Why, on my mother's birthday, am I thinking about 'Father Knows Best?' At our house, mother knew best at least as often as father did, but then the title of the old sitcom, a homogenized portrait of American family life,… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
I always thought I'd buy my mother a house if I ever became successful - a big, beautiful house on the nicest street in town. It didn't exactly work out that way. I was still borrowing money from her in… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
Maybe it's the hair. Maybe it's the teeth. Maybe it's the intellect. No, it's the hair. — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
Jimmy Kimmel still comes across like a guy who crashed a party and got caught at it, yet adamantly refuses to leave. — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
In city after city, newspaper after newspaper has diminished its staff of critics, sometimes to zero. Film and T.V. critics have been dropped and… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
'Kukla, Fran and Ollie' occurred in real time and was a benign and bewitching example of pure television. — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
Maybe Larry Kings cannot thrive or even survive in a world where the norms for discourse are rage, vehemence and character assassination. King wanted… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
Obviously neither 'American Idol' nor 'Dancing With the Stars' is a variety show in the classic sense, but the way they incorporate elements of… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
Robert Osborne either has the best job in the world, or comes very close. As millions of viewers know, Osborne is the resident host… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
Making music on TV used to be as common as commercials. In the '60s and '70s, prime time was stuffed with variety shows headlined… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
For those who don't like Dave Letterman, there's Jay Leno; and for those who like neither, there's Craig Ferguson; and if you're still feeling… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
The once inviolate frame within which programs or commercials were displayed on television - always separately - has been violated to a pulp. Program… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
'Leave It to Beaver,' which ran from 1957 until 1963, was one of the strangest, sweetest, most distinctive domestic sitcoms of television's celebrated Golden Age. — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
The original and very basic 'Law & Order' series has always seemed to me to be 100-percent exposition, with no filler, no pesky nuances… — Tom Shales Copy Share Image
