Remember when Siskel and Ebert were the authority on movies? A good review could make you think twice about a movie you had previously dismissed, and a bad review would mean canceled theater plans.
But then Siskel died, and Roper came in. He was a good critic, but it just felt wrong- like when your mom starts dating new guys after a divorce. It took years, but finally everyone came to accept Roper for the OK stepdad that he was. But then Ebert got sick, and it was just Roper and random other guys every so often- so then that felt like living with your stepdad and the random girlfriends he brought home.
Roper finally decided to move on and ABC changed the whole damn show on everyone, hiring Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz last year in order to appeal to a wider audience. No one liked them. Two new kids are moving into the balcony, kicking out the two Bens. Chicago Tribune writer Michael Phillips and NY Times critic A.O. Scott, both writers whose opinion I actually value, will be replacing the Bens.
At the Movies with the Bens was just bad. Two thumbs down. Both Ben’s were legacy boys- Mankiewicz’s grandfather wrote Citizen Kane, and Ben Lyons’ dad is a movie critic for Reel Talk, but Mankiewicz at least seemed to have a grasp on film. Lyons thought that I Am Legend was “the greatest film of all time”. Yes, that one. The Will Smith one. Lyons also had that Ryan Seacrest pretty boy/is he gay?/ lay-off-the-white-strips thing going on, which was annoying.
Congrats to the new hosts. Good riddance to the old. Siskel RIP. I miss my real dad.
I think the point is that the show has been irrelevant for nearly 5 years. I’d forgotten it was on.
Everyone knows that brain cancer didn’t kill Gene Siskel, the internet did.