Just read in the Chicago Trib that Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz have been let go, um I mean fired.  Disney has finally realized its mistake and are going to try to bring back the glory days of Siskel and Ebert. I tried to watch the Bens' when they on At The Movies and IMHO it was horrible, it had become just some other run of the mill entertainment show. Good luck A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips!

Didn't the Bens host a movie weekly on one of the cable channels like AMC or TNT?  I seem to remember them from them doing commentary on one of the cable channels.  I thought they were okay on that venue, but I agree that they weren't "ready for prime time" so to speak and didn't carry a whole half hour very well.

I didn't have any problems with Roeper, but without Roger Ebert it just wasn't the same.  Too bad he can't speak -- his written reviews seem as good as ever.

BTW: My local station here in Baltimore, Maryland, aired them at some odd time on Sunday night (like around 11:45).  Since it wasn't near the half hour when I normally look for something else to watch, I always forgot they were on.  Like Pavlov's dogs with food, I've been trained to look for new programs on the hour or half hour.