Replacements For Ebert, Roeper Named

(andPOP) - "Ebert and Roeper" are giving way to ... Ben and Ben?

Disney-ABC Domestic Television named two new hosts for "At the Movies With Ebert and Roeper" Tuesday, following news that Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper have quit the nationally-syndicated movie-review show.

Ben Lyons, an E! Entertainment Television film critic, and Ben Mankiewicz, a moderator on Turner Classic Movies, will take over critiquing duties on Sept. 6, when the show is relaunched.

Disney-ABC Domestic Television, which owns the show, also announced the Chicago-filmed program will be getting a new format.

Changes include the addition of a "Critics Round-Up" segment, in which the co-hosts would chat with other critics across the U.S. via satellite.

They will also keep "3 to See," a recent addition to the show where the co-hosts recommend their top three "must see" films currently in theatres.

The show, created by Chicago Sun-Times film critic Ebert and the late Gene Siskel, first began airing locally in 1975 under the banner "Sneak Previews" before moving to PBS nationally in 1978 with the new title "At the Movies."

Siskel and Ebert made a signature "thumbs up-thumbs down" judgment part of each review.

Following Siskel's passing in 1999, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Roeper joined the show, which he has now co-hosted for eight seasons. However, Ebert has been on leave from the show since losing the use of his voice two years ago due to cancer surgery.

Ebert released a statement Monday, writing: "After 33 years on the air, 23 of them with Disney, the studio has decided to take the program in a new direction. I will no longer be associated with it."

However, he hinted at a possible return to the business, adding that the trademark for the program "still belongs to me and Marlene Iglitzen, Gene's widow, and the thumbs will return. We are discussing possibilities, and plan to continue the show's tradition."

Roeper released his own statement just prior to Ebert's, announcing that he resigned from the show after an agreement on a contract extension could not be reached.

His final on-air apperance for "At the Movies" will be Aug. 16.

Roeper added, "[I]t is my intention to proceed elsewhere with my ninth year as the co-host of a movie review show that honors the standards established by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert more than 30 years ago. I will be free to share the details on that program in the near future."