American film review television series
Sneak Previews
|
---|
|
Also known as
| Opening Soon at a Theater Near You
(1975?1977)
Sneak Previews Goes Video
(1989-1991)
|
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Genre
| Film review
|
---|
Created by
| Thea Flaum
[1]
[2]
|
---|
Presented by
| |
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Country of origin
| United States
|
---|
Original language
| English
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No.
of seasons
| 21
|
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|
Production location
| Chicago, Illinois
|
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Running time
| 30 minutes
|
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Production company
| WTTW
|
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|
Network
| PBS
|
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Release
| November 26, 1975
(
1975-11-26
)
?
October 4, 1996
(
1996-10-04
)
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|
|
Sneak Previews
(1975 to 1996: known as
Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You
from 1975 to 1977, and
Sneak Previews Goes Video
from 1989 to 1991) is an American
film review
show
[1]
that ran for over two decades on
Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS). It was created by
WTTW
, a PBS member station in
Chicago, Illinois
. It premiered on November 26, 1975 as a monthly local-only show called
Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You
[3]
and was renamed in 1977 to
Sneak Previews
and it became a biweekly show in 1978 airing nationally on PBS.
[4]
It grew to prominence with a review-conversation-banter format between opinionated film critics, notably for a time,
Roger Ebert
and
Gene Siskel
. By 1980, it was a weekly series airing on over 180 stations, and it was the highest rated weekly entertainment series in the history of public broadcasting.
[1]
The show's final broadcast was on October 4, 1996.
[5]
Format
[
edit
]
The show featured two critics who would present short clips of movies in current release and then debate the merits of the films, energetically defending their remarks if the other critic disagreed. A designated "dog of the week" was also featured, with "Spot the Wonder Dog" barking on cue as an introduction.
[1]
[6]
Episodes from the first seven seasons ended with one of the hosts saying "See you at the movies." Many episodes from season eight through fourteen and again from season seventeen through twenty-one ended with the hosts' reminder to "save us the aisle seats." Episodes from season eighteen through twenty (when it was known as
Sneak Previews Goes Video
) ended with the hosts reminder to "don't forget to rewind that tape."
Some episodes were known as
Take 2
shows which replaced the review of recently released films with themed topics such as "Women in Danger", and slasher films of the 1970s and early 1980s.
[7]
On one occasion, Siskel and Ebert invited the viewer into a day in their lives as they screened films.
[8]
History
[
edit
]
The show first aired in
1975
on a monthly basis under the name
Opening Soon at a Theater Near You
[3]
and, after two successful seasons, was renamed
Sneak Previews
.
[1]
The show originally featured
Roger Ebert
, a film critic from the
Chicago Sun-Times
, and
Gene Siskel
, a film critic from the
Chicago Tribune
.
The two newspapers were competitors, and so were Siskel and Ebert. As Ebert wrote after Siskel's death in 1999:
We both thought of ourselves as full-service, one-stop film critics. We didn't see why the other one was quite necessary. We had been linked in a Faustian television format that brought us success at the price of autonomy. No sooner had I expressed a verdict on a movie,
my verdict
, than here came Siskel with the arrogance to say I was wrong, or, for that matter, the condescension to agree with me. It really felt like that. It was not an act. When we disagreed, there was incredulity; when we agreed, there was a kind of relief. In the television biz, they talk about "chemistry." Not a thought was given to our chemistry. We just had it, because from the day the Chicago Tribune made Gene its film critic, we were professional enemies. We never had a single meaningful conversation before we started to work on our TV program. Alone together in an elevator, we would study the numbers changing above the door.
[9]
The tension between the two men made the show's production difficult and time-consuming at first:
Making this rivalry even worse was the tension of our early tapings. It would take eight hours to get one show in the can, with breaks for lunch, dinner and fights. I would break down, or he would break down, or one of us would do something different and throw the other off, or the accumulating angst would make our exchanges seem simply bizarre. There are many witnesses to the terror of those days. Only when we threw away our clipboards and 3×5 cards did we get anything done; we finally started ad-libbing and the show began to work. We found we could tape a show in under an hour.
[9]
Over time the two men became close personal friends while remaining professional rivals, and Ebert described their relationship before Siskel's death as "no one else could possibly understand how meaningless was the hate, how deep was the love".
[9]
Post-Siskel and Ebert
[
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]
The success of the show led WTTW to decide to syndicate it to commercial television.
[1]
Siskel and Ebert left
Sneak Previews
in
1982
, citing contractual differences with WTTW. They indicated that they were offered a contract and asked to "take it or leave it", and they chose the latter option.
[1]
The two critics were soon featured in
At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
, a similar show created with
Tribune Entertainment
and replaced in 1986 by a
Disney-produced
show first known as
Siskel & Ebert & the Movies
(later adopting the title
At the Movies
in 2008).
After
Siskel and Ebert
left the show, more than 300 critics auditioned to become their replacements, among them
Pauline Kael
.
[10]
Ebert's future co-host on
At the Movies
,
Richard Roeper
, auditioned while still a college student, for which he was obviously turned down.
