September 4, 1975

Filmed inside a WTTW studio, the local monthly show Opening Soon at a Theater Near You — which later morphed into Sneak Previews and then At the Movies — would make two Chicago newspapermen into the nation’s most recognizable film critics. Their weird chemistry, at turns chummy and openly acrimonious, was “not an act,” Ebert wrote, and it became the reason people tuned in as much as any authoritative take on a new release. Watching them felt like watching ourselves argue about a movie, except Siskel and Ebert were smarter — and way more fun.