Roger Ebert makes final ‘At the Movies’ cohost pick: Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

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Roger Ebert has named the second cohost for his upcoming ‘Ebert Presents at the Movies,’ possibly minting blogger Ignatiy Vishnevetsky as the newest celebrity in the movie-reviewing ranks when he and critic Christy Lemire premiere the show Jan. 21, 24 Frames reports.

Ebert, along with the late Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune, was a pioneer with various incarnations of the dueling-critics show that ran under a number of titles from the late 1970s, when it was ‘Sneak Previews,’ to 1999, when Siskel died from complications of brain cancer surgery. He continued with ‘Ebert & Roeper’ — which ran through 2010 with cohost Richard Roeper — but wrapped it up as host himself in 2006, revealing in 2007 that he’d lost his ability to speak because of complications of various surgeries after his 2002 thyroid cancer diagnosis.

Vishnevetsky, 24, works out of Chicago reviewing films for the blog MUBI.com; Lemire has 12 years reviewing films for the Associated Press out of L.A. and served as a fill-in host for ‘Ebert & Roeper’ several times in 2007. Ebert, who uses a computer to speak, writes reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times, which made the announcement Monday on Ebert’s journal.

The show, which will be distributed by American Public Television, will be taped at the same place where he and Siskel taped ‘Sneak Previews’ decades ago.

‘It was pretty emotional for me, walking down the same corridors, into the same studios, even meeting some of the same camera operators, editors and stagehands we worked with,’ said Ebert, who will host a weekly segment.

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