The Ernie Kovacs Show
| The Ernie Kovacs Show | |
|---|---|
ABC | |
| Release | December 30, 1952-April 1953 (CBS) 1953-1954 (CBS) April 12, 1954 – April 7, 1955 (DuMont)[4][6] ABC (1961-62) |
The Ernie Kovacs Show is an American comedy show hosted by comedian
, 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 others being The Original Amateur Hour, Pantomime Quiz, Down You Go, The Arthur Murray Party, and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.
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
DuMont
From April 12, 1954, to April 7, 1955, he also had a
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.[7][8][9][10]
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.
Kovacs also served as the regular substitute for Steve Allen on Tonight 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.
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's Concerto for Orchestra and The Nairobi Trio performing to Robert Maxwell's "Solfeggio," the latter's insertion after the closing credits made possible because the sponsor Dutch Masters allowed the special to run commercial-free.[11][13]
Production notes
The original studio location was on the 4th floor of the WPTZ-TV (now KYW-TV) 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 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.[14]
See also
- List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
- List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
- List of late-night American network TV programs
- Three to Get Ready (TV series), aired November 27, 1950, to March 28, 1952, Mondays to Fridays mornings on Philadelphia station WPTZ
- Ernie in Kovacsland aired July and August 1951 on NBC as summer replacement for Kukla, Fran and Ollie
- 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
- ^ "Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams Signed "Potato Head Prize."... Movie/TV | Lot #49125". Heritage Auctions. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ "Signed Cast Photograph of Ernie Kovacs Pioneering Comedy Program". The Raab Collection. Archived from the original on 13 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ Chorba, Frank J. "Ernie Kovacs, U. S. Comedian". Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
- ^ ISBN 1-59213-499-8. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- ^ a b Crosby, John (8 January 1953). "Latest TV Star, Kovacs, Needs To Rehearse". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
- ^ Ernie Kovacs To Return. Billboard. 10 April 1954. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
- ^ "Ernie Kovacs Show". WABD.
- ^ "Ernie Kovacs Show". WABD.
- ^ "Ernie Kovacs Show". WABD.
- ^ "Ernie Kovacs Show". WABD.
- ^ a b Rico, Diana. Kovacsland. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990. Retrieved January 22, 2019
- ^ "Primetime Emmy Award Database-Ernie Kovacs". American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 9 July 2010.
- ^ Kovacs Special #8, January 23, 1962 (The Ernie Kovacs Collection) – ShoutFactoryTV. Retrieved January 22, 2019
- ^ "The David Letterman Show, Interview with Bill Wendell (2 min, 13 second mark)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-22. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
External links
