Developed from an idea credited to producer Thea Flaum of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) affiliate WTTW in Chicago, the original series, Opening Soon at a Theater Near You, was broadcast once a month to a local audience beginning in September 1975. Using brief clips of movies in current release, the rival critics debated the merits of the films, making simple "yes" or "no" decisions to signify positive and negative reviews. On those not-so-rare occasions when the two disagreed, sparks might fly, which delighted viewers. An additional element of interest featured Spot the Wonder Dog jumping onto a balcony seat and barking on cue to introduce the film designated "dog of the week."

     After two seasons, the successful series was retitled Sneak Previews and appeared biweekly on the PBS network. By its fourth season, the show became a once-a-week feature on 180 to 190 outlets and achieved status as the highest-rated weekly entertainment series in the history of public broadcasting.

     Based on the program's success, in 1980 WITW made plans to remove the show from PBS and sell it commercially as a WITW production. The two stars' indicated that they were offered a take-it-or-leave-it contract that they declined. They left the series in 1981 to launch At the Movies for commercial television under the banner of Tribune Entertainment, a syndication arm of the Chicago Tribune. Basically utilizing the same format as Sneak Previews, the new series made some minor adjustments, including the replacement of the black-and-white Wonder Dog with Aroma the skunk, which ultimately was removed to make room for commercials. At WITW, Sneak Previews replaced Siskel and Ebert with New York-based critics Jeffrey Lyons and Neal Gabler. In time, the PBS offering would settle on Lyons and Michael Medved as its hosts, and the show remained on air through the 1995-96 season.

     Citing contractual problems with Tribune Entertainment, in 1986 Siskel and Ebert departed At the Movies for Buena Vista Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, and created a new series titled Siskel and Ebert at the Movies. The order of the names was decided by the flip of a coin, and the show title was eventually shortened to Siskel and Ebert. Ebert also suggested the Romanesque thumbs-up/thumbs-down rating system, which became a distinctive Siskel­ Ebert trademark. Their former show, At the Movies, acquired Rex Reed and Bill Harris as hosts and added news of show business to the format. Harris left the series in 1988 and was replaced by Dixie Whatley, for­mer co-host on Entertainment Tonight, and the series continued into 1990.

     Of all the different series and co-hosts in this genre, the Siskel-Ebert partnership has remained the most celebrated. In 20 years of offering responsible commentary in an unedited spontaneous fashion, the two critics reviewed more than 4,000 films and compiled an impressive list of firsts and show milestones. In his defense of television film critics in the May/June 1990 issue of Film Comment, Ebert, the only film critic to have won a Pulitzer Prize for criticism, points out that Siskel and Ebert was the first national show to discuss the issue of film colorization, the benefits of letterbox video dubbing, and the technology of laser disks. Siskel and Ebert provided an outlet for the ongoing examination of minority and independent films, attacked the rating system of the Motion Picture Association of America as de facto censorship, and protested product placement (i.e., incidental advertising) within films. And in May 1989, extolling the virtues of black-and­ white cinematography, they videotaped their show in monochrome-the first new syndicated program to do so in 25 years.

     Siskel and Ebert's influence with audiences was also notable. Their thumbs-up reviews are credited with turning films such as My Dinner with Andre (1981), One False Move (1992), and Hoop Dreams (1994) into respectable box office hits. Thumbs-down reviews had the opposite effect: although many filmmakers contend that ultimately it is up to the public to choose which films they see, many directors and producers also have noted the benefits that exposure on Siskel and Ebert could provide. Notwithstanding, there were occasional disgruntled feelings. As reported in the Los Angeles Times (December 10, 1995), screenwriter Richard LaGravanese used "Siskel" as the name for one of the "bad guys" in his film The Ref after a negative review of his previous work The Fisher King. Both Siskel and Ebert agreed that their animated dialogue was crucial to the show's success and more compelling than criticism from a solitary voice. They viewed their disagreements as those of two friends who had seen a movie and had a difference of opinion. But they had some intense moments, as evidenced in a pre-Oscar special broadcast in 1993 when an angry Ebert took exception to Siskel's revelation of the significant plot twist that concludes the film The Crying Game.

     Through the years, the television industry recognized Siskel and Ebert with six national Emmy nominations and one local Emmy (1979). In 1984, the pair were among the first broadcasters inducted into the National Association of Television Programming Executives (NATPE) Hall of Fame. They also received NATPE's Iris Award for their achievement in nationally syndicated television. The Hollywood Radio and Television Society named them Men of the Year in 1993. As Richard Roeper wrote in the Chicago Sun­ Times (October 15, 1995) on the occasion of their 20th anniversary, "Siskel and Ebert took serious film criticism and made it palatable to a mass audience-and in so doing, became celebrities themselves, as recognizable as most of the movie stars whose films they review."

     In May 1998, the show weathered a potential setback when Siskel underwent brain surgery to remove a growth. Remarkably, he returned to the show and stayed with it until early February 1999, when he took another leave of absence for further rehabilitation and recuperation. On February 20, 1999, he passed away. In July 2000, the previously mentioned Chicago Sun­ Times columnist Richard Roeper, one of 24 reviewers who guest hosted with Ebert over a 17-month period, was named Ebert's new permanent co-host. Roeper assumed Siskel's vacant seat in the balcony two months later, and the program was renamed Ebert and Roeper and the Movies. The show also brought in ZDTY's Michaela Pereira with occasional reviews of online movies.