Oprah Books Ebert

Film critic will use computer for interview on Tuesday's show
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 28, 2010 10:36 PM CST
Oprah Books Ebert
In this undated image released by Esquire magazine, film critic Roger Ebert is shown in the March 2010 issue.   (AP Photo/Ethan Hill, Courtesy of Esquire)

Roger Ebert can no longer speak, but he's been booked on the Oprah Winfrey Show. The legendary film critic, who lost his lower jaw during cancer treatment, communicates with computer assistance. He's been in the news thanks to an Esquire profile and his good-natured reaction, and the queen of all media—who once dated her fellow Chicagoan, TV Guide reminds us—is on the case. The interview, taped Friday, will air on Tuesday's show.

Ebert will use a reconstruction of his own voice, which he calls "Roger Jr.," to make his predictions for next Sunday's Oscars. When he's chatting with Oprah, he'll use a generic voice he calls "Alex." "Yes, 'Roger Jr.' needs to be smoother in tone and steadier in pacing, but the little rascal is good," he writes on his Chicago Sun-Times blog. "To hear him coming from my own computer made me ridiculously happy."
(More Oprah Winfrey stories.)

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