At the Movies Review

Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel pioneered the idea of the movie review show on their long-running television series "At the Movies," with their trademark "Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down." After Siskel's death, Chicago Tribune film critic Richard Roeper took the seat across the aisle from Ebert, and when Ebert lost his voice in the wake of cancer surgery, a series of guest reviewers took his place.

In 2008, the Disney Company, who owned the rights to the show, announced that Ebert and Roeper were being replaced by Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz and the twentysomething Ben Lyons, from "E! News Daily" and Nickelodeon's "My Family's Got Guts."

Roger Ebert took the "Thumbs" with him, as he and Siskel's estate own the trademark.

While Mankiewicz gets a pass, for his Hollywood pedigree and TCM gig (even though he's no Robert Osborne), Lyons is clearly in over his head. The son of hack film critic Jeffrey Lyons, he is living proof that the apple does not fall far from the tree. This jejeune putz is not just a lousy reviewer, he also comes off as a total douche. Even the horrible Michael Medved would have been preferrable to this tool, and that's saying something. But Disney clearly wasn't looking for insightful criticism here. They were hoping that Lyons would attract the much-coveted 18 to 25 demographic, even though that audience doesn't give a rat's ass about film criticism.

Then again, with the vast majority of modern Hollywood movies being disposable crap, maybe Lyons was the perfect choice for the job.

"At the Movies" is syndicated. Check local listings for time and station, then watch something else.