Replacing Lyons and Mankiewicz as hosts of the long-running show, formerly hosted by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, will be A.O. Scott of the New York Times and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, two men widely respected in the world of film criticism who have both served as fill-ins on the show in the past.

As the LA Times Patrick Goldstein notes, Ben Mankiewicz wasn't all that bad, but it appears as though he was brought down by the tremendous weight of Lyons' Herculean suckage.

To be fair, Mankiewicz, the scion of a fabled Hollywood family who hosts Turner Classic Movies presentations, was clearly more knowledgeable than his counterpart. As my colleague Chris Lee reported last December, Lyons, son of film critic Jeffrey Lyons, was held in such low esteem in the critical fraternity that others in the profession were lining up, happy to be quoted by name ridiculing his work, with Chicago-based film critic Erik Childress saying of Lyons: "He has no taste. Everyone thinks he's a joke."

So how awful was Ben Lyons? This awful:

You know what hurts a movie like Max Payne is the success of the Batman franchise. That obviously is about story and character so they think for all films of the genre it's gotta be about story and character and this whole backstory of him losing his wife. I don't care about that. I wanna see Max Payne shoot people. That's all I want from a movie like this.

Film lovers of the America rejoice — your own personal long national nightmare is finally over! But what will now become of the "Stop Ben Lyons" blog?

Lyons was joined by his At the Movies co-conspirator, Ben Mankiewicz, to walk the ladies through their Oscar prognostications. Here is the short version: Ben M. loves Marisa Tomei, on account of her breasts, and Ben L. loves Christopher Nolan and Slumdog Millionaire hottie Freida Pinto, neither of which are nominated. Also, Joy Behar hates The Reader. HATES it. If The Reader were, say, a perky blond co-host, she would scream at it, "I will burn you down," because of the hatred.

Also enjoyable: when the Bens are asked whether there's ever been a tie between actors at the Oscars (there has, famously), and they both sit there awkwardly drawing a blank until Whoopi Goldberg saves them. Guess they haven't added that trivia to the Scene It? Box Office Smash DLC yet.

• The View [ABC]

As a less painful alternative to the new At The Movies I took a plastic knife to my eyeballs and poked then until they bleed a little. Next time I just won't watch at all. — Dirty Harry

It's almost insulting. The producers want to beef up the ratings so they hire two youngish guys and stick some "neato" graphics around the screen and viola! Now the hipsters will come! -donner- said it best. It hasn't been the same since Gene died. And Roger, God love him, has been doing his best, but the thrill's been gone. — wh

They should get rid of the "Rent It" verdict. It's a lazy way to judge a movie. Either see it or you don't; this will force their reviews to be more focused. — Rob Grizzly

The only thing I feel good about with this "new direction" is at least they didn't hire Billy Bush (I'm never gonna forgive that ***hat for defecating on the Golden Globes earlier this year, am I? Maybe I should see somebody about that...) — Meier

I'll never have an opinion because I'm never going to watch the show. I prefer to read the comments and reviews of Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips on the Internet. — Jakeem

Don't you worry, "Jakeem": As evidenced by their appearance Sunday on Entourage's season premiere, Roeper and Phillips still have a bright TV future in ironic fake-review cameos:

• At the Movies [Buena Vista TV]
• Does 'At the Movies' work.. [PopWatch]

"I am incredibly excited to be involved with such a prestigious show," said co-host Ben Lyons. "Reviewing films for a living is a thrill, and now that I will be a critic for At the Movies, it is an honor and huge responsibility that I look forward to."

"I am thrilled and honored beyond words to be joining the series," added co-host Ben Mankiewicz. "As a movie fanatic, this is my dream job. Without question, I certainly have very big shoes to fill."

Fine. It's not really the nepotism we mind — Lyons being the son of former At The Movies current Reel Talk host and syndicated hack Jeffrey Lyons (and grandson of NYC gossip Leonard Lyons); Mankewicz derived from his political-guru dad Frank Mankewicz and Citizen Kane-scripting grandfather Herman Mankewicz. That's not the kids' fault. However, the proliferation of Lyons' notorious quotewhoredom gives us pause, as does our fear that three generations of inbreeding within the critical gene pool will yield a monster that neither Ebert/Siskel/Roeper loyalists nor filmgoing kiddies want. But the guys come cheap, we suppose, and "Two Mutant Flippers Up!™" is kind of catchy, so we guess we'll reserve judgment until the Sept. 6 season premiere.

[Photo: Thompson on Hollywood]

• Lyons and Mankiewicz To Replace Ebert and Roeper [Thompson on Hollywood]