History Trivia / SiskelAndEbert

** Siskel and Ebert had been slated to guest host ''Series/ThePatSajakShow'', but the series was canceled two weeks before their slated fill-in date. S&E hosting a talk show had all sorts of fascinating possibilities that unfortunately never saw the light of day.

* ReferencedBy: [[RefrencedBy/SiskelAndEbert Now has its own page]].

* ReferencedBy:
** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
*** In the opening of the 1991 episode "The Way We Was", the Simpsons family watches a parody of the duo whose reviewers argue over the latest ''Mcbain'' movie in which Homer muses aloud, "I love watching the bald guy argue with the fat tub of lard", as he unwittingly parodies himself.
*** The 1994 episode "Burns' Heir" has a brief shot of a theater marquee advertising ''Siskel & Ebert: The Movie'', and the "Two Thumbs Up" quote below.
** The Website/SCPFoundation: [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1756 SCP-1756]] is a DVD player which, when any optical disc is inserted (DVD, CD, Blu-Ray, etc.), plays a segment of ''At The Movies'' about whatever is on the disc, even if it's not a movie: either the actual segment, if it appeared on the show, or a believable fake, if not.
** Music/WeirdAlYankovic's Music/MCHammer parody "I Can't Watch This" includes the line "Those Siskel & Ebert bums oughta go home and just sit on their thumbs." This was a very personal TakeThat for Yankovic, since Siskel & Ebert had given ''Film/{{UHF}}'' two thumbs down a few years earlier.
** A reference to the duo can be heard in the 1989 film ''[[Film/PoliceAcademy Police Academy 6: City Under Siege]]'' during a high speed chase in which Captain Harris shouts, "Look out for Gene and Roger's [[FruitCart fruit stand]].", in reference to them both hating the cliche of [[FruitCart fruit stands]] being destroyed in movie car chases and the ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' film series in general.
** Siskel and Ebert were satirized in the 1993 episode of the popular Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} series ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' entitled "Doug's Monster Movie" in which they appear in a dream sequence and vote two thumbs down on Doug's home movie.
** In a 1993 episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' entitled "Critical Condition", a parody of the duo is shown, being renamed as Lean Hisskill & Codger Eggbert and being voiced by Creator/MauriceLaMarche and Chuck Mccann (later Creator/BillyWest), respectively.
** The 1998 film, ''Film/Godzilla1998'', featured characters based on the duo, with the Mayor of UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Mayor Ebert being portrayed by Creator/MichaelLerner, and Gene, his aide, being played by Lorry Goldman. In the film, Gene resigns from working for Mayor Ebert by giving him a "thumbs down" gesture. Of the characters, Ebert pointed out in his [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/godzilla-1998 one-and-a-half stars out of four review]] that the characters were producer Dean Devlin and director Creator/RolandEmmerich's jabs at his and Creator/GeneSiskel's negative reviews of their previous work ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' and ''Film/IndependenceDay''. Siskel particularly singled out this aspect, saying, "If you're going to go through the trouble of putting us in a monster movie, why don't you at least take the advantage of having the monster either eat or squash us?", later placing the film on the list of the worst films of 1998 (the last "worst of" list he would do before passing away).
** In the early-to-mid [[The80s 1980s]] to the early [[The90s 1990s]], the children's television program ''Series/SesameStreet'' had a recurring parody sketch of Siskel & Ebert's first series, "Sneak Previews", as "Sneak Peak Previews", which illustrated differences of opinion. In a run-down theater, Oscar the Grouch and Telly Monster watched a short video segment together, usually from the show's archives. After the video, Oscar invariably dislikes it, and Telly enjoyed it, and each told why. The duo themselves would appear in one sketch in 1991 in which they instruct the hosts on how their "thumbs up/thumbs down" system works. At the end of that sketch, Oscar asks if there could be a "thumbs sidways" rating (the film rated in question being the 1950 Creator/WaltDisney animated feature ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}''), and goads the two men whether or not that would be acceptable, as Ebert likes the idea, but Siskel does not.

*** In the opening of the 1991 episode "The Way We Was", the Simpsons family watches a parody of the duo whose reviewers argue over the latest ''McBain'' movie in which Homer muses aloud, "I love watching the bald guy argue with the fat tub of lard", as he unwittingly parodies himself.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': The episode "Burns' Heir" has a brief shot of a theater marquee advertising ''Siskel & Ebert: The Movie'', and the "Two Thumbs Up" quote below.

** In the early-to-mid [[The80s 1980s]] to the early [[The90s 1990s]], the children's television program ''Series/SesameStreet'' had a recurring parody sketch of Siskel & Ebert's first series, "Sneak Previews", as "Sneak Peak Previews", which illustrated differences of opinion. In a run-down theater, Oscar the Grouch and Telly Monster watched a short video segment together, usually from the show's archives. After the video, Oscar invariably dislikes it, and Telly enjoyed it, and each told why. The duo themselves would appear in one sketch in 1991 in which they instruct the hosts on how their "thumbs up/thumbs down" system works. At the end of that sketch, Oscar asks if there could be a "thumbs sidways" rating (the film rated in question was the 1950 Creator/WaltDisney animated feature ''Film/Cinderella1950''), and goads the two men whether or not that would be acceptable, as Ebert likes the idea, but Siskel does not.

** Siskel and Ebert were satirized in the 1993 episode of popular Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} series ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' entitled "Doug's Monster Movie" in which they appear in a dream sequence and vote two thumbs down on Doug's home movie.

