EBERT AND ROEPER TO ABANDON THE MOVIES

Film critic Richard Roeper has announced that he is leaving the At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper show. Roger Ebert, who has been ill for quite a while also announced yesterday that he too is breaking all ties with the show he created and was very involved with behind the scenes. What's up with everyone abandoning ship?

If anyone has noticed since Roger Ebert has not been on the show, Richard Roeper and guest critics have not been using the famous "two thumbs up" slogan. That's because Ebert, along with Gene Siskel's widow owns the rights to the famous slogan.
But Disney doesn't give a shit about losing the slogans. The slogans haven't been used since Ebert hasn't been on the show. The folks at Disney are trying to target it more towards a younger generation.

And their idea by doing that is hiring younger critics. Where was the casting call for this gig and why wasn't I notified? I'll tell you why? my dad isn't in the business. That's why i wasn't notified. Well I'm glad the job wasn't given to Ryan Gaycrest. i would have definitely had to bring my kneepads to that meeting (not that it would have been a problem to get me on my knees, mind you).

Anyways, first to join will be Ben Lyons who is an E! Entertainment film critic. He's also the son of well-known film critic Jeffrey Lyons.

And joining Ben will be the similarly named Ben Mankiewicz, the Turner Classic Movies host and also son of Herman Mankiewicz the writer of Citizen Kane.

Okay, so how does this qualify them to have a plethora of knowledge of films? And also, will we be getting reviews of a quality of films, and not just the mainstream stuff? Only time will tell I guess.