Siskel & Ebert

Siskel & Ebert was a popular movie-reviewing television program in the 80's and 90's. It stared two film critics from the largest newspapers in Chicago, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune.

Roger and Gene often had quite different tastes in movies and directors, and as a result heated arguments and spats were common on the show. Many viewers considered such conflicts to be the highlight of the program.

Siskel and Ebert would review three recently-released movies per episode, with each critic either giving the film a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to indicate whether they felt the film was reccomendable or not. As the show became more popular, many movie studios would proudly proclaim that their movie got "Two thumbs up" in their commericals when Siskel and Ebert both liked their film. In response, the pair had the phrase trademarked to ensure against fradulent use that would endanger its credibility.

In addition, the show would recommend films coming on the home video market, which later also included comments on DVD special features that included in the releases.

Occasionally, special shows are produced that focus on particular aspects of film or home video. For instance, an episode featuring their opinions on film colorization and their arguements for its curtailment was produced which included film clips demonstrating the film processes' inadequacies.

The series ended in 1999 when Gene Siskel died. For a while Ebert experimented with guest hosts (under the title Roger Ebert at the Movies), before making Richard Roeper Gene's permanent replacement. The new show became known as Ebert and Roeper.