CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Richard Roeper, fresh off announcing that he was leaving the balcony of "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper," may have put it best.
Earlier this week, Richard Roeper and Roger Ebert announced they were leaving "At the Movies."
Hours after word of his departure, he posted on his Twitter feed: "With all the old footage and the person-on-the-street interviews, it's like watching your own obit."
Or maybe an obituary for influential, well-informed film criticism on TV.
This week, Roeper and Roger Ebert both left the show, whose format has survived since its beginning on public television in 1975 to its latest incarnation through Disney-ABC Domestic Television, with Roeper hosting with a rotating partner in Ebert's health-related 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 Sun-Times critic; and Siskel, his good-naturedly aloof crosstown counterpart at the 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-led "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.
