'Ebert Presents At The Movies' May End Its Run Next Month Over Funding Issues

On his blog, film critic Roger Ebert warned last night that “unless we find an angel, our television program will go off the air at the end of its current season. … We can’t afford to finance it any longer.” Ebert relaunched his weekly syndicated movie review show, which had been canceled by Buena Vista TV in 2010, at the beginning of the year on PBS TV stations and currently has distribution in more than 90% of the country. But Ebert notes that he and wife Chaz Ebert, who executive produces Ebert Presents At the Movies, don’t receive money from PBS or its stations, so they have had to finance the show themselves and can’t continue to do so. They need to tell American Public Television by the end of the month whether Ebert Presents At The Movies will be back next year. “Unless we find underwriting, I’m afraid our answer will have to be ‘no,’ ”  Ebert writes. But he ends on a more positive note: “Chaz says she still has a few more days to keep making calls.”