Tom Shales
Born	Thomas William Shales (1944-11-03)November 3, 1944 Elgin, Illinois, U.S.
Died	January 13, 2024(2024-01-13) (aged 79) Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Occupation	Critic author
Education	Elgin Community College American University (BA)
Period	1968–2015
Subjects	Television
Notable works	Live from New York Those Guys Have All the Fun
Notable awards	Pulitzer Prize for Criticism (1988)

Thomas William Shales (November 3, 1944 – January 13, 2024) was an American writer and television critic.

He was atelevision critic forThe Washington Post from 1977 to 2010, for which he received thePulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1988. Shales also wrote a column for the television news trade publicationNewsPro, published byCrain Communications.

Thomas William Shales was born inElgin, Illinois, on November 3, 1944, to Clyde Shales (who had once been Elgin's mayor) and Hulda Shales, and graduated fromElgin High School in 1962.^[1][2][3] He attendedElgin Community College^[1] before transferring toAmerican University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a degree in journalism and was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper,The Eagle, for the 1966–1967 academic year, as well as the paper's movie critic.^{[4][5][6][7][3]}

Shales's first professional job was with radio stationWRMN/WRMN-FM in Elgin at the age of 18. He served as the station's disc jockey, local news reporter, writer and announcer, on both the AM and FM bands. He later worked withVoice of America as a producer of broadcasts to the Far East.^[4]

Shales worked as entertainment editor at theD.C. Examiner, a tabloid newspaper, from 1968 to 1971.^[1] He joinedThe 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.^[4] His reviews were syndicated in newspapers nationwide.^[7] By 2006, his combined income from his salary and his syndication earnings neared $400,000 a year.^[1][7]

Shales was known for his withering putdowns of shows he disliked, and was nicknamed "Terrible Tom" and "the Terror of the Tube".^[7] His blunt style could polarize;Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994 wrote: "Forget the middle ground, Shales either loves it or hates it – and his reviews of TV shows and personalities are often unabashed paroxysms of that love or hate.... Like the medium he covers, Shales turns out fast-paced and amusing fare that often lacks depth".^[8] His influence was such that shows he panned would sometimes include unflattering references to him as inside jokes.^[1] Shales called such barbs "a TV critic's only shot at immortality".^[7]

His influence also extended to other critics.Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire, who founded and served as president of the Chicago Film Critics Association, described him as setting a standard with writing that was "incredibly funny, creative, inventive and smart" and with a style more akin to a barroom discussion with readers than a lecture.^[3]

In 1988, Shales received thePulitzer Prize for Criticism for his work atThe Washington Post,^[4] including his coverage of theRobert Bork Supreme Court nomination hearings.^[6] From 1998 to 1999, he was a frequent film critic forMorning Edition onNational Public Radio.^[9] He was a guest co-host on the television showRoger Ebert & the Movies after the death ofGene Siskel.^[10][11][12] Shales was a member of thePeabody AwardsBoard of Jurors from 1991 to 1996.^[13]

In 2006, Shales ceased to be a staff writer for thePost and went on contract, where he remained until 2010, when he was laid off entirely by the newspaper.^[14][15] From 2012 to 2014, he wrote a column forRogerEbert.com.^[16][17]

Shales published four books, including two he co-wrote withJames Andrew Miller. In 2002, Shales and Miller publishedLive From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, which covers the history of thesketch-comedy variety show, and provides a behind-the-scenes look at its stars and production process.^[18] The book was re-released in 2015 to coincide withSaturday Night Live's40th anniversary. The updated edition contained over 100 pages of new material.^[19]

In 2011, Shales and Miller published their second book together,Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, which chronicles the history of the networkESPN from its infancy in 1979 through 2010.^[20] In 2015,Focus Features optioned the book to adapt it into a film.^[21]

Shales died fromCOVID-19 andkidney failure at a hospital inAlexandria, Virginia, on January 13, 2024, at the age of 79.^[1][7]

• On the Air!. New York: Summit Books. 1982.ISBN 9780671442033.OL 3490676M.
• Legends: Remembering America's Greatest Stars. New York: Random House. 1989.ISBN 978-0394575216
• James Andrew Miller (2002).Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. New York: Little, Brown and Co.ISBN 978-0316295062
• Miller, James; Shales, Tom (2011).Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN (1st Back Bay pbk. ed.). New York: Back Bay Books.ISBN 9780316043007.OCLC 668192506.

• Archive of Tom Shales' blog
• Appearances onC-SPAN
• Tom Shales atIMDb
• Tom Shales discography atDiscogs

• 1944 births
• 2024 deaths
• 20th-century American journalists
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American non-fiction writers
• 21st-century American male writers
• 21st-century American non-fiction writers
• American University alumni
• 20th-century American male journalists
• American television critics
• Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia
• Deaths from kidney failure in the United States
• Journalists from Illinois
• People from Elgin, Illinois
• Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners
• The Washington Post journalists
• Voice of America people

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from January 2024
• People appearing on C-SPAN