Farewell Ebert & Roeper

I’m a big fan of the term “end of an era.” I use it all the time. When a Simpsons episode ended last week, I referred to it as the end of an era. When I was done pissing today, it was the end of an era. But this truly is, the end of an era. Today, Richard Roeper announced his departure from the wildly popular syndicated movie review show “Ebert & Roeper,” citing changes in the show as the reason. Roeper replaced Ebert’s late colleague Gene Siskel eight years ago and has done a stellar job since.

And later in the day, Roger Ebert announced that he too will be leaving the show. We all know that Ebert hasn’t been on since 2006 because of health issues, and I’m sure I can speak for everyone when I say the show hasn’t been the same since (even Roeper said so). In a statement on his website, Ebert wrote:

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.

Wow, the end of an era indeed. Here’s the rest of the master’s statement.