Veteran film critic Roger Ebert, who along with Gene Siskel and then Richard Roeper was part of “At the Movies” for 23 years, quit the show Monday after Richard Roeper could not come to financial terms for his new contract with Disney-ABC Domestic Television, which distributes the syndicated TV show.

Roeper’s contract had expired after eight seasons and Disney announced that critics Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz have signed on to co-host the new show.

Roger Ebert said:

“After 33 years on the air, 23 of them with Disney, the studio has decided to take the program named ‘Siskel & Ebert’ and then ‘Ebert & Roeper’ in a new direction. I will no longer be associated with it. … Gene and I felt the formula was simplicity itself: Two film critics, sitting across the aisle from each other in a movie balcony, debating the new films of the week. We developed an entirely new concept for TV that has lasted all these years.

“Few shows have been on the air so long and remained so popular. We made television history and established the trademarked catchphrase ‘two thumbs up.’ The trademark still belongs to me and Marlene Iglitzen, Gene’s widow, and the thumbs will return. We are discussing possibilities and plan to continue the show’s tradition.”

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