Siskel & Ebert was such an iconic show, and Ebert & Roeper seemed to do a pretty good job with the legacy, even with guests hosts during Ebert's health leaves. But not, apparently, good enough for Disney-ABC, which is letting both critics leave the show next month. Ebert, who had been on the air for 33 years, says Disney wants to take the show in "a new direction."
How weird that the show isn't going off the air, it's just totally changing its cast and presumably its name?
Knowing nothing about the fine points, we side with Ebert. After all, here is a man who concluded his review of the great '30s screwball comedy My Man Godfrey with the following:
This movie, and the actors in it, and its style of production, and the system that produced it, and the audiences that loved it, have all been replaced by pop culture of brainless vulgarity. But the movie survives, and to watch it is to be rescued from some people who don't care that it makes a difference ... to some people.
How much do you want to bet he was thinking about Disney-ABC while he wrote that?
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Just another nail in the coffin of cinematic art, and the public's appreciation thereof.
Robert at 10:20PM on Jul 21st 2008
2. Ebert speaks of a "pop culture of brainless vulgarity." We live in a culture that now calls comic books "graphic novels" and bases movie after movie on such adolescent drivel. 'Nuff said.
emelpe at 11:44PM on Jul 21st 2008
3.
Ebert is on target about "My Man Godfrey", one of the greatest comic films ever made. So, will the new film show be of lower quality to reflect the audiences lower quality tastes?
JefFlyingV at 12:23AM on Jul 22nd 2008
4. :(
Mokele Mbembe at 8:55AM on Jul 22nd 2008
5. @ emelpe:
You obviously don't read "graphic novels". There's a lot more than super hero comics being published. Check out anything published by Fantagraphics, Top Shelf, Drawn & Quartly just for starters. "Ghost World" & "American Splendor" were based on comics.
Critics' influence has definitely been lessened in the internet age where "everyone has a voice". I think it's kind of sad, really. Instead of intelligent, well written, considerations of works of art, we get random people hiding behind code names spouting dim-witted, uninformed opinions on things they know little about.
CoreyBean at 2:28PM on Jul 22nd 2008
6. My second point critics well I find them useless. To quote a great film "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment.But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so." Critics are people with opinions and just because they express their opinions in more professional way does not mean they're right. If people choose to watch and love a badly reviewed yet entertaining summer
blockbuster to have fun, does that truly make them any less intelligent. What everyone here must realize is that we are all special with are own opinions and one persons or a group of peoples opinion( no matter how much they try to convince us) is not any bit more important than ours. Who is to say that one aspect of film is greater than another. Who's to say film is dieing when its reaching its highest numbers in years who's to say that films of new are of less quality than films of old. If films of new can still entertain a person even just one person, then I believe they've succeed and we don't need websites like rotten tomatoes lifting up a group of people and their opinions and dropping them on pedestal far higher than that of everyone else. Those are my opinions and I thank you for reading them.
newgeneration at 10:35PM on Jul 22nd 2008
7. My second point critics well I find them useless. To quote a great film "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment.But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so." Critics are people with opinions and just because they express their opinions in more professional way does not mean they're right. If people choose to watch and love a badly reviewed yet entertaining summer blockbuster to have fun, does that truly make them any less intelligent. What everyone here must realize is that we are all special with are own opinions and one persons or a group of peoples opinion( no matter how much they try to convince us) is not any bit more important than ours. Who is to say that one aspect of film is greater than another. Who's to say film is dieing when its reaching its highest numbers in years who's to say that films of new are of less quality than films of old. If films of new can still entertain a person even just one person, then I believe they've succeed and we don't need websites like rotten tomatoes lifting up a group of people and their opinions and dropping them on pedestal far higher than that of everyone else. Those are my opinions and I thank you for reading the
newgeneration at 1:33AM on Jul 23rd 2008
8. Honestly I wish everyone would stop insulting comic books and the "new generation". First of all comic books are a work of art and just because you would rather read something else does not mean the people who enjoy them are any less smarter than you. Like all art they are a way to express one's self and imagination in a creative and productive way, just because they have pictures in them or deal with far fetched ideas does not make them any dumber.
newgeneration at 11:17PM on Aug 10th 2008