Roger Ebert loses his thumbs

[mobo85]

Roger Ebert is renegotiating his contract with Disney to return to Ebert and Roeper, which he has been absent from for over a year due to health problems. Apparently, Disney is not accepting the offer Ebert wanted, and in retaliation is refusing Ebert to let him use his "thumbs up/thumbs down" rating system, which is (alongside the phrase "two thumbs up") a registered trademark of himself and the estate of Gene Siskel. This AP article claims that Ebert chose to remove the thumbs, but Ebert himself says it was Disney's decision. I would give this decision two thumbs down, but I don't want Roger to sue me.

[Burrido]

Thought Ebert couldn't talk anymore or that it was very hard for him to?

[Malodorous]

Originally Posted by Burrido

Thought Ebert couldn't talk anymore or that it was very hard for him to?

Still, even without speech he can indicate his approval or disapproval for a film by pointing his thumbs up or......ohh.

Well that is gonna make things tough.

[Campion]

He needs to start a new thing -- thumbs are so last year. Maybe a chicken dance of approval?

[Surbey]

Based on the title of this thread, I was sure that Ebert's condition got worse and was actually losing his thumbs...sorely disappointed.

[Fiver]

Originally Posted by Surbey

Based on the title of this thread, I was sure that Ebert's condition got worse and was actually losing his thumbs...sorely disappointed.

That's a terribly unkind and unwarranted thing to say. Who the hell are you?

[Leechboy]

According to his email to Ain't It Cool News. It's other other way round.

[dotchan]

Maybe he can use one of his other fingers?

(I'm sorry, I'm a terrible person.)

[Revenant Threshold]

Originally Posted by Surbey

Based on the title of this thread, I was sure that Ebert's condition got worse and was actually losing his thumbs...sorely disappointed.

That's what I thought, only more along the lines of "phew".

[Malodorous]

Originally Posted by Fiver

That's a terribly unkind and unwarranted thing to say. Who the hell are you?

Roeper?

[Johnny L.A.]

Can he still use Aroma The Educated Skunk?

[mobo85]

Originally Posted by Leechboy

According to his email to Ain't It Cool News. It's other other way round.

Yes, that is what I pointed out- Ebert said it was Disney who forced the thumbs off the show, not Ebert himself.

And the title of the thread was intentionally meant to be ambigous. It's a hook for people to look inside.

[Yag Rannavach]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

Can he still use Aroma The Educated Skunk?

"Two Aroma sprays!"

[Johnny L.A.]

So... Did Ebert take a sudden interest in walnuts?

[Bryan Ekers]

Maybe he was 64 grand in the hole.

[Darth Nader]

Anyone remember when Opus received the first artificial nose? As he was leaving the hospital, a reporter asked him for a "thumbs up"

"As you can see, that is clearly not his thumb."

[jayjay]

Who knew Ebert was borrowing money from Bed Bug Eddie?!

[Voyager]

BTW, I just watched the show for this week, and the thumbs are gone. They haven't figured out what to do about it yet. The summary was very fuzzy. (Well, not this week where almost everything sucked.) I can see a problem unless they come up with a hate meter or something.

[Surbey]

Originally Posted by Fiver

That's a terribly unkind and unwarranted thing to say. Who the hell are you?

I'm just disappointed because I was looking forward to a very interesting and heart felt thread about the tragic loss of his thumbs. However, I come to find that the "Two Thumbs" trademark is being withheld by some party as a bargaining chip in a contract.

One would be socially dramatic and mean something to us all. The other is about money.

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by Surbey

Based on the title of this thread, I was sure that Ebert's condition got worse and was actually losing his thumbs...sorely disappointed.

I feel compelled to make a joke now about sticking out like a sore thumb but am not sure how to work it.

[wolf_meister]

Yes, that thread title hooked me too. The creative way in which Dopers post obituaries, I thought it was about his departing this veil of tears.

[Kalhoun]

Originally Posted by Voyager

BTW, I just watched the show for this week, and the thumbs are gone. They haven't figured out what to do about it yet. The summary was very fuzzy. (Well, not this week where almost everything sucked.) I can see a problem unless they come up with a hate meter or something.

Back in the day when they worked for another company, Siskel and Ebert lost the right to their star system when they switched to another company. Hence, the thumbs.

I'd use toes. They can't stop them. I'm certain they can't.

[Fiver]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

I'd use toes. They can't stop them. I'm certain they can't.

Except that "toes up" is already military slang for being dead, so it would be a tougher sell in a movie-review context.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Fiver

Except that "toes up" is already military slang for being dead, so it would be a tougher sell in a movie-review context.

Well, surely there's another body part that can go up and down that the two men can use to signify whether they liked Kim Basinger in Nine 1/2 weeks.

But for the life of me I can't think of what....

[Sam Stone]

What would be nice is if Richard Roeper stood up and said, "Well, this is Roger's show. If he isn't coming back, I'm outta here." Richard got the gig in the first place because Gene Siskel died of brain cancer, and now having Ebert leave after having cancer surgery and then also losing his trademark would make me feel pretty uncomfortable continuing the show, at least as "Ebert and Roeper".

Unless Ebert is holding out for a truly outrageous sum of money, it sounds like he's being screwed over. It'd be nice if Roeper had his back.

[thirdname]

Can't they just say "liked it" or "disliked it," or plus and minus? They can't trademark the concept of a binary evaluation, and I'm suprised they can trademark "thumbs up" or "thumbs down."

I wonder if Ebert is trying to get more money because he needs it for his medical treatment or to help him deal with his disabilities.

[Cardinal]

Originally Posted by wolf_meister

Yes, that thread title hooked me too. The creative way in which Dopers post obituaries, I thought it was about his departing this veil of tears.

How do they make a veil out of tears? Or do you mean a vale?

[Dolores Reborn]

Originally Posted by JohnT

Well, surely there's another body part that can go up and down that the two men can use to signify whether they liked Kim Basinger in Nine 1/2 weeks.

But for the life of me I can't think of what....

They already use that particualr body part in Playboy, IIRC.

[CalMeacham]

"If you cut off their thumbs, some reviewers wouldn't be able to do reviews," critic Gene Shalit once said.

[Tabula Rasa]

Originally Posted by Fiver

That's a terribly unkind and unwarranted thing to say. Who the hell are you?

That's right, Surbey, you can't go around being snarky on SDMB without establishing your credentials first. Geez, Fiver, which is worse -- unkind or unwarranted?

[Fiver]

Originally Posted by Tabula Rasa

That's right, Surbey, you can't go around being snarky on SDMB without establishing your credentials first. Geez, Fiver, which is worse -- unkind or unwarranted?

They're both pretty bad. But Surbey elaborated, and I see he wasn't actually wishing harm to Roger Ebert, which really seemed out of the blue even if one doesn't like his opinions, so I apologize for my angry response.

[Voyager]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

Back in the day when they worked for another company, Siskel and Ebert lost the right to their star system when they switched to another company. Hence, the thumbs.

I'd use toes. They can't stop them. I'm certain they can't.

Cite? I've been watching them since they started on PBS, and I remember the thumbs from the very beginning. I( can't believe that star ratings are trademarked, since so many different companies use them. Some newspapers use other symbols to stand out.

Anyhow, maybe Nero actually owns the trademark on thumbs.