History Series / SiskelAndEbert

* EnforcedPlug: When the Internet began to take off, Siskel and Ebert naturally got their own website, which led to one of the two plugging it at the end of every episode. Unfortunately, this meant they had no time to get a little more debating in, which was the highlight of the 1986-1995 shows.

* MemeticHandGesture: Famously, they awarded each movie they reviewed a Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down. Their thumbs were in fact ''trademarked'' to prevent other shows from copying them!

* OffModel:
** Invoked; a common complaint from Siskel about most non-Disney animated movies. He gave particular criticism to ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}'', calling it "sketchy".
** Ebert disliked how ''Film/CoolWorld'' looked, saying the animation moved too fast for the human mind to read the images. Siskel called the animation "farmed out".

* CircularReasoning: Demonstrated in their review of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''. Siskel liked the film, while Ebert gave it a marginal thumbs down, since he felt the western tropes were old hat. Ebert argued that Siskel would feel differently if the film was ''only'' a western and not a ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' movie, while Siskel argued that it ''wasn't'' just a western (which is true, as the film played with a lot of those tropes). Repeat this back-and-forth a couple times.

** Not only this, but they frequently called out the Oscars at times where they felt Creator/HarrisonFord was ignored for Academy attention for his action roles, which they mentioned more than once that he could do better than anyone else (aside from maybe Steve McQueen in decades past). ''The Fugitive'' was probably one of the more notable examples of them feeling he was snubbed.

** In their review of ''Film/HomeAlone 3'', Siskel said the theme song for the movie should be "Dumbbells Keep Falling On My Head".

* PromotionalConsideration: The sponsors varied, but two companies that often appeared in the "Promotional Consideration" slide were Nestle's Raisinets, sponsor of the [[TropeCoTropeOfTheWeek Video Pick of the Week segment]], and Jelly Belly Jelly Beans.

** Averted, not on the show, but on Ebert's corresponding series of "Video Home Companion" books chronicling his reviews. Since [[SturgeonsLaw bad movies tend to be forgotten]] while good movies endure, movies with three to four stars tended to be retained from one volume to the next. Ebert himself acknowledged that this gave an illusion that he liked most of the movies that he reviewed.

---> '''Roger:''' ''[=Stella=]'' is a movie with a lot of style, warmth, and heart. [...] This movie was inspired by the 1937 Creator/BarbaraStanwyck classic ''[=Stella=] [=Dallas=]'', and the film historian Leslie Halliwell said of that movie that movie audiences came to sneer and stayed to weep. The same thing happened this time.
--> '''Gene:''' I came to weep... and sneered.

** Siskel gave a surprising thumbs up to ''Film/{{Armageddon}}''[[note]]Ebert's eventual pick for 1998's worst film[[/note]], saying the lightning fast editing and constant camera movement actually [[NarmCharm amused him after a while]].

** They both were parodied in ''Film/Godzilla1998'', with the characters Mayor Ebert and his sidekick Gene. They were not amused [[CrossesTheLineTwice because the filmmakers didn't have the audacity to have the two squished by Godzilla.]]

* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Siskel derided the sex scene in ''Film/{{Disclosure}}'', saying it was unrealistic for the boss to sleep with an employee on the first night:

* ColorCodedCharacters: Referenced (and criticized) in their review of ''WesternAnimation/ThePebbleAndThePenguin''. Ebert criticized the movie for color-coding its characters so that the villain had a dark complexion and the heroes had mostly white faces. He thought this sent [[UnfortunateImplications a negative subliminal message to kids.]]

* {{Corpsing}}:
** Ebert, when describing the plot of ''Film/ForeverYoung''.
** While it was customary for either Siskel or Ebert to remain silent while the other provided the initial summary and description of the movie they were reviewing, occasionally, they can be heard chuckling throughout. One of the biggest examples being when Siskel laughs multiple times through [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCOf91smkXU Ebert's roasting]] of ''Film/LeonardPart6'' before it's his turn to speak.

