By September 2008, all shreds of At The Moviesas it once was were gone. Gene Siskel was long dead, Roger Ebert had lost the ability to speak due to a bout with thyroid cancer and Richard Roeper, who replaced Siskel following his death, left the balcony after eight years due to failed contract negotiations.
Even the show’s most notable trademark, the “Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down” grade were gone (Ebert retained the rights which he kept for himself), replaced with the far less memorable “See It,” “Rent It” and “Skip It.”
Hoping to “take the program in a new direction,” producers appointed E! Online columnist Ben Lyons and Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz as the new co-hosts. And while this lineup wasn’t the last ATM would produce, the abysmal program they created was undeniably the biggest deathblow planted on the once great show.