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Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies... heading to PBS in 2011.

Aragorn

Aragorn

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Admiral
newatthemovies091010.jpg


The new weekly show will debut on PBS in January of 2011 and be hosted by Elvis Mitchell (NPR) and Christy Lemire (Associated Press). Kim Morgan (MSN, Huffington Post) and Omar Moore (San Francisco Film Critics Circle) will be regular contributors and occasional co-hosts. Roger Ebert himself will appear in a weekly segment about overlooked, classic and new films.

The thumbs up and thumbs down trademark will also return.

Here's an abbreviated test run:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOKAhkrcZag[/yt]
 
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Well, he'll never speak again, but he still has his computer to talk for him. Or maybe one of the presenters will read what he wrote.

I'm glad they're bringing the show back; it deserves another chance.
 
I just read about this and I am really excited. It made my day. :bolian: And this time, he will have control and hopefully capture some of that old Siskel and Ebert magic from years ago.


And for the record, Ebert is in remission and has been for about two years now I think. He just can not speak. But they are working on a voice synthesizer that mimics his voice using samples from his previous work. It will be able to "read" what he writes on air for him. They mention it in the article. I also read about the particulars of it somewhere a couple of weeks ago and the technology they were using. (I wish I could remember so I could give you folks a link.)
 
I guess this means we'll never get an "At the Movies with Ben Lyons and Armond White." :lol:
 
I think that PBS will be a good home for it. Although that theme has got to go. I think At the Movie needs something like an orchestral score in order to capture the epic legacy of the show.
 
Fantastic. He's a brilliant writer and a tribute to indomitable human spirit. I'm not sold on the new hosts based on the screen test above but I hope they settle in and the show does well.
 
That the show coming back is awesome, but I wish there were some more familiar faces - Scott, Phillips, Roeper, Wolansky...
 
This is awesome news...and who knows if Roeper and the others you named won't be there in a guest host capacity.
 
Roeper does his quickie reviews on Starz now. Don't know if that would allow for him to do another show.

Of course, this current team is a bit of a letdown because when this show was originally announced, it was with Michael Phillips, Christy Lemire and Richard Roeper.
 
The announcement on Ebert's blog is here, by the way, since I don't see that linked already.

Admiral_Young said:
This is awesome news...and who knows if Roeper and the others you named won't be there in a guest host capacity.
Click to expand...
Yeah, guest hosts will be needed -- or just wanted -- at some point, so I'd be surprised if some of those names didn't appear down the road.
 
Very cool. Big ups to Ebert on this. I am not crazy about the other people involved though.
 
Amen! I'm glad Ebert is well enough to contribute and PBS can be a good place to work without all the advertising and studio interference. I'm not big on the other hosts either, but if Ebert likes them, I damn then suspect that they are better than those stupid Bens were. I agree other hosts and guests like Roper will probably make appearances if able, to support Ebert if nothing else.

I read also about his voice program where he has spoken so much and has such a big public archive that they can create a composite computer voice actually using his own speech. I imagine that is either really cool or really weird but necessary to him. Although I hope knowing its a computerized voice doesn't put off some viewers. Amazing what technology and spirit can do!

ETA: I like the short clip. I'm glad they get the pros and cons, Ebert's pick, a classic nod, and a modern media spin. His voice doesn't sound bad at all. Anyone who's watched Stephen Hawking on television should be used to it. It is however, odd to see him so thin.
 
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I just wanted to throw this in. The short clip shown was basically a "pilot" for selling purposes and probably doesn't reflect the finished product. The theme music, format and graphics may change before it officially debuts in January. And Ebert's computer voice is most likely a temp.

And I really hope that we see lots more of Kim Morgan. I like her. :bolian:
 
I seem to remember his show with Gene Siskel was called Sneak Previews and was on PBS back in the early 80s. I used to watch it on Saturday nights when I was a kid.

Thanks youtube:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGIQ31AVLNk[/yt]
 
I'm so excited for this. I wasn't too keen on the hosts but then I saw the pilot and I definitely warmed up to them. It's going to take some adjusting time since I got really accustom to Michael Phillips and A.O. Scott, but I'm sure we'll see them return in some form or another. Either way, I'm really, really glad Roger Ebert is back on television again and this new iteration of At the Movies seems like it's going to be great.
 
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