LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES: GENE SISKEL

GENE SISKEL
[with Roger Ebert]

From Wikipedia:
Eugene Kal "Gene" Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalistfor the Chicago Tribune. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted the popular review show 'Siskel & Ebert At the Movies' from 1986 until his death.
 
In 1975, Siskel teamed up with Roger Ebert, film reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times, to host a show on the local Chicago PBS station WTTW which eventually became 'Sneak Previews'. Their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" system soon became an easily recognizable trademark'. 

'Sneak Previews' gained a country-wide audience in 1978 when it was carried on PBS.

Siskel and Ebert left WTTW and PBS in 1982 for syndication. Their new show, 'At the Movies', was produced and distributed by Tribune Broadcasting, the parent company that owned the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV. 

In 1986, Siskel and Ebert left Tribune Broadcasting to have their show produced by the syndication arm of The Walt Disney Company. The new incarnation of the show was originally titled 'Siskel & Ebert & the Movies', but later shortened to 'Siskel & Ebert'.

Siskel also appeared as himself on an episode of 'The Larry Sanders Show'.

Roger Ebert on Gene Siskel:
"Gene Siskel and I were like tuning forks. Strike one, and the other would pick up the same frequency. When we were in a group together, we were always intensely aware of one another. Sometimes this took the form of camaraderie, sometimes shared opinions, sometimes hostility."

AS SEEN IN:
'The Larry Sanders Show'
"Off Camera"

BCnU!