A.O. ScottAs we reported earlier today, Disney-ABC Domestic TV has canceled the long-running series 'At the Movies' after over three decades on television. Its final episode will air on Aug. 14.

The show, which has undergone a number of changes over the years, is currently hosted by esteemed film critics Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and A.O. Scott of the NY Times.

In an exclusive interview with Moviefone, Scott was kind enough to share his thoughts on the show's cancellation, what the future holds for criticism on television and whether there will ever be another show like 'At the Movies.' A.O. ScottAs we reported earlier today, Disney-ABC Domestic TV has canceled the long-running series 'At the Movies' after over three decades on television. Its final episode will air on Aug. 14.

The show, which has undergone a number of changes over the years, is currently hosted by esteemed film critics Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune and A.O. Scott of the NY Times.

In an exclusive interview with Moviefone, Scott, who joined the show last year, was kind enough to share his thoughts on the show's cancellation, what the future holds for criticism on television and whether there will ever be another show like 'At the Movies.'

What was your reaction to the news, and how did you find out?
I was disappointed. You know, I was not entirely surprised. The executives from Disney, who had been in charge of the show, and very supportive of the show, flew out to Chicago for the tapings that we did yesterday, and we kind of wondered what kind of news, if any, she was bringing. And so she broke the news ... You know, it's show business. [Laughs] Given the state of the media marketplace, and in particular, I think, the difficulty of sustaining a half-hour syndicated show, it kind of was more likely than not that this would happen. And in a way, we knew that, Michael and I, when we signed up, that we had kind of an uphill climb, and that whatever we did, it was gonna be tough to get ratings up and to bring the show back to its former prominence. What we did think we could do was honor the show's tradition of quality, and put out a smart, thoughtful, lively, engaging half-hour of movie criticism, and I think we succeeded in doing that. I am nothing but proud of the work that Michael and I did, and especially the work that the staff in Chicago at WLS did -- Annie Porter and David Plummer, the producers, and everybody else. They're just the greatest people to work with, you know, smart, talented, hard-working. And we had a lot of room to do what we wanted to do, to be the kind of critics who we are, to develop our own voices and our own relationship, and I think the response was very encouraging and very strong. I think that people who saw the show appreciated it and liked it, and we got a lot of good feedback. I wish we could have kept going. I think there's a lot more that we could do. I'm sorry not to have the chance to, at least in this carnation. I've now been fired twice from this show, so [laughs] I don't take anything as the last word.


Do you think that there can be another show like this in the future?
Yes. Maybe not on syndicated or broadcast television. I think the demise of this show is not because there's a declining appetite or interest in criticism, or criticism on TV or video. I think it has to do with the changing media landscape and the different platforms. So yes, I think that there are people who are interested in the kind of discussion of movies that we were having. I think there's a lot of very interesting, and intense and passionate discussion of movies going on out there in the world, in print, on the Internet, among professional critics, among fans, and I think there is room. It's a question of how it will be supported and how it will get to people. But I think that the appetite, and the interest and the need for it is there, and it's as strong as ever.

Have you started to talk about plans for the remainder of the show? Are you going to keep doing the same-old, same-old? Will there be any sort of retrospective?
Well, we're going to keep going. I mean, I think what we've been doing in the last few months is not same-old, same-old. We've tried to play with and expand the format. For example, doing the extended segments on Martin Scorsese and Roman Polanski when their new movies came out. We have a segment in an episode coming up where we discuss character actors, and so we've been exploring different ways to work within the format. We're gonna keep doing that. In a way, we have this great gift. We have five months when the show is kind of ours, and we're free to do what we want. And I think we're gonna keep trying to build on the strengths of the show and also to experiment and to branch out. As far as retrospective, it's sort of too soon to say. You know, this is less than 24 hours since we found out that this was the end [laughs] so I don't know what kind of farewell or look back that there will be. But at the moment, we're still looking forward to the next few months of the show, and then toward whatever happens after this. I mean, you know Michael and I both have our jobs at our newspapers [laughs] and we're gonna continue to do our stuff there; and in the future, hopefully we'll have the chance to do it again on TV in some form or another, somewhere else. I'm sad that this is over, but ... life goes on, and life is full of surprises. As I said on Twitter today, criticism is not a job for me, it's a way of life. So, I'll do it one way or the other.

Has Roger Ebert contacted you since the news broke? Have you contacted him?
I haven't had any contact with Roger. I expect that, you know, sooner or later -- I saw him just the other day in Chicago -- but no. I haven't heard anything from him.