1982, everyone knew that change was inevitable. But no one could have predicted this much change, not even Ebert.

The Chicago Sun-Times movie critic and original host of At The Movies with his longtime partner Gene Siskel talked about how producers completely remade the show.

The changes ranged from the show's hosts down to the famous balcony set that the studio "tore at our set with sledge-hammers, and it collected in a dumpster in the alley."

[via TVTattle]

It looks like the new crew at Disney's At the Movies is turning the ship around.

The new series run with fresh hosts (New York Times film critic, A.O. Scott (left), and Chicago Tribune film critic, Michael Phillips (right)) has gone 180 degrees in the other direction from the lighter, more sensationalized previous season.

Last year's host combination of Ben Mankiewicz and Ben Lyons often came off more glib than informative -- leaving both critics and fans wondering what happened to the more measured, analytical tone of former hosts Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper and the late Gene Siskel.

Between the two of them, Scott and Phillips bring decades of entertainment writing and critiquing experience -- combining a love of movies with a willingness to tick off the Hollywood powers that be when necessary.

At the Movies, the long-running cinema review show that once starred well-respected critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, is going back to the idea of employing experienced reviewers as hosts.

Disney and ABC film-canned Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz this week. The show's now-dismissed young, hipster critics never really showed any particular cinema savvy besides the ability to unfurl sarcastic reviews. And their writing credentials won't be mistaken for the bylines Ebert and Siskel piled up in their careers.

To reverse course in hope of saving At the Movies, executives are turning to two guys with established chops.

Allison told you yesterday that both Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper were leaving their film review show, At The Movies. Ebert has been off the show since 2006 because of health problems and Roeper couldn't come to terms on a new contract. They both explained that Buena Vista wants to take the show in a new direction and that they wouldn't be a part of it. Here is that new direction.

The new hosts of At The Movies are Ben Mankiewicz, a host on TCM, and Ben Lyons, from E!. Not sure how these two got to be the new hosts, other than the fact that they're both named Ben and I'm sure we'll see some cute reference to that, maybe even in the ads or the intro. I like the fact that Mankiewicz is from TCM; makes it sound like he knows what he's talking about (he's also the son of Frank Mankiewicz and the grandson of the guy who wrote Citizen Kane). But Lyons looks about 14 years-old and comes from a network with celeb gossip and reality shows, so that has me a little worried.

Then again, he's the son of film critic Jeffrey Lyons (the host of his own movie review show, Reel Talk), so maybe it's in his blood. But the article above says he called I Am Legend one of the greatest films ever made? Yikes.

As much a I love TV -- and I do -- I'm also a real movie fan. I used to have a button that read "Movie Buff," and I actually wore it! So, it's without a bit of irony that I declare here and now that I love Turner Classic Movies. TCM is the definitive film fan destination on the entire cable/satellite/broadcast dial. Here's five reasons to back up my claim -- see if you don't agree.

1) Choice - Name another channel that you can watch from daybreak till midnight and not have to reach for the remote. TCM has thousands of movies, and as many as I've seen since I started really watching, they broadcast films that are new to me (and believe me, I've logged hudreds of hours watching films). The Turner library is stuffed with classics, A-movies, B's, two-reelers, shorts, silents ... MGMs, Warners, RKO's, and more -- they cover the spectrum. Ted Turner knew what he was doing when he created the channel in 1994. TCM promised to be "uninterrupted, uncolorized and commercial-free!" In 14 years they've stuck by the creed.