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Tom Shales Biography

Tom Shales aka
Tom Shales
Born: 1944-11-03
Birthplace: Elgin, Illinois

Race: White
Field: Critic
Famous for: TV critic

Field: Critic

Tom Shales is an American critic of television programming and operations. Born in Elgin, Illinois, he has written for the Washington Post newspaper for several decades. He is generally credited for popularizing the idea of treating TV as seriously as theater or film from a critic's point of view.

Shales's first job was with radio station WRMN, in Elgin, at the age of 18. He filled the station's AM and FM airwaves as disc jockey, local news reporter, writer and announcer. He later worked with Voice of America as a producer of broadcasts to the Far East.

Shales graduated from American University. He was Editor-In-Chief of the student newspaper, The Eagle, for the 1966-1967 academic year, and appointed himself movie critic. He was Entertainment Editor at the Washington Examiner from 1968-1971. He joined The Washington Post as a writer in the Style section in 1972, was named chief television critic in July 1977, and was appointed TV Editor in June 1979. The Washington Post Writers Group has syndicated his column since 1979.

During 1998-1999, Shales was a frequent film critic for Morning Edition on National Public Radio. He was twice a guest co-host on Siskel & Ebert at the Movies after the death of Gene Siskel.

His books include Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (2002, co-authored with James Andrew Miller) about the peak and valley history and behind the scenes conflicts of NBC's long-running sketch comedy show, On the Air! and Legends: Remembering America's Greatest Stars.

Shales won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1988 for work with the Washington Post.

Tom Shales News


Washington Post

TV Preview: Tom Shales on hbo's riveting documentary "Terror in Mumbai"
Washington Post
Murder may be most foul when random and arbitrary, partly because the murderers may thus be imagining themselves God's equals, ...

and more »


Shales on TV live: 'The Prisoner' is a good escape, more
Washington Post
Washington Post Style columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Shales was online Tuesday, Nov. 17, at Noon ET to discuss television, its cultural impact and ...



Shales on TV live: Diane Sawyer to World News; Stephanopoulos to GMA?
Washington Post
Washington Post Style columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Shales was online Tuesday, Nov. 10, at Noon ET to discuss television, its cultural impact and ...
Will...


Washington Post

Bravo: TV's unlikely moral center
Washington Post
Let me explain: TOM SHALES, who has been the critic for 32 years and basically invented the form, is still on board, writing a column, hosting a chat, ...

and more »


Airwaves that echo with fright all month long? The horror! The horror!
Washington Post
Traditionally there are 12 days of Christmas, and eight days of Hanukkah. Why, then, would we possibly need "31 Days of Halloween," which is ...

and more »


Seinfeld adds second show
Peoria Journal Star
Seinfeld, who Washington Post reporter Tom Shales recently called "the master stand-up comic of his generation" and "the best comedian of our time," last ...



The Reliable Source: Jack White, Michelle Rhee, a-ha, Levi Johnston, Carrie ...
Washington Post
I just remember Tom Shales reviewing his show "Las Vegas," and saying that Duhamel looked like the guy modeling shirts in the Montgomery Ward catalog. .....


Reality TV: How the moster came to dominate the tube
Vancouver Sun
The Washington Post's Tom Shales wrote at the time that the program was not so much an experiment in socialization as it was about the indoctrination of ...

and more »


Mediaite.com

Nell Scovell Is My New Hero
Mediaite.com
(By the way, after Watkins was inexplicably let go from SNL this fall, Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales suggested that she ?may have been just too ...

and more »


Washington Post

Remake plots a good, though not great, escape
Washington Post
(Amc) By Tom Shales Though it could be glibly dismissed as cut-rate Kafka or imitation Orwell, AMC's new six-hour miniseries "The Prisoner" -- a remake of a ...

and more »



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