TVSquad

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.

I love movies. I'm a movie buff and always have been. I appreciate film critics, even when I don't agree with them. So, today, on the anniversary of Roger Ebert's 41st year reviewing movies for the Chicago Sun-Times, I'm glad to report that Roger Ebert will soon be back reviewing movies. Unfortunately, the same is not true of his ability to appear on his syndicated TV show, At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper.

In a letter to his fans, Roger wrote: "I am at last returning to the movie beat. After my current stay at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, I'm looking forward to opening night of my annual film festival at the University of Illinois on April 23, and I will resume writing movie reviews shortly thereafter. Are you as bored with my health as I am? I underwent a third surgery in January, this one in Houston, and once again there were complications. I am sorry to say that my ability to speak was not restored. That would require another surgery."

We've all been waiting a long time for Roger Ebert to come back to his seat on Ebert & Roeper, and now it looks like we might have to wait a while longer.

Ebert writes in a message on his web site that he has gone in for more surgery today. He doesn't go into details about the procedure, but he says that he hopes that this will "solve some problems I've been living with." He won't be in the hospital as long as he was before, but it's not day surgery either. He'll be in there long enough to have prepared some film reviews and other columns in advance so they can run while he's away.

While we wait for Roger Ebert to convalesce and hopefully return to what he does best, I'd like to direct you to this ninety-minute interview with the film critic from 2005, created for the Archive of American Television.

If you've watched any of the Archive of American Television's interviews before, you know they're pretty much just straight interviews with not a lot of editing, but that's what makes them so interesting. Ebert talks about his work both in print and on television, and of course his long-time partner, the late Gene Siskel.

I don't read a lot of film reviews, but when I do, Ebert's is one of only a handful I'll actively seek out. I think he does what so many reviewers fail to do, which is understand what the filmmakers were trying to accomplish, and then critique their ability to see that vision through to the final product.

[via Mark Evanier]

I still watch Ebert & Roeper, even though Roger Ebert has not been on the show for several months since he had complications following salivary gland surgery. The show isn't the same. It's not that the revolving series of film critics they have sitting next to Richard Roeper (A.O. Scott, David Edelstein, David Poland, director Kevin Smith, actress Aisha Tyler and actor Fred Willard, among others) haven't been interesting (if an odd mix), it's just that they're not Roger Ebert, and his prescence is sorely missed.

But he's on the mend. As Ebert himself says in this Chicago Sun-Times piece, he's feeling better, doing rehab in Florida, and he plans to attend (though not MC) his annual Overlooked Film Festival at the end of April at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He's celebrating 40 years as a movie critic, and has a new book out now, Your Movie Sucks, which is about bad movies (his other book about bad flicks, I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie, was quite good). Hopefully he'll be back to the show later this year or next year.

For those who have been wondering when Roger Ebert was going to come back and start arguing with Richard Roeper again, you're going to have to wait a little while. Ebert himself sent an e-mail to RogerEbert.com that discusses his longer-than-expected recovery from three recent surgeries: one to remove a cancerous salivary gland from his right jaw, one to fix a burst blood vessel that were weakened by radiation treatments he had three years ago, and another that was not specified.

So, because of all the surgery, Ebert has been in the hospital since June. "I had no idea when I went into the hospital on June 16 that I would still be here on August 16," he writes. He currently is having problems speaking and is weak from all the time in bed. But he seems to be recovering well, even watching movies on a plasma TV that his Ebert & Roeper producer brought to his hospital room. He definitely wants to watch the movie Half Nelson, which substitute critic Kevin Smith said was one of the best movies he's seen in the last ten years. It's too bad he can't speak; I'd have loved it if he and Roeper did an episode from his hospital room.

[via Romenesko]

I find it interesting that during Roger Ebert's absence from Ebert & Roeper, the producers (or maybe Ebert) have decided to use non-critics as substitutes. If you recall, when Gene Siskel was ill (and later, as they were looking for replacements after his death) most of the substitutes were other movie critics. But not now. First we heard that Kevin Smith is going to make an appearance across the aisle from Rich Roeper; now, the next high-profile fill-in wil be none other than Jay Leno, according to TV Week.

The episode will be for next weekend, Aug. 4-5 (movies reviewed will include the new Will Ferrel movie Talladega Nights, Little Miss Sunshine, and Miami Vice). The show will be taped in L.A. instead of Chicago to acommodate Leno's notoriously tight schedule.

So who's the next guest reviewer? My money's on Al Roker.

Film critic Roger Ebert is going to have his fourth cancer surgery on June 16th, two days before his 64th birthday.

Ebert has already had three surgeries. In 2002, he had a malignant tumor removed from his thyroid gland, and in 2003 he had two surgeries on his salivary glands. Ebert says that the cancer is not life-threatening, he won't need radiation therapy, and he'll continue as a film critic while all of this is going on.

On a personal note, I wish Ebert well. He has always been very generous and kind to me in my other life as a magazine publisher, contributing articles when he really didn't have to, so I hope that everything turns out OK and he's back battling with Richard Roeper about the summer movies.

Update: Ebert will tape several episodes of Ebert & Roeper so they will air during his recovery.

[via Romenesko]

David Irving recently went on trial in an Austrian court for denying that the Holocaust ever happened. He showed up for the case holding his book Hitler's War. Hey, guess what? That was a stupid move, Irving. Jon said that it would have been a better idea to show up with a neck brace and a yarmulke (I totally didn't need a dictionary for that).