The Replacements
Filed under: TV News
As we mentioned yesterday, Richard Roeper has announced that he is leaving the At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper show.
Then, Roger Ebert also announced yesterday that he too is breaking all ties with the show he created and was very involved with behind the scenes.
Looks like Disney didn't want to pay up!
Luckily for Ebert, he still owns part of the rights for the famous "Two Thumbs Up" slogan, along with Siskel's widow.
But Disney doesn't care about losing the slogans. They're more interested in redoing the show. Apparently they're going to try and target it more towards a younger generation.
And how are they going to do that?
They're getting two much younger hosts, that's how.
Taking over for the irreplaceable Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper are two basically unknown "critics."
First to join will be Ben Lyons (above left), the 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.
So aside from the two being named Ben and having famous dads, they are nowhere near in comparison to having the knowledge or experience of Siskel & Ebert or Ebert & Roeper.
A young face won't necessarily bring in more viewers.
Will it?????
[Image via WENN.]
Hate crime!
Womenand nonjews need not apply.
I love Ben M on TCM I think he does a great job. Just because people come from famous families doesn't mean they don't know how to do a good job.
Ben Lyons just goes by popular opinion and never has an original review ever! His daddy's name totally got him where he is today b/c he couldn't review his way out of a paper bag.
What is all this hatred of Ben Lyons and E! News? First of all, I don't see the difference between watching E! News and going on Perez. Its the same content. Second of all, I think Ben Lyons is a pretty good critic. Yeah I'm a little skeptical considering he's not as experienced as his predecessors but he is still good.
Hypocrite! Aren't you the one always making fun of OLD PEOPLE! Now you're trying to assert that YOUNG men can't review friends.
Make up your mind! I thought you hated: Old people, ugly people, fat people, stupid people, and just about everyone in the entertainment business who hasn't bothered to kiss your ass.
Okay. When I saw Ben Lyons' picture under the title of this entry, I said, "Oh, *fucking* hell," out loud. You have GOT to be kidding me! I swear that the trend all over television, movies, and music seems to be to cater to youth audiences. Because of this trend where we glamorize how well people look and act like fraternity and sorority stereotypes, young people are becoming more and more superficial and less mature and educated.
Ben Lyons has always irked me, as he is the embodiment of the shameless shallowness that the E! network is famous for. It was obvious to me that he got his job because of his look, as well as the blatant lack of sophisticated thought. After reading this entry of Perez', it looks like his daddy's name helped him with landing his jobs on E! and now with Disney, too. As if that doesn't happen enough in this damn world of ours! For once, I'd like to see a properly-educated, mature young person land a great job on TV. They're out there. It's just that they are stuck doing jobs they hate, while they watch others who are far less qualified take jobs they'd die to have.
What a surprise, two Jews with famous fathers got the job.
That Ben Lyons guy is so UNTALENTED that it's almost painful. He's not funny or interesting and he asks the stupidest questions.
Fucking Hollywood!
it'll do well.
Ben Lyons is my love.
Are you kidding?!? Ben Lyons sucks as a critic, because he almost never makes a critique–He likes everything. The guy would say shit tastes great.
WHY aren't there ANY FEMALE film reviewers?
It would help if at least one of em were cute– geez.
Nooooo!!!!….Richard Roeper is so Hot!!!….i'm gonna miss him…hopefully he finds a better gig….and comes back to tv!!