John Crosby (media critic)
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John Crosby was the first television critic to achieve fame. Before that, he was a radio critic. He wrote for the New York Herald Tribune. He was so highly respected that he became the first television critic to host a television show. This was the Emmy-winning anthology program The Seven Lively Arts, on CBS, a program that aired on Sunday afternoons and lasted a single season - from late 1957 to early 1958. It is sometimes cited as the first clear proof that television audiences did not want "highbrow" entertainment. The program was notable for the first telecast ever of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker. He is also famous for his literate, caustic remarks about the television industry.
One of his most notable quotes came upon the cancellation of Edward R. Murrow's famous television program See It Now :
" 'See it Now' ...is by every criterion television's most brilliant, most decorated, most imaginative, most courageous and most important program. The fact that CBS cannot afford it but can afford 'Beat the Clock' is shocking."
Another notable Crosby quote, on the role of a television critic:
"He is forced to be literate about the illiterate, witty about the witless and coherent about the incoherent."