[11]
In 1982, WTTW signed
Neal Gabler
and
Jeffrey Lyons
as replacements for Siskel and Ebert on
Sneak Previews
.
[10]
Because Siskel and Ebert had trademarked the phrase 'Two Thumbs Up', Lyons and Gabler would simply give a 'yes' or 'no' judgement to a movie they reviewed.
[10]
Each post-1982 episode (with the exception of 1989 to 1991) ended with the
catch phrase
"Don't forget to save us the aisle seats." Neal Gabler left
Sneak Previews
in
1985
, citing philosophical differences with the direction of the show,
[12]
and was replaced by
Michael Medved
. Before replacing Gabler, Medved had cameo appearances on the show, presenting the "
Golden Turkey Awards
," based on the book, and a variation of Siskel & Ebert's "Spot the Wonder Dog/Dog of the Week."
Cancellation
[
edit
]
Although
Sneak Previews
continued on PBS for 14 years after Ebert and Siskel left, the program did not maintain the popularity it enjoyed during their tenure.
[10]
[12]
In 1983,
Tom Shales
of
The Washington Post
negatively said of the two critics hosting at the time (
Lyons
and
Gabler
) as "two New York yokels...Jeffrey Lyons, to whom the notion of insight or analysis is more foreign than Jupiter, and Neal Gabler, who talks down to viewers as if they were all 3 years old and looks into the camera the way Dracula regards a vacant neck."
[6]
[13]
The show's title was changed to
Sneak Previews Goes Video
in 1989, and concentrated on
home video
releases, but returned to its original title in 1991. PBS continued to broadcast the program until the fall of 1996, when it was cancelled due to a lack of underwriting.
[14]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
In the early-to-mid eighties to the early nineties,
Sesame Street
had a recurring parody sketch, "Sneak Peek Previews", which illustrated differences of opinion. In a run-down movie theater,
Oscar the Grouch
and
Telly Monster
together watched a short video segment, usually from the Sesame Street archives. After the video, Oscar invariably disliked it, and Telly enjoyed it, and they each told why. Siskel and Ebert appeared in one sketch in 1991 in which they instruct the hosts on how their thumbs up/thumbs down rating system works.
[15]
At the end of sketch, Oscar asks if there could be a thumbs sideways ratings (the film rated in question was
Walt Disney's
Cinderella
), and goads the two men about whether or not that would be acceptable, as Ebert likes the idea, but Siskel does not.
[15]
Accolades
[
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]
In 1979, the show received a
Chicago Emmy Award
for Outstanding Special Program.
[16]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Steinberg, Joel.
"SISKEL and EBERT"
.
Museum of Broadcast Communications
. Archived from
the original
on August 20, 2002
. Retrieved
2010-11-30
.
- ^
Bernstein, Fred (August 20, 1984).
"Tough! Tender! Gritty! Evocative! Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert Live to Dissect Films-and Each Other"
.
People
. Archived from
the original
on August 26, 2010
. Retrieved
June 23,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Clipping from the Chicago Tribune"
.
Chicago Tribune
. November 26, 1975
. Retrieved
July 2,
2022
– via Newspapers.com.
- ^
Moeller, Tom Brink (October 18, 1978).
"Critics Offer A Sneak Peek At The Movies On PBS..."
The Cincinnati Enquirer
. Retrieved
July 2,
2022
– via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"Friday, October 4, 1996"
.
KET
. Archived from
the original
on July 23, 1997
. Retrieved
December 31,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
Shales, Tom (September 4, 1983).
"Ebert &"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
July 2,
2022
.
- ^
"Extreme Violence Directed at Women, 1980"
.
Siskel And Ebert Movie Reviews
. Retrieved
November 8,
2022
.
- ^
"Take 2: Going to the Movies, The Black Marble, 1981"
.
Siskel And Ebert Movie Reviews
. Retrieved
November 8,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
Ebert, Roger (February 17, 2009).
"Remembering Gene"
.
Chicago Sun-Times
. Archived from
the original
on February 7, 2013
. Retrieved
April 5,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Raftery, Brian (August 10, 2021).
"Gene and Roger: 5. Attack of the Clones"
.
The Big Picture
(Podcast).
The Ringer
– via Podbay.
- ^
Raftery, Brian (August 25, 2021).
"Gene and Roger: 8. Something Wonderful Is Coming to an End"
.
The Big Picture
(Podcast).
The Ringer
– via Podbay.
- ^
a
b
"A Siskel & Ebert & Roeper timeline"
.
Chicago Tribune
. July 22, 2008. Retrieved 2010-11-30.
- ^
Rosenthal, Phil (March 24, 2010).
"Tower Ticker: Disney-ABC cancels 'At the Movies,' Siskel and Ebert's old show"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
July 28,
2022
.
- ^
"Friday, October 11, 1996"
.
KET
. Archived from
the original
on July 23, 1997
. Retrieved
December 31,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Sesame Street - "Sneak Peek Previews" with SISKEL & EBERT!"
– via www.youtube.com.
- ^
Singer, Matt (2023).
Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever
.
G. P. Putnam's Sons
. p. 68.
ISBN
978-0-59354-015-2
.
External links
[
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]