Sneak Previews

When this first aired on a local PBS station in Chicago along with many PBS stations in 1975, it became a huge hit and coined the prhase Two Thumbs up!!! The show would go on into syndication on network TV under Disney and became the most popular movie review show of all time, paving the way for rivals and even Youtube critics and a cartoon parody starring Jon Lovitz.

Before the Thumbs, There was Yes and No. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert Were both on the Fence of Annie 1982, but gave it a Yes. Gene Siskel Roger Ebert two Men that knew how to do a Review This gets My TM S for Satisfactory.

I first saw this show in late 1980 when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were reviewing the worst movies of 1980. I was immediately impressed by their chemistry and charm and by their approach to reviewing films. I grew up reading Pauline Kael's reviews, and I'm certain that she hated every movie she ever saw. However, Siskel and Ebert were willing to watch and review movies in a different light and even though they often disagreed, they were always entertaining and refreshing. The team sadly came to an end with Gene Siskel's untimely death in 1999, but Roger Ebert continued with his insightful reviews until his passing about 12 years later. In retrospect, I took this show and its charming leads for granted back in the 1980s and 1990s, since no film review show since has even come close.

That is I used to watch Siskel and Ebert spar when they were PBS icons, and recall the great reviews they gave cult films, the likes of which were "The Road Warrior", "Sword and the Sorcerer", and then deservedly skewer films like "Porky's" or "The Last American Virgin" ad nauseum. Then, the real gems of the show would appear, and they would lavish praise on films worthy of adulation and respect like "Raging Bull" or "My Dinner with Andre".

Oft times the young portly Ebert would disagree with his slim counterpart. The Abbott and Costello of film reviews. The Laurel and Hardy. No, they weren't intentionally comic, and often were adversarial, but this added a human dimension, and that's what movies, good movies (even a few bad ones) are all about. They pointed out the foibles and flaws of the filmic world, and helped steer and otherwise guide us to more deserving cinematic offerings.

Did we always pay attention? No. Were they always right? Mostly. Did they forever place their mark on media. Indelibly.

The formula has been copied with varying degrees of success (or lack thereof). None has held a torch to the original dynamic duo who gave us opposing, sometimes conflicting, but always informative points of view.

As others mentioned, yes, they went on to mainstream network TV with the thumbs-gag-thing, which made another stamp on our visual media psyche. But the thumbs thing (regardless of Roman origin) would have not meant anything without Siskel and Ebert.

Siskel is with us no more, and Ebert has narrowly escaped the fate of his slimmer partner, but soldier on with his outstanding insight into films and all things visual. One countered the other, and one still feels a sense of loss sans Sikels presence, but those filling in for him, notably Roepert, have done him proud.

The show is to be no more in the coming weeks (again, at the time of this writing), and I for one, not always having been a faithful follower, will miss it. I have fond memories of watching that show from Chicago while in California's smoldering hot and icy cold valley, and likewise when I moved to the relative Mediterranean calm of the San Francisco Bay Area. I didn't know much about Chicago then, but I knew it must be a place of great expectations to produce (or at least bring together) two such outstanding and well educated minds on what we find appealing, what we should like, what we should disdain, and what can fool us if we're not careful.

Thanks for reading.

First off, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert premiered their movie review show in November 1975 on Chicago Public TV and it was entitled "Coming Soon To a Theater Near You", not "Sneak Previews". It was called this at least into 1977. By 1978 it had a less cerebral tone and the name had changed to "Sneak Previews" with the familiar intro music, and the great chemistry between Roger and Gene that persisted until Siskel's death in 1999. In 1982 the show went commercial and was renamed "At The Movies". In 1986 their show became "Siskel and Ebert and The Movies" and went under the umbrella of the Walt Disney Corporation. The show changed names again in 1999 after the death of Gene Siskel, but that would be expected. Apparently all of these name changes have confused archivists.

The bottom line is that although Siskel and Ebert had a regular movie review show from 1975 until 1999, it was not named "Sneak Previews" from the beginning in1975 for 21 years as this entry would have you believe. I'm giving 10/10 stars for the show, regardless of name, because almost from the beginning, as soon as these two worked through the dynamics of the situation, they were a joy to watch.