Why, on my mother's birthday, am I thinking about 'Father Knows Best?' At our house, mother knew best at least as often… — Tom Shales About Copy Share Image
By a twist of fate rather than anything approaching journalistic enterprise, I did the last major interview with Johnny Carson. — Tom Shales Anything 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… — Tom Shales Always Copy Share Image
In the best traditions of American comedy, from its beginnings through the crash-bang comedies of the 1990s and 2000s, Leslie Nielsen skewered… — Tom Shales American Copy Share Image
A fellow with the inventiveness of Albert Einstein but with the attention span of Daffy Duck. — Tom Shales Attention Copy Share Image
So it is that one side effect of the HD revolution has been the gratifying and edifying return of the nature documentary… — Tom Shales About Copy Share Image
"More fun than a barrel of monkeys." Has anyone ever stopped to think how cranky, if not downright vicious, a barrelful of… — Tom Shales Barrels Copy Share Image
'I Love Lucy,' the first classic, really belonged more to the Wacky Woman genre than the domestic sitcom; 'My Little Margie' and… — Tom Shales Among Copy Share Image
No matter how much programming improves, however, media savants tend to see the medium living out numbered days. It's feared that the… — Tom Shales Findings Copy Share Image
Somewhere around the turn of the century, it stopped being hip to say you never watched TV. Adults are much more likely… — Tom Shales Adults Copy Share Image
It might be hard to remember this far back, but once upon a time, some of us hoped that public TV would… — Tom Shales Alternative Copy Share Image
Larry King's show got to be an increasingly lonely outpost of humane civility in a mephitic menagerie of hotheads, saber rattlers, cretins… — Tom Shales Civility Copy Share Image
Crime dramas will never go away as long as people turn to television for, among other things, reassurance and comfort. — Tom Shales Among Copy Share Image
You do have to wonder how Jack Bauer, maverick hero of '24,' can stay hidden for so long when no matter where… — Tom Shales Always Copy Share Image
'American Idol' is sometimes lumped with reality shows and it has that element - folks-next-door battling it out in a contest. But… — Tom Shales American Copy Share Image
People of a certain age look back on the Mayberry of 'The Andy Griffith Show' and become almost as homesick for that… — Tom Shales Age Copy Share Image
'Dragnet' (the 1951 original, transferred nearly intact from radio) served as a veritable template for all cop shows to come. — Tom Shales Come Copy Share Image
In the 500-channel universe, which may, of course, contain many more channels than 500, the fun never stops - fun at such… — Tom Shales Agonizing Copy Share Image
You don't hear TV cops griping because they have to enforce some Draconian law that shouldn't be on the books in the… — Tom Shales Book Copy Share Image
You know you're getting older when - well, first off, when you read almost any story that begins 'You know you're getting… — Tom Shales Almost Copy Share Image
Tom Snyder was born to broadcast. He loved television and it loved him back. In that, he was a member of a… — Tom Shales Air Copy Share Image
Perhaps Western civilization is in a post-decline phase, or maybe the decline is just taking a really long time, like the Roman… — Tom Shales Christian Copy Share Image
Your humble critic confesses that he has been wrestling with 'weight issues' since leaving college lo these, uh, several years ago, so… — Tom Shales Been Copy Share Image
Tom Snyder was big enough to fill the night with talk and his own persona. The Snyder we saw on TV was… — Tom Shales Big Copy Share Image
Television's escapist programming naturally continues to endorse living beyond one's means as the time-tested American Way and rarely depicts families or individuals… — Tom Shales Escapists Copy Share Image
