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For almost a decade, the rivalry between film critics Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune has made for some of the angriest and liveliest on-air disagreements in contemporary television.
First on "Sneak Previews" and now on "At the Movies," the two have made a very comfortable living perpetuating that rivalry.
They are a pair of opposites-one heavy and one thin, one balding and one with a full head of hair-that are seemingly made for confrontation.
They have had very public disagreements about everything from the quality of movies to the order of their credits on their popular syndicated television show.
But now Ebert has cast himself in an unfamiliar and unlikely role-defending Siskel, his long time adversary, who he believes is being unceremoniously dumped as chief film critic at the Chicago Tribune.
The Tribune began looking for a new film reviewer after Siskel and Ebert announced that they were moving from Tribune Entertainment Co., sister company of the Chicago Tribune, to Walt Disney Domestic Television.
Tribune Editor James F. Squires said he decided to relieve Siskel of most of his movie-reviewing duties because the editor was concerned about the increased demands on Siskel's already busy schedule. Squires has been quoted in other publications as saying he was concerned about a conflict of interest in Siskel working for Disney while reviewing movies for the Tribune. But he told The Times that conflict of interest was "the issue least among our concerns."
"As long as he was working for another Tribune subsidiary . . . Siskel was primarily a Chicago Tribune employee. His...