Oprah looks a lot different, has she gained weight or had surgery or something?

That's Roger's wife, Chaz.

I was joking.

Wow, that's pretty awesome. Still so sad to see him like that though.

I have my DVR set to record this. They should absolutely get him to do more audio commentaries with that new voice synthesizer.

This bit on Oprah is just amazing, I didn't realize he was in this bad of shape until just here recently. God bless the guy, and everyone else in this kind of shape. It's amazing how positive he remains through all of this. I can just imagine how much more movies mean to him today. It's no wonder that many of his reviews have been, different, over the past few years and he seems to be a lot easier on lots of things.

True. And Dr. Mabuse was joking. But apparently Oprah and Roger did go out a couple times in the past.

Roger likes 'em Big and Roger likes 'em Black.

correct me if i am wrong, but Roger's responses were pre-programmed prior to Oprah asking the questions?

so sad to see him this way. even made me tear up a little because i literally grew up on his show and would always seek it out whatever the hell time slot they kept changing it to.

what a tremendous spirit he has and constant rock that his wife has been for him. i hope he remains strong and could possible do some type of show on air again.

That clip was heartbreaking to watch, but like others, I am glad that he's still with us.

The synthesized voice really did sound like him, albeit a tad mechanical. I was impressed...

He looks pretty amazed!

That was a great video. Touching story, regardless of how famous the individual might be.

I was amazed at the "new" Roger-voice. If that's the beta as he puts it, I think the final product is going to be very influential for other people who have lost their own voices.

It wouldn't really be possible to the same extent for "normal" people since they used the hours and hours of him speaking on TV and the such to create this new voice.

I think it was the Esquire article that described how that wasn't really true. It said that almost all of his TV audio was with a movie score behind his voice or Siskel arguing over him. IIRC, it said that almost all of that was completely unusable. The majority of the digital voice samples came from the few DVD commentaries that he did. There is some speculation that what Ebert's experience could provide is motivation for people to record themselves digitally using special programs in the event they lose their voice. Either way, it was really nice to watch him experience hearing his voice again.

Eh, they have both said it was just friends getting together, nothing serious. But Oprah does credit Ebert with suggesting she syndicate what was at that time her local "Oprah Winfrey Show". And the rest, as they say, is history.

Great clip. That voice is great, very recognizable.

I dvr'd that Oprah and just watched it. I didn't expect it to get to me so much, but damn if that Ebert segment didn't have me tearing up. Heartbreaking and inspiring in equal turn. Just wow.

Is there anywhere online to watch the full Oprah show/segment for those who might have missed it?

Search YouTube.

It got a little dusty in my living room as well.

One point in the interview not discussed here: is there any additional info on what the TV deal entails?

None seen so far, but according to the caption, he was at WYCC. That's a public television station here operated by the City Colleges of Chicago.

If you liked the Oprah segment, you'll like this just as much -- also recorded within the past week or so

http://www.wgntv.com/videobeta/88f95...-Dean-Richards


"I tweeted that you were doing your job and Mel Gibson was the asshole."

Not to kick the guy when he's down, but that's a huge step down from a nationally syndicated show. No one watches WYCC.

To this day, This Old House still comes out of a PBS station in Boston and does quite well hitting the rest of the country.

In fact, Ebert & Siskel's show began as a PBS show here and ran that way for years.

I think that it was on PBS in my area (Central PA) when I was growing up, too. It wasn't till the early 2000's that it finally had a solid time slot where I live (in Phoenix, Sundays at 4PM and midnight on ABC, I think). Up till then, I would just randomly catch it. I'd guess that I started watching it when I was around 8-9 years old.