Richard Roeper's Reviews

I do not subscribe to cable TV service anymore, so don't get to see your reviews on that Reelz channel .But it's nice to be able to watch them here on Hulu, after the cable airings.But what I really miss is the syndicated movie reviews series you co-hosted with Roger Ebert. Of course, no one could have replaced Gene Siskel as Roger's ultimate sparring partner. And Ebert & Siskel were the guys who began that format (on television) of two film critics debating & discussing the best & worst films with first their local, then public broadcasting, then syndicated series. But you did a very commendable job in unenviable circumstances (albeit minus the competitive component of Gene's having written for the rival Chicago paper, "The Chicago Tribune'), after a period of "auditioning" other film & entertainment critics to fill Gene's seat. I was just getting comfortable with the chemistry between you & Roger, thinking it was only a matter of time before the two of you would open up and have a real knock-down/drag-out disagreement one day about some film, and then Roger's illness ensued, and the series was gone!One year there was a syndicated series with two guys named "Ben." Another year Roger's voice (a 'la Stephen Hawking) contributed reviews in a segment of another series he produced with two younger film critics. But I think longtime fans of Siskel & Ebert had come to accept you, Richard, as the heir apparent, and I think you should return with a new partner, as well perhaps that same simulated-speaking segment with Roger, if he may never fully appear on camera again. Back in the day, as a music journalist, I had thought about pitching a series (using the model of Siskel & Ebert's format) where two music journalists, or a journalist and a disc jockey, would debate and discuss classic rock & roll and new music releases, perhaps in a simulation of a nightclub or radio station set. But that was when it was still, plausibly. the punk/New Wave era, and many more compelling recorded music releases than would be the case even ten years later. Now there aren't enough good, new music releases to even warrant such a series.Of course, even before Gene & Roger, there was a Boston theater critic named Elliot Norton, whose series aired on WGBH in Boston, perhaps distributed over the NET and/or PBS networks, who reviewed new stage productions and discussed live drama with other theater critrics, as well interviewing actors, playwrights, and other people of that industry. The modern equivalent of "Elliot Norton Reviews" would be "Theater Talk," which airs on many public broacasting affiliates each week. So a long history of cultural reviewing in the televison medium, as well as in the print media.In the meantime, my best wishes to Roger, and please return to broadcast TV soon.Jim
Arlington, Massachusetts