How Ernie Kovacs Helped Inspire the Counter Culture
Original Airdates: Mar. 8-11, 2024
TVC 640.1: Ed welcomes Josh Mills, son of Edie Adams and the curator of the estates of Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams, and author Pat Thomas (Invitation to Openness: the Jazz & Soul Photography of Les McCann, Material Wealth: Mining the Personal Archive of Allen Ginsberg, Did It! Jerry Rubin: An American Revolutionary). Josh and Pat are two of the co-authors, along with Ben Model, of Ernie in Kovacsland: Writings, Drawings, and Photographs from Television’s Original Genius, a marvelously conceived, non-linear book that gives readers a true glimpse into the mind of Ernie Kovacs.
Topics this segment include how, in many ways, Ernie in Kovacsland is an outgrowth of Edie’s tireless preservation of all things Ernie Kovacs; how she recognized that Ernie was doing something before anyone else did; and how Kovacs’ influence extends to such counter-cultural figures as Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Alice Cooper, and the original writers and performers of Saturday Night Live.
Ernie Kovacs and The Silent Show
Original Airdates: Mar. 8-11, 2024
TVC 640.2: Josh Mills and Pat Thomas talk to Ed about The Silent Show, the iconic NBC special from January 1957 that is the only Ernie Kovacs television show to be broadcast in color. Other topics this segment include how Kovacs was a constant presence on television from 1950 until his death in January 1962 (even though he never had a “long-running” series, per se); his incredible knack for generating publicity; and how the Percy Dovetonsils poem “Thoughts While Falling Off the Empire State Building” is one example of how Kovacs came to influence the Yippies and the Beat generation. Josh and Pat are two of the co-authors, along with Ben Model, of Ernie in Kovacsland, a marvelously conceived book that not only gives readers a true glimpse into the mind of Ernie Kovacs, but shows the many media outlets for Ernie’s creativity that went beyond television.
Ernie Kovacs, Zoomar, and Take a Good Look
Original Airdates: Mar. 15-18, 2024
TVC 641.1: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Josh Mills, son of Edie Adams and the curator of the estates of Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams, and Pat Thomas author of Invitation to Openness: the Jazz & Soul Photography of Les McCann, Material Wealth: Mining the Personal Archive of Allen Ginsberg, and Did It! Jerry Rubin: An American Revolutionary. Josh and Pat are two of the co-authors, along with Ben Model, of Ernie in Kovacsland: Writings, Drawings, and Photographs from Television’s Original Genius, a marvelously conceived book that not only gives readers a true glimpse into the mind of Ernie Kovacs, but shows the many media outlets for Ernie’s creativity that went beyond television.
Topics this segment include the back story of Zoomar, the satirical novel about advertising and television that Ernie published in 1957, but which is still timely today; Take a Good Look, the “anti-game show” that Ernie hosted (ABC, 1959-1961) that, in many respects, is also the essence of Ernie Kovacs; and the perforated, three-page foldout in Ernie in Kovacsland that pays homage to Ernie’s long association with MAD magazine.
Ernie Kovacs, Jack Lemmon, and Soupy Sales
Original Airdates: Mar. 15-18, 2024
TVC 641.2: Josh Mills and Pat Thomas talk to Ed about Ernie Kovacs’ many collaborations and longtime friendship with Jack Lemmon; how the format for Ernie’s successful morning show in Philadelphia inspired NBC to develop The Today Show; how Kovacs was the first to understand that television was an intimate form; and how Ernie’s influence can be seen in the antics of comedian Soupy Sales. Josh and Pat are two of the co-authors, along with Ben Model, of Ernie in Kovacsland, a marvelously conceived book that not only gives readers a true glimpse into the mind of Ernie Kovacs, but shows the many media outlets for Ernie’s creativity that went beyond television.
