The balcony is closed

Surprising news today as it was announced that At the Movies, the film criticism show originally started by Siskel and Ebert, will be cancelled. The show had gone through some rough times in recent years. After Roger Ebert left the show due to his medical problems, his current co-host Richard Roeper tried to keep the show alive with a rotating set of guest hosts. Then the show's producers made the suicidal decision to make the show appealing to a younger crowd by hiring Ben Mankewitz and Ben Lyons, who had no business being anywhere near that show. His reviews consisted of a bunch of cliches that you could have easily found simply reading my movie reviews. I thought the show had finally rebounded this past fall when it went back to its roots and brought in legitimate critics, A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips, who were bringing back intellect and class to the program. However, ratings apparently never rebounded and now the show comes to an end after being on the air since 1980.

Personally, even in the face of the Internet and sites like Rotten Tomatoes, I still feel there is room on television for a show of movie reviews. I think two aspects are key in what the show would need to include: 1)two or more individuals who have really great chemistry together that allows them to argue with each other while still exhibiting friendship/camraderie and 2)a show that allows them to actually analyze and investigate what makes a film so great or terrible; sometime more than a two line blurb that somehow boils down the essence of a film. For anyone considering starting a new film review show, I suggest following a model similar to ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. There is a perfect example of how to successfully do a show where you can have argument without it resorting to callous name calling, yet still provides well-rounded analysis of all the topics in sports. Create a show like that, only centered around movies and you should have something that people would be interested in watching.

For more on the cancellation of At the Movies, I suggest you check out Roger Ebert's blog entry, where he basically provides a eulogy for the show and gives his take on the current state of film criticism in today's society.