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Show BIZARRO TKis week'4 guest 'At the Movies' saves its aisle seat, for now CLOSE TO HOME 731 r.nM irtifit Frwaeta Mrduliwo NOW,ERKIE?noww ISPRM3 MS ON US you wavt Caryn Rousseau until AFTER 5HOT THE WE COULDN'T THE COMMERCIAL? ASSOCIATED PRESS Roeper fresh off tlfat he was the hftlcony of "At the Movies wfth Ebert & Roeper," may have put it best. Hours after word of his departure, he posted on his Twitter feed: "With all the old Richard footage and the interviews, it's like watching your own obit." Or maybe an obituary for person-on-the-stre- " film influential, criticism on TV. Last week, Roeper and Roger Ebert both left the show, Mm 1 "Well, I dont believe It! Your room is spotless! And In Just 10 minutes! Hey, wait a second ... Where's your rug?!" A 1 i U think I h e'u. B '""1 r fthie, -- .w i ft tie ' 1 KS,AL f I LfTtfv XI I HefesoLOyT& have HEfc.HESsouJacyTo HAVE SOMEONE nt HFS FAIUM6, WHEN HE'S I tic, uiii i pi i C Av WHcN He njs. ( Mj WEEPS 2 HELP j"- - ill ijl FieldGuide Enawiterirtfie i GROWNUP good-natured- ly rsdforAppearOxupied stall times If they sense Idleness they often Attack with Chores. Correal get lRSOLW.CHAa absence. Fellow "At the Movies" founder Gene Siskel died of a brain tumor in 1999 and Roeper was selected as his permanent replacement in 2000. In recent years, Ebert has battled cancer and was left unable to speak even as he continues to churn out reviews. Ebert's competitive fire and stalwart nature likely have something to do with that. The show started, after all, as a meeting of rivals: Ebert, the subtly pugnacious Chicago critic; and Siskel, aloof cross-tow- n his counterpart aft he Chicago Tribune. "Two scrappy guys who made the criticism of the art a battle," said Dann Gire, president of the Chicago Film Critics Association and movie critic for The Daily Herald newspaper in Arlington Heights. "They were passionate, intelligent, knowledgeable people who tackled the art form as if it were a sports game. That is never going to be recaptured." But ratings slowly eroded following the "Siskel & Ebert" heyday, falling by about 1.4 million viewers between 1992 and the Roeper-le- d "At the Movies" of 2008. The show drew 3.8 million viewers in 1992, 2.8 million in 2002 and 2.4 million viewers in 2008, according to data provided by Nielsen. "On a certain level it kind of feels like the end of an era," says Matt Atchity, editor of the movie review aggregating Web site RottenTomatoes.com. Sun-Tim- hits Natural Habitat "U)ANTADS" AUUWS 1 j WE FIND IN FAVOR OF THE PLAINTIFF DUDE. UEli PHONE WOR AO INTO THE PAPER REQUESTIN6 A JOB AS MANA6ER OF A EW1 ll'a)ANTAOS"ACE BBN6 ABLE FAMOUS 7D5EU, and ra bet voou cu, BE rocoeduith offers: THERE WAS SOfAE DISCUSSION ABOUT WHICH ONE IS THE THE PLAINTIFF - COfAPLAINY GUY OR THE WEASEL. FOR ANYTHING I (I FEEL. LUCE AN OLD lW6 MyE BUT UE WERE UNANIMOUS IN NOT WANTING TO BE HERE ANY LONGER. film-revie- co-ho- st whose format has survived since its beginning on public television in 1975 to its latest incarnation through Disney-ABDomestic Television, with car for writing the screenplay Roeper hosting with a rotating for "Citizen Kane" with Orson Welles. Roeper is 48 and Ebert partner in Ebeit's health-relate- d Awn i uimjr?0 WriEM WEIiME 10 "Seeing two critics sitting and reviewing movies, they are kind of passing the torch and entering a new era ofthe way reviews are done." Roeper and Ebert's replacements Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz are notably younger, with arguably hipper resumes. Lyons, 26, is the son of longtime film critic Jeffrey Lyons and has worked as a reporter and critic for MTV, E! and "Access Hollywood." (Jeffrey Lyons, meanwhile, has his own syndicated show, "Lyons & Bailes Reel Talk," with Alison Bailes.) Mankiewicz, 41, is a host on Turner Classic Movies and is the grandson of Herman Mankiewicz, who won an Os- ) is 66. "These guys set an incredibly high standard," Mankiewicz said. "I don't expect to be part of anything that diminishes that." Lyons said taking on the show was a "huge responsibility." "We want to continue what people have come to respect for this show," Lyons said, vhich is strong movie reviews." The film critic community, though, has been buzzing with the news that "At the Movies" will add new segments, including a new set, music and graphics, all set to debut the weekend of Sept. 6. "I don't think there's an expectation that they're coming in with a great deal of film knowledge, and I think with Siskel and Ebert that was there," said Norm Schrager, a senior writer at filmcritic.com. "But I don't think it's going to be gossip reporting." A higher style quotient could be attractive at a time when the more substantive jobs of newspaper and magazine film critics are disappearing, Gire said. "Even though we're not getting the authoritative voices out of the printed page, we're opening a whole new generation of young voices on the Internet who have a wide range," Gire says. "That's a reawakening of film criticism." Or perhaps a fragmentation of it, splitting the thumbs-down- " "thumbs-up- , into a digital cacophony. |