** The 1998 film, ''Film/Godzilla1998'', featured characters based on the duo, with the Mayor of UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, Mayor Ebert being portrayed by Creator/MichaelLerner, and Gene, his aide, being played by Lorry Goldman. In the film, Gene resigns from working for Mayor Ebert by giving him a "thumbs down" gesture. Of the characters, Ebert pointed out in his [[https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/godzilla-1998 one-and-a-half stars out of four review]] that characters were producer Dean Devlin and director Director/RolandEmmerich's jabs at his and Creator/GeneSiskel's negative reviews of ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' and ''Film/IndependenceDay''. Siskel particularly singled out this aspect, saying, "If you're going to go through the trouble of putting us in a monster movie, why don't you at least take the advantage of having the monster either eat or squash us?", later placing the film on the list of the worst films of 1998 (the last "worst of" list he would do before passing away).

** In a 1993 episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' entitled "Critical Condition", a parody of the duo is shown, being renamed as Lean Hisskill & Codger Eggbert and being voiced by Creator/MauriceLaMarche and Chuck Mccann (later Creator/BillyWest) respectively.

** In a 1993 episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} entitled "Critical Condition", a parody of the duo is shown, being renamed as Lean Hisskill & Codger Eggbert and being voiced by Creator/MauriceLaMarche and Chuck McCann (later Creator/BillyWest) respectively.

** Siskel and Ebert were satirized in the 1993 episode of popular Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} series ''Series/{{Doug}}'' entitled "Doug's Monster Movie" in which they appear in a dream sequence and vote two thumbs down on Doug's home movie.
** In a 1993 episode of ''Series/{{Animaniacs}} entitled "Critical Condition", a parody of the duo is shown, being renamed as Lean Hisskill & Codger Eggbert and being voiced by Creator/MauriceLaMarche and Creator/ChuckMcCann (later Creator/BillyWest) respectively.

* ChannelHop: ''Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You''[=/=]''Sneak Previews'' began as a local show on Chicago public station WTTW in 1975, then was picked up by Creator/{{PBS}} nationally in 1978.[[note]]It had already been running for a few years on the Central Educational Network, the Midwestern distribution subdivision of PBS.[[/note]] When WTTW tried to put together a FirstRunSyndication deal for ''Sneak Previews'' that would've only given Roger and Gene a relative pittance of the money the show earned, Siskel and Ebert cut their own syndication with Tribune Entertainment (owned by Siskel's employer the ''Chicago Tribune'') for ''At the Movies'' starting in 1982. When their contract was up in 1986, Tribune stalled on setting up a renewal deal, allowing [[Creator/{{Disney}} Buena Vista Television]] to swoop in and grab them for the variously-titled shows under the Siskel & Ebert banner over the next couple of decades. This meant that in many cities, they did indeed jump between different local channels for different incarnations of their show.

* ChannelHop: ''Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You''[=/=]''Sneak Previews'' began as a local show on Chicago public station WTTW in 1975, was picked up by Creator/{{PBS}} nationally in 1978.[[note]]Shortly after its WTTW debut, it had been picked up regionally in the Midwest by the Central Educational Network, a subdivision of PBS.[[/note]] When WTTW tried to put together a FirstRunSyndication deal for ''Sneak Previews'' that would've only given Roger and Gene a relative pittance of the money the show earned, Siskel and Ebert cut their own syndication with Tribune Entertainment (owned by Siskel's employer the ''Chicago Tribune'') for ''At the Movies'' starting in 1982. When their contract was up in 1986, Tribune stalled on setting up a renewal deal, allowing [[Creator/{{Disney}} Buena Vista Television]] to swoop in and grab them for the variously-titled shows under the Siskel & Ebert banner over the next couple of decades. This meant that in many cities, they did indeed jump between different local channels for different incarnations of their show.

* ChannelHop: ''Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You''[=/=]''Sneak Previews'' began as a local show on Chicago public station WTTW in 1975, was picked up by Creator/{{PBS}} nationally in 1978. When WTTW tried to put together a FirstRunSyndication deal for ''Sneak Previews'' that would've only given Roger and Gene a relative pittance of the money the show earned, Siskel and Ebert cut their own syndication with Tribune Entertainment (owned by Siskel's employer the ''Chicago Tribune'') for ''At the Movies'' starting in 1982. When their contract was up in 1986, Tribune stalled on setting up a renewal deal, allowing [[Creator/{{Disney}} Buena Vista Television]] to swoop in and grab them for the variously-titled shows under the Siskel & Ebert banner over the next couple of decades. This meant that in many cities, they did indeed jump between different local channels for different incarnations of their show.

* ChannelHop: ''Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You''[=/=]''Sneak Previews'' began as a local show on Chicago public station WTTW in 1975, was picked up by Creator/{{PBS}} nationally in 1978, then Siskel and Ebert left for FirstRunSyndication with ''At the Movies'' (Tribune Entertainment) and then the variously-titled shows syndicated by [[Creator/{{Disney}} Buena Vista Television]].

* WorkingTitle: Their initial Chicago show went into production as ''Opening Friday'', before being changed to ''Opening Soon...at a Theater Near You''.

** For ''Film/{{Zelig}}'', Creator/OrionPictures not only wouldn't allow them to show ''any'' clips, they limited the show to a couple of promo head shots of Creator/WoodyAllen as the title character.

** Really, anything based on the premise of "two or more people review and otherwise discuss pop culture works" ultimately derives from Gene and Roger, so literally thousands of TV shows, web videos and podcasts count.