Sneak Previews
| Sneak Previews | |
|---|---|
Title card from Sneak Previews.
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| Also known as | 'Opening Soon at a Theater Near You (1975–1977) |
| Genre | Film review |
| Created by | Thea Flaum |
| Presented by |
Roger Ebert (1975–1982) Gene Siskel (1975–1982) Neal Gabler (1982–1985) Jeffrey Lyons (1982–1996) Michael Medved (1985–1996) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Chicago, Illinois |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | WTTW |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS |
| Original release | September 4, 1975 – 1996 |
Sneak Previews was an American film review show, running for over two decades on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). It was created by WTTW, a PBS affiliate in Chicago, Illinois. It premiered on September 4, 1975 as a monthly local-only show called Opening Soon at a Theater Near You, and was renamed in 1977 when it became a biweekly show airing nationally on PBS. By 1979, it was a weekly series airing on over 180 stations, and was the highest rated weekly entertainment series in the history of public broadcasting. The show came to an end in 1996 and is no longer aired.
The show featured two critics who would present short clips of movies in current release 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.
Episodes from the first seven seasons ended with one of the hosts saying "See you at the movies." Many episodes from season eight ended with the hosts' reminder to "save us the aisle seats."
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. On one occasion, Siskel and Ebert invited the viewer into a day in their lives as they screened films.
The show first aired in 1975 on a monthly basis under the name Opening Soon at a Theater Near You, and after two successful seasons, was renamed Sneak Previews. 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.
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