Siskel & Ebert: I'll miss you

I was surfing through the schedule on my TV Guide last night in order to see what I might record overnight. Lo and behold, I saw a new episode of At the Movies at 11:35 on one of my local stations. A "new" episode on a Sunday night at 11:30. How's that for a graveyard slot?

Of course, I had heard that the series had been canceled, and when I saw that part of the show would be a history of Siskel and Ebert, I figured this might be the last "new" episode. Well, I decided to record it.

I watched it this morning and sure enough, it was the final episode. I did get a little maudlin about it. I mean, I started watching the show the first time it aired 35 years ago. I was a faithful devotee of it for 30 years. I admit that when Gene died in 1999, I slowly started to wean off of the show.

I got really nostalgic when the final critics ran the opening of the first show...Gene and Roger finishing up work at their respective newspapers, hitting the streets, seeing their names on the newspaper trucks and finally entering the theater to tape the show. With that oh, so recognizable theme song playing in the background.

For the record, I found Roger more agreeable to my taste for films than Gene. I always felt Gene was a bit elitist in his reviews, for lack of a better word. Roger would rate a movie based on its intent and whether it succeeded in achieving that or not. If it was supposed to be a popcorn movie and it worked, then it was a "Thumb's up!" I always felt Gene was comparing films to the standard of "Citizen Kane" and the like. At least, that's how I saw him.

Now it's gone. Another long-term memory of my life put into the dustbin of history (bad cliche, I know). It's just another reminder of how life is passing and the great memories slowly fade away.

I loved those guys, and I wish Roger a long, long life ahead.