1993–2003: News anchoring Mankiewicz was hired as a sports producer for
WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., and next as a producer for the sports radio station
WTEM. By 1993, he was working as an on-air reporter for
WCSC-TV (a CBS affiliate) in
Charleston, South Carolina. He joined
WAMI in
Miami, Florida, in 1998, where he served as anchor of
The Times, a daily news magazine show and the station's highlight program. He left WAMI not wanting to work in television news any longer, and was in search for another television job. "I auditioned for every show on television: reality shows, game shows," Mankiewicz stated. "I must have auditioned for 120 shows, including, I'm ashamed to say,
Are You Hot? — and not as one of the judges."
2003–present: Turner Classic Movies By the early 2000s, network executives at
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) began noticing high viewership numbers during the afternoon weekend hours. In early 2003, they held auditions in
Century City, Los Angeles for an on-air host to serve the time slot. Mankiewicz was given his first audition, which was to compare
Seven Samurai (1954) and
The Magnificent Seven (1960) following a screening with two other filmmakers. He passed, and his second audition was reading an introduction to ''
The Bishop's Wife (1947) from a teleprompter. He returned home, where he asked his then-girlfriend to watch TCM, which was airing The Barefoot Contessa'' (1954), directed by his grand-uncle Joseph L. Mankiewicz. In 2003, Mankiewicz was hired as a host for Turner Classic Movies, making his debut appearance on September 6. At the time, he was the network's second host with
Robert Osborne being the first. To avoid imitating Osborne's style, Mankiewicz chose a loose, more casual demeanor, including sporting a
goatee. According to Charles Tabesh, TCM's senior vice president of programming, this was encouraged. He reflected: "we really emphasized the differences [between them]. We asked him to have a goatee. We had him in a set that was a downtown loft, and his scripts were much less reverential." Furthermore, Mankiewicz frequently uses sardonic humor in his on-air introductions; before a broadcast of
Gigi (1958), he once joked the film was not to be confused with "
Gigli, the '
Bennifer' disaster that won't get anywhere near the
Oscars." According to
Vanity Fair, Mankiewicz's early appearances were disliked among older network audiences. Years since, he has worn more formal attire and adopted a clean-shaven image. Mankiewicz's on-air appearances were also expanded to host the weekend programming blocks:
Silent Sunday Nights and
TCM Imports. In 2019,
Jacqueline Stewart and
Alicia Malone, respectively, were made the latest hosts for each block. In 2016, TCM partnered with
The Criterion Collection to launch a streaming service,
FilmStruck. In 2018, the service added a curated collection branded as the "TCM Select," which featured exclusive introductions by Mankiewicz. In November of the same year, FilmStruck ceased operations. In March 2017, Osborne died at the age of 84, in which Mankiewicz commemorated him, posting: "All of us at TCM are better for having known him – I know I am. His legacy is reflected in the shared love and appreciation we all have for the movies he cared so deeply about." He then succeeded Osborne as the channel's primetime host. In 2020, TCM and Mankiewicz launched an original podcast series titled
The Plot Thickens, with the first season chronicling
Peter Bogdanovich's filmmaking career. A year later, the first season was named a
Webby Honoree for Television & Film Podcasts, and again in 2022 and 2023.
The Plot Thickens was also awarded the Best Branded Podcast at the 2021
Adweek Podcast Awards. The second season chronicled the tumultuous production of
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), the third profiled
Lucille Ball, and the fourth season profiled
Pam Grier. On June 6, 2024, the series' fifth season, which chronicled film director
John Ford's life and career, began streaming. A sixth season chronicling the troubled production of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's
Cleopatra (1963) began streaming in July 2025. In 2023, Mankiewicz began hosting a second podcast series
Talking Pictures, in which he interviewed several personalities, including
Mel Brooks,
Nancy Meyers, and
Patty Jenkins. A second season has been renewed, which began streaming in November 2024. It features interviews with
Bill Murray,
Margot Robbie,
Carol Burnett, and
Henry Winkler among others.
Other ventures In 2008, Mankiewicz was hired to co-host the nationally syndicated television series
At the Movies, alongside
Ben Lyons. While Lyons's credentials as a film critic were criticized, Mankiewicz received a favorable reception among television viewers. Regardless, this incarnation was cancelled after one season, and they were replaced by
A. O. Scott and
Michael Phillips. In response, Mankiewicz stated: "I loved working on this show, every moment of it ... It was an honor to continue a broadcast legacy not merely started by
Roger Ebert and
Gene Siskel, but created by them. No doubt the show is in good hands." Mankiewicz co-hosted the online film review series
What the Flick?! on The Young Turks Network, alongside fellow critics
Christy Lemire, Matt Atchity, and
Alonso Duralde. In August 2018, Lemire posted on her website
What the Flick?! had officially ended. The series was reformatted into the web series and podcast
Breakfast All Day hosted by Lemire and Duralde. Mankiewicz has made
cameo appearances in the
Lifetime television movie The Bling Ring (2011) and the action film
White House Down (2013). He also appears regularly on other shows as a political and media commentator, including
The Michael Brooks Show in 2017. In 2019, he became a news contributor for
CBS News Sunday Morning. He was among the people interviewed for the documentary film
Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019). ==Personal life==