Crime dramas will never go away as long as people turn to television for, among other things, reassurance and comfort. Tom Shales comfortcrimedrama Change image and share on social
Like sugar and, oh - let's say the most tabloidy and gossipy reality television programs - credit is, for millions, genuinely addictive. Tom Shales addictivecreditgenuinely Change image and share on social
Larry David's armor is his dissatisfaction with the world down to the smallest detail, and up to the whole ghastly arrangement. He won't win, but he'll enjoy losing. Tom Shales armorarrangementdavid Change image and share on social
'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 agebeavercelebrate Change image and share on social
'Kukla, Fran and Ollie' occurred in real time and was a benign and bewitching example of pure television. Tom Shales benignbewitchfran Change image and share on social
Larry King's show got to be an increasingly lonely outpost of humane civility in a mephitic menagerie of hotheads, saber rattlers, cretins and crackpots. Tom Shales civilitycrackpotcretin Change image and share on social
If the networks can get audiences to tolerate pop-up promos by the dozens, maybe they'll start selling pop-up commercials, too. Tom Shales audiencecommercialdozen Change image and share on social
In the best traditions of American comedy, from its beginnings through the crash-bang comedies of the 1990s and 2000s, Leslie Nielsen skewered the otherwise proper, did it with mischievous delight and convulsed audiences mercilessly. Tom Shales 1990s2000samerican share on social
'American Idol' is sometimes lumped with reality shows and it has that element - folks-next-door battling it out in a contest. But instead of fighting leeches, bugs, parasites and each other, as on CBS's 'Survivor' and other shows that imitate it, the 'American Idol' contestants, of course, sing. Tom Shales americanbattlebug share on social
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 not replaced. Maybe they're deemed unnecessary because nobody cares if anything's good or not. Tom Shales carecitycritic share on social