** When reviewing ''Film/DoubleDragon'', Ebert said kids might enjoy it but nobody else:

Ebert continued the show, first as ''Roger Ebert & the Movies'' with guest cohosts, and then as ''At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper'' with the addition of his ''Sun-Times'' colleague Creator/RichardRoeper. Ebert stopped appearing on the show in 2006 because he lost the ability to speak due to his cancer and Roeper continued with guests until the two were removed from the show by their distributor, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, in 2008. They were replaced by Ben Lyons (son of film critic Jeffery Lyons) and film critic and Creator/TurnerClassicMovies presenter Ben Mankiewicz (now part of Radio/TheYoungTurks' ''[[https://www.youtube.com/whattheflickshow What the Flick?!]]'') in a move to skew to younger audience. While most of the old fanbase of the show had no problem with Ben Mankiewicz, almost all of them (and Ebert himself) took issue with Ben Lyons' skill, ethics, and taste. The two Bens were fired from the show a little over a year later. The critics were replaced one final time with critic A.O. Scott (critic for the ''New York Times'') and Michael Phillips (of Siskel's ''Chicago Tribune''), choices Ebert expressed satisfaction with, despite no longer being associated with the show. However, these two hosts only lasted from August 2009 to March 2010, when Disney-ABC simply pulled the plug on the show, ending the ''Siskel & Ebert'' TV legacy for good.

* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: Towards the end of the ''Roeper & guest'' era, the thumbs up/down rating was replaced by See It, Rent It, or Skip It, as Disney/ABC refused to pay the Siskel and Ebert estates for continued use of the "Two Thumbs Up" trademark.

* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: Towards the end of the ''Roeper & guest'' era, the thumbs up/down rating was replaced by See It, Rent It, or Skip It.

** The music video for Music/MichaelJacksonsThriller was reviewed alongside the regular movie fare in January 1984. Thye panned the video, claiming it relied on stock special effects that weren't scary, minimizing the music or the [[MichaelJacksonsThrillerParody iconic dance sequence]].

** Averted, not on the show, but on Ebert's corresponding series of "Video Home Companion" books chronicling his reviews. Since bad movies tend to be forgotten while good movies endure, movies with three to four stars tended to be retained from one volume to the next. Ebert himself acknowledged that this gave an illusion that he liked most of the movies that he reviewed.

** Averted, not on the show, but on Ebert's corresponding series of "Video Home Companion" series of books chronicling hs reviews. Since bad movies tend to be forgotten while good movies endure, movies with three to four stars tended to be retained from one volume to the next. Ebert himself acknowledged that this gave an illusion that he liked most of the movies that he reviewed.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** As stated in the intro paragraphs, some episodes take a break from reviewing new movies and focus on a specific issue (colorization, "What's Wrong With Home Video", favorite villains, [[GuiltyPleasures guilty pleasures]], etc.).
** Sometimes a standard-format episode would have a segment briefly discussing a hot film-related topic along with the usual reviews; in late 1991 they discussed the controversy over Music/MichaelJackson's "Black or White" video -- specifically its violent, crotch-grabbing finale. They weren't so much bothered by that as the fact that they had no idea what was going on in the video.
** The tribute to Gene Siskel episode didn't feature any movie reviews at all, a rarity for the show.
** The duo never reviewed TV shows, but they made an exception with ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'', due to its subject matter. They reviewed the first three episodes and gave it a marginal thumbs down. However, they sensed promise in the premise and felt the show should stay focused on satirizing movies. [[AdamWesting They eventually guest-voiced]] a second-season episode ("Siskel & Ebert & Jay & Alice") which parodied many film tropes to break the two apart and bring them together again.
** Similarly, the duo rarely reviewed made-for-TV movies but occasionally they made an exception, such as when they reviewed ''The Rat Pack''.
** Any episode where they focused on one director or actor, such as an episode all about Creator/RobertRedford. Similarly, any episode analyzing one movie, such as ''Film/ForrestGump'', ''Film/PulpFiction'', ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', and ''Film/EyesWideShut''.
** The episode from 2000 when Roger interviewed Bill Clinton. No new movie reviews, just a discussion with a (now former) president about his favorite movies.