| Sneak Previews | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Opening Soon at a Theater Near You(1975–1977) Sneak Previews Goes Video(1989–1991) |
| Genre | Film review |
| Created by | Thea Flaum[1][2] |
| Presented by |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 21 |
| Production | |
| Production location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | WTTW |
| Original release | |
| Network | PBS |
| Release | November 23, 1975 (1975-11-23) – October 4, 1996 (1996-10-04) |
| Related | |
Sneak Previews (1975 to 1996: known asOpening Soon...at a Theater Near You from 1975 to 1977, andSneak Previews Goes Video from 1989 to 1991) is an Americanfilm review show[1] that ran for over two decades on thePublic Broadcasting Service (PBS). It was created byWTTW, a PBS member station inChicago, Illinois. It premiered on November 23, 1975, as a monthly local-only show calledOpening Soon...at a Theater Near You[3] and on October 15, 1977, was renamedSneak Previews. In 1978 it became a biweekly show 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 andGene Siskel. By 1980, it was a weekly series airing on over 180 stations and the highest-rated weekly entertainment series in the history of public broadcasting.[1] The show's final broadcast was on October 4, 1996.[5]
The show featured two critics who presented short clips of movies in current release and debated their the merits, 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 seasons 8 through 14 and 17 through 21 ended with the hosts' reminder to "save us the aisle seats." Episodes from seasons 18 through 20 (when it was known asSneak Previews Goes Video) ended with the hosts' reminder, "don't forget to rewind that tape."
Some episodes were known asTake 2 shows, which replaced reviews 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]
The show first aired in1975 on a monthly basis under the nameOpening Soon at a Theater Near You[3] and, after two successful seasons, was renamedSneak Previews.[1] The show originally featuredRoger Ebert, a film critic for theChicago Sun-Times, andGene Siskel, a film critic for theChicago 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 said of their relationship before Siskel's death, "no one else could possibly understand how meaningless was the hate, how deep was the love".[9]
The show's success led WTTW to syndicate it to commercial television.[1] Siskel and Ebert leftSneak Previews in1982, citing contractual differences with WTTW. They said they were offered a contract and asked to "take it or leave it", and chose the latter option.[1] The two were soon featured inAt the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, a similar show created withTribune Entertainment and replaced in 1986 by aDisney-produced show first known asSiskel & Ebert & the Movies (adopting the titleAt the Movies in 2008).
AfterSiskel and Ebert left the show, more than 300 critics auditioned to become their replacements, among themPauline Kael.[10] Ebert's future co-host onAt the Movies,Richard Roeper, auditioned while still a college student and was turned down.[11]
In 1982, WTTW signedNeal Gabler andJeffrey Lyons as replacements for Siskel and Ebert onSneak Previews.[10] Because Siskel and Ebert had trademarked the phrase "Two Thumbs Up", Lyons and Gabler simply gave "yes" or "no" judgments to the movies they reviewed.[10] Each post-1982 episode (with the exception of 1989 to 1991) ended with thecatch phrase "Don't forget to save us the aisle seats." Gabler leftSneak Previews in1985, citing philosophical differences with the direction of the show,[12] and was replaced byMichael 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."
AlthoughSneak 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 ofThe Washington Post called the two critics hosting at the time (Lyons and Gabler) "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 toSneak Previews Goes Video in 1989, and concentrated onhome video releases, but returned to its original title in 1991. PBS continued to broadcast the program until the fall of 1996, when it was canceled due to a lack of underwriting.[14]
From 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 rundown movie theater,Oscar the Grouch andTelly Monster 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, teaching the hosts how their thumbs up/thumbs down rating system works.[15] At the end of sketch, Oscar asks if there could be a thumbs sideways rating (the film in question wasWalt Disney'sCinderella), and goads the two men about whether that would be acceptable. Ebert likes the idea, but Siskel does not.[15]
In 1979, the show received aChicago Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Program.[16]