Local TV legend Arch Campbell entered semi-retirement last night, delivering his final movie review on ABC7.

“I think the best actors get off the stage early, and I can feel that hook right now telling me to get off the stage,” Campbell said on his farewell broadcast. “WHen I started, every station had an entertainment reporter — they had somebody to cover movies and theatre — and I hope that day returns. … That is my wish for Washington.”

A farewell episode of The Arch Campbell Show aired last night on NewsChannel8 and will be broadcast again on Saturday. It is not online yet.

The 68-year-old began reporting on entertainment in the D.C. area for NBC4 in the 1970s before moving to the ABC affiliate in 2007. The multiple local Emmy winner’s brand of movie reviewing was immortalized by comedian Patton Oswalt, who’s a Sterling native, in his standup act. (The bit begins at the 7:45 mark.)

Campbell later met his “arch enemy” for a good-natured segment on his NewsChannel8 show. “Arch, you weren’t my arch enemy,” Oswalt said. “You were my arch on the bridge to my destiny.”

Former DCist contributor Lindsay Gibson, who worked at Channel 4, shared this remembrance when he left NBC in 2006.

It’s easy for big-time weatherman Bob Ryan to say he’s great to work with, but his true awesomeness was in the way he made it a point to relate to everyone, however low on the food chain. As a fresh-faced web editor, Arch passed my desk each day, took the time to learn my name, tried (albeit in vain) to figure out exactly what my job was, and even gave out free passes to events he wouldn’t be attending. Most of my colleagues shared that experience. There’s something about being a local TV celebrity that can lead to a bizarre egoism, but Arch never seemed fazed.