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''The Ernie Kovacs Show'' was an American comedy show hosted by comedian
Ernie Kovacs Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years afte ...
, first shown in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
during the early 1950s, then nationally. The show appeared in many versions and formats, including
daytime Daytime as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the globe's hemis ...
,
prime-time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
, late-night,
talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...
,
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
, and as a summer replacement series. ''The Ernie Kovacs Show'' was one of only six TV shows broadcast on all four U.S. television networks during the
Golden Age of Television The first Golden Age of Television is an era of television in the Television in the United States, United States marked by its large number of live productions. The period is generally recognized as beginning in 1947 with the first episode of th ...
, the others being ''
The Original Amateur Hour ''The Original Amateur Hour'' is an American radio and television program. The show was a continuation of ''Major Bowes Amateur Hour'' which had been a radio staple from 1934 to 1945. Major Edward Bowes, the originator of the program and its mas ...
'', ''
Pantomime Quiz ''Pantomime Quiz'', initially titled ''Pantomime Quiz Time'' and later ''Stump the Stars'', was an American television game show produced and hosted by Mike Stokey. Running from 1947—1959, it has the distinction of being one of the few tel ...
'', ''
Down You Go ''Down You Go'' is an American television game show originally broadcast on the DuMont Television Network. The Emmy Award-nominated series ran from 1951 to 1956 as a prime time series primarily hosted by Dr. Bergen Evans. The program aired in el ...
'', ''
The Arthur Murray Party ''The Arthur Murray Party'' is an American television variety show which ran from July 1950 until September 1960. The show was hosted by famous dancers Arthur and Kathryn Murray, and was basically one long advertisement for their chain of dance s ...
'', and ''
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of ''Tom Corbett—Space Cadet'' stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, and other media in the 1950s. The stories followed the adventures of Corbett, Astro ...
''.


CBS

From April 21, 1952, to January 15, 1954, Kovacs had a daytime show under the name ''Kovacs Unlimited'' airing Monday through Friday at 8:30 am ET on
CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
. From December 30, 1952, to April 14, 1953, CBS aired the one-hour ''The Ernie Kovacs Show'' on Tuesday evenings at 8pm ET.


DuMont

From April 12, 1954, to April 7, 1955, he also had a
late night television Late night television is one of the dayparts in television broadcast programming. It follows prime time and precedes the overnight television show graveyard slot. The slot generally runs from about 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. ET, with variation ...
talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...
on the
DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...
under the title ''The Ernie Kovacs Show'', which aired from 11:15pm to 12:15am ET. Kovacs began to refer to this show as ''The Ernie Kovacs Rehearsal'' in its final months. Of the DuMont-WABD version, three partial episodes and one complete episode are known to survive. The DuMont series, while also a talk show, included many comedy segments. For example, one episode featured a spoof commercial for a product called "Kodadent", a black toothpaste.


Two NBC series

From July 2 to September 10, 1956, NBC ran ''The Ernie Kovacs Show'' as a summer replacement series for '' Caesar's Hour'' starring
Sid Caesar Isaac Sidney Caesar (September 8, 1922 â€“ February 12, 2014) was an American comic actor, comedian and writer. With a career spanning 60 years, he was best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: ''Your Show of Shows'' (1950†...
. Kovacs also served as the regular substitute for
Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 â€“ October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...
on ''
Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...
'' from September 1956 until Allen's departure from the show (and its subsequent reformat as a news program) in January 1957.


ABC-TV specials

A series of eight monthly half-hour specials also titled ''The Ernie Kovacs Show'' aired Thursdays 10:30 to 11:00 pm ET on ABC from April 1961 to January 1962 with the exception of a two-month summer break in July and August.Rico, Diana. ''Kovacsland''. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990. Retrieved January 22, 2019 This latter series is often considered Kovacs' best television work. Shot on videotape using new editing and special effects techniques, it won an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
in 1961. Kovacs and co-director Joe Behar also won the
Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...
award for a November 1961 installment, based on Kovacs' "Eugene" character. The eighth and final ABC special, taped on December 3, 1961, aired on what was to have been Kovacs' 43rd birthday on January 23, 1962. The episode was restructured into a posthumous tribute to Kovacs, who had died ten days prior. Two of its features were encore presentations of the dawn-to-dusk urban street scene piece accompanied by
Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
's '' Concerto for Orchestra'' and
The Nairobi Trio The Nairobi Trio was a sketch comedy skit that Ernie Kovacs performed many times for his TV shows. It combined several existing concepts and visuals in a novel and creative way. People in gorilla suits had long been a comedy staple. The ploy of ...
performing to
Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...
's "Solfeggio," the latter's insertion after the closing credits made possible because the sponsor
Dutch Masters Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republ ...
allowed the special to run
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
-free.


Production notes

The original studio location was on the 4th floor of the WPTZ-TV (now
KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...
) studio location at 1619 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. That studio was very small and accommodated approximately 45 audience members. The basement studio of the same building is where ''
The Mike Douglas Show ''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into nati ...
'' was shot from June 1965 until July 1972. This studio was converted for office use for an architectural firm in 2002. At NBC, the show was broadcast from Studio 6-B at NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center. The studio was subsequently used for various versions of ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...
''.


See also

*
List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network This is a list of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network, which operated in the United States from 1942 to 1956. All regularly scheduled programs which were aired on the DuMont network are listed below, regardless of whether they orig ...
*
List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts The DuMont Television Network was launched in 1946 and ceased broadcasting in 1956. Allen DuMont, who created the network, preserved most of what it produced in kinescope format. By 1958, however, much of the library had been destroyed to recove ...
*
List of late-night American network TV programs Late night television in the United States is the block of television programming intended for broadcast after 11:00 p.m. and usually through 2:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time (ET/PT), but which informally can include programs aired ...
*'' Three to Get Ready (TV series)'', aired November 27, 1950, to March 28, 1952, Mondays to Fridays mornings on Philadelphia station
WPTZ WPTZ (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Montpelier, Verm ...
*'' Ernie in Kovacsland'' aired July and August 1951 on NBC as summer replacement for ''
Kukla, Fran and Ollie ''Kukla, Fran and Ollie'' is an early American television show using puppets. It was created for children, but soon watched by more adults than children. It did not have a script and was entirely ad-libbed. It was broadcast from Chicago between ...
'' *'' Take a Good Look'' game show aired October 22, 1959, to July 21, 1960, and October 27, 1960, to March 16, 1961, on Thursdays 10:30-11pm ET on ABC *'' Silents Please'' March 23 to October 5, 1961 on Thursdays 10:30-11pm ET on ABC


References


External links

*
''Ernie in Kovacsland'' at IMDB

''Take a Good Look'' at IMDB

''Silents Please'' at IMDB

Ernie Kovacs Dot Net: A Tribute To Television's Original Genius

The Ernie Kovacs Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernie Kovacs Show 1952 American television series debuts 1955 American television series endings 1950s American sketch comedy television series 1961 American television series debuts 1962 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows CBS original programming DuMont Television Network original programming English-language television shows NBC original programming 1950s American late-night television series NBC late-night programming Television in Philadelphia Television shows filmed in New York (state)