I give this date two thumbs down.

Apparently, somtime in the 1980's Roger Ebert took Oprah on a date of burgers, fries, and a movie. I think by reading the article we can determine that Roger is not the smoothest with the ladies. Instead of whispering sweet nothings in her ear he decided it was best to talk about syndication.


November 15, 2005

By theINSIDER's Marc S. Malkin

OPRAH WINFREY and ROGER EBERT's date revealed! During Ms. O's 20th anniversary special this week, she recalled going on a date with Ebert in the '80s. It was during their one-date-long relationship when Ebert advised Winfrey to jumpstart her media empire by going into syndication. How did the date go and what did the movie critic do to convince her that syndication was the way to go? Ebert e-mailed me the following:

We went to the movies and Hamburger Hamlet. She was trying to choose between King World syndication and the ABC owned and operated stations. I got out a napkin and did the following calculations.

1. What I make a year in syndication.
2. Times two, because Gene [Siskel] makes the same.
3. Times two, because she's an hour, not a half hour.
4. Times five, because she's daily.
5. Times two, because she'd get at least twice the rating.

I finished the math and showed her the napkin. She decided on syndication. What actually happened probably worked out to 6. Times 20.

Best,
$

Roger, you romantic fool!!!!!!!!!!

Well, the rest is history and now we have to put up with the likes of Tom Cruise jumping on her couches and copious tears shed by the various glitterati that grace those couches. Thanks a lot, Roger.