“Why, on my mother's birthday, am I thinking about 'Father Knows Best?'...” — Tom Shales Quote

“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, was meant to be slightly sardonic.”

“By a twist of fate rather than anything approaching journalistic enterprise, I did the last major interview with Johnny Carson.”

“'Minute to Win It' is a variation on a game show from the 1950s called 'Beat the Clock,' in which contestants won washing machines and fox stoles by doing such pointless stunts as catching a tennis ball in a paper cup or knocking a hat off one's wife's head with a whipped-cream spritzer.”

“On its self-titled debut, Happy Birthday flirts with several flavors of love, and 'Girls FM' is where taste gets confusing.”

“If I could go back and tell 13-year-old self that I would be on screen with Lisa Kudrow, spending my birthday on a ghost train in Blackpool with her, I would have been beside myself.”

“I believe that if writers want their readers to care about a character, they have to care themselves. I have to root for a detective who screws up as much as Thorne does, who shares my birthday, my North London stomping ground, and my love of country music, both alt and cheesy.”