A.O. Scott and Michael Philips Take Over At the Movies

Beauty, brains and thoughtful insight can exist in the same package. But let's face it: That's pretty hard to find. When Disney's ABC Media Productions announced last summer that it was bringing in younger (and coincidentally, prettier) hosts for the long-running At the Movies, it touted the move as one that would usher in "the next generation of the series."

The new hosts? E!'s Ben Lyons and Turner Classic Movies' Ben Mankiewicz. It didn't take long for the the tide of public (and online) opinion to rule that "the Bens" were more beauty than brains. Opinions varied on which Ben was the more insubstantial critic, but ultimately, it hardly mattered. Just one year after their hiring, ABC announced its decision to fire the pair, and to bring in "two traditional film critics."

ABC went from reviewers whose primary backgrounds were as cable TV talking heads to critics who were first and foremost newspaper journalists, with the occasional guest-starring role on TV. Thus, the new hosts are The New York Times' A.O. Scott and The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips.

At the Movies began in 1986 as Siskel & Ebert At the Movies, a popular syndicated public television program that viewers came to love for the lively debates between the hosts, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. The show's iconic "thumbs-up/thumbs-down" rating system was quoted on movie posters and trailers for two decades.

Pulitzer-prize winner Ebert hosted with Siskel until Siskel's death in 1999, after which Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper took his place. Although Ebert and Roeper never had the chemistry of the original hosts, mostly because it never felt like there was the mutual respect of equals underlying their debates, viewers could still count on this new incarnation of the show to offer intelligent critiques on current movies and DVD releases.

Ebert left the show in 2006 due to health problems. Both Scott and Phillips frequently appeared as guest-hosts alongside Roeper in the following years, until "the Bens" were brought in as regular hosts in 2008.

There's no doubt the new hosts have ironclad credentials. Scott, in addition to being the Times' critic, is often a guest on Charlie Rose. And the Tribune's Phillips has been featured in various other newspapers nationwide and has discussed movies on Minnesota Public Radio.

But ultimately, intelligent debate infused with vibrant chemistry was what made the show worth watching. If Scott and Phillips gel on-screen when the new At the Movies premieres on ABC on Sept. 5, the show just might be able to find its way back to its former glory.

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