Roger Ebert

Film critic Roger Ebert told his readers that he may have to cancel his television show "Ebert Presents: At the Movies" unless someone steps up and helps him and his wife pay for it. The Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic wrote on his blog that after an initial contribution of $25,000 from Kanbar Charitable Trust, he and Chaz Ebert have been paying virtually all the bills for the show, which began airing on public television in January. Ebert said he has been pleased with the program, which is hosted by Associated Press movie reviewer Christy Lemire and Mubi.com film critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Tuesday: Roger Ebert sent out a tweet criticizing "Jackass" star Ryan Dunn, who died in a car crash, saying Dunn was drinking and driving. Perez Hilton and Bam Margera got upset with Ebert. ( Huffington Post ) "Mad Men" and "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" were the big winners at the first Critics' Choice TV Awards. ( Los Angeles Times ) Keith Olbermann is back on TV, and get this -- he's still indignant! ( Los Angeles Times )

It is impossible to overstate the influence of Roger Ebert, his late sparring partner Gene Siskel and the Chicago show they began on PBS that would become "Sneak Previews" and later "Siskel & Ebert at the Movies. " Growing out of the natural rivalry between two Chicago dailies ? Siskel worked for the Tribune, Ebert for the Sun-Times ? their weekly face-offs both demystified and popularized film criticism. That they very often disagreed was a weekly lesson in subjectivity. It made intelligent film criticism part of the public discourse, along with their signature "thumbs up/thumbs down.

Film world: prepare for the war of the thumbs (again). Roger Ebert announced Friday on his Chicago Sun-Times blog that "At the Movies" would return to PBS stations in January. Produced by Ebert and his wife, Chaz, the weekly half-hour film review program — revamped as "Roger Ebert Presents At the Movies" — will continue the format first made famous by Ebert and the late Gene Siskel three decades ago, this time with film critics Christy Lemire of the Associated Press and Elvis Mitchell of NPR debating and issuing thumbs up or thumbs down reviews from red movie theater seats.

Who's the biggest scourge of the tea party movement these days? It might be film critic Roger Ebert, who lately has been tossing brickbats at Sarah Palin and other right-wing politicians in between rendering verdicts on the latest movies. Over the last few weeks, Ebert has used his busy Twitter page to give the tea party belittling nicknames, predict it will quickly fade and opine that "a loud movement is not the same as a mass movement." "I write about the TeePees because it's so sad how they've been manipulated to oppose their own best interests," Ebert said in an e-mail, using his latest epithet for the tea party followers.

"At the Movies," the TV series that was (under a variety of names) the longtime home of bantering film critics Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel, premiered with two new hosts Sunday night, A.O. Scott of the New York Times and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune (Siskel's old paper and corporate cousin to the Los Angeles Times, where Phillips had earlier worked and which still sometimes runs his reviews). Promo spots preceding its debut promised "two accomplished critics," "serious reviews from serious journalists" and "voices you trust," the implication being that the hosts being replaced, Ben Lyons (an E!

Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic Roger Ebert declined to comment for this article on Ben Lyons. But he seemed to have had Lyons specifically in mind when he wrote a recent post on his Chicago Sun-Times blog titled "Roger's Little Rule Book." It lays down "enduring ethical ground rules" governing movie criticism. Among them: "No posing for photos! Never ask a movie star to pose with you for a picture . . . . . . You diminish yourself by asking for a snapshot." "A trailer is not a movie."

It's definitely been the media kerfuffle of the week: Roger Ebert's admission that he wrote an entire review of a new film after watching only eight minutes of the picture has inspired a storm of outrage. It turns out that everybody's a critic, especially when it comes to judging movie critics. Now a clearly chastened Ebert has acknowledged on his blog for the Chicago Sun-Times that he was wrong, posting a follow-up post to his original explanation, admitting that he wished he had never published the review (of a small indie film called "Tru Loved")

IT'S NO secret that everyone is weighing in on politics these days, from David Letterman to Barbara Walters and the esteemed ladies of "The View" -- who, as the New York Times pointed out, have had Barack Obama, John McCain and even Bill Clinton on their couch, with McCain clearly getting the toughest grilling. But should film critics be weighing in on the presidential race as well?

It WOULD BE FAIR to say that I'm not an objective observer when it comes to the news that Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper have quit their longtime gig as hosts of "At the Movies," Disney/ABC's weekly TV review show. When I was a young pup in film school in Chicago, Roger Ebert was already a prince in the critical pantheon, first from his perch as critic at the Chicago Sun-Times, then as a TV reviewer (with Gene Siskel) on their original PBS movie review show.