Editing Ernie Kovacs (section)

==TV specials==
[[File:Kovacs special 1968.JPG|thumb|200px|Kovacs slapped the hood of this [[Nash Metropolitan]] car, sending it down into a hole in the ground, circa 1960–1961.  Reportedly, the cost to produce this one quick blackout used  the entire budget for his half-hour television show.]]
He also did several television specials, including the famous ''[[Silent Show]]'' (1957), featuring his character, Eugene: the first all-pantomime prime-time network program. After the end of the [[Dean Martin]]-[[Jerry Lewis]] partnership, NBC offered Lewis the opportunity to host his own 90-minute color television special. Lewis opted to use only 60 minutes, leaving the network 30 minutes to fill; no one wanted this [[time slot]], but Kovacs was willing to have it.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Ernie Kovacs Phile|url=https://archive.org/details/erniekovacsphile00wall|url-access=registration|last=Walley |first=David G.|year=1987|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster, Inc.]]|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-918282-06-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/erniekovacsphile00wall/page/120 120]}}</ref>{{sfn|Greene|2007|p=65}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://users.rcn.com/manaben/Klifemag.html|title=Ernie's Life Magazine cover |author=Model, Ben|publisher=Model, Ben|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060208071526/http://users.rcn.com/manaben/Klifemag.html |archive-date = February 8, 2006}}</ref> The program contained no spoken dialogue and contained only sound effects and music.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7hRUAAAAIBAJ&pg=3789,2560910&dq=ernie+kovacs&hl=en|title=TV Key Previews|date=January 19, 1957|work= St. Joseph News-Press|access-date=March 18, 2011}}</ref> Featuring Kovacs as the mute, [[Charlie Chaplin]]-like character "Eugene", the program contained [[Surreal humor|surreal]] sight gags.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ugUdAAAAIBAJ&pg=7113,2850782&dq=ernie+kovacs+eugene&hl=en|title=Radio & TV|author=Crosby, John|date=January 24, 1957|work=Sarasota Journal|access-date=November 12, 2010}}</ref> Kovacs developed the Eugene character during the autumn of 1956, when hosting the television series ''[[The Tonight Show]]''.{{sfn|Greene|2007|p=66}} Expectations were high for the Lewis program, but it was Kovacs' special that received the most attention; Kovacs received his first movie offer, had a cover story in ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine, and received the [[Sylvania Award]] that year.<ref name="Vision"/><!-- Comment Emmys began during 1949 http://www.emmys.com/award_history_search?person=ernie+kovacs&program=&start_year=1949&end_year=2010&network=All&web_category=All&winner=All --> 
In 1961, Kovacs and his co-director, Joe Behar, were recipients of the [[Directors Guild of America]] Award for a second version of this program broadcast by the [[American Broadcasting Company]] network.<ref name="Ernie">{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/kovaksernie/kovacsernie.htm|title=Ernie Kovacs, U.S. Comedian|author=Chorba, Frank J.|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications|access-date=November 8, 2010|archive-date=September 11, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911105024/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/kovaksernie/kovacsernie.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A series of monthly half-hour specials for ABC during 1961–62 is often considered his best television work. Produced on videotape using new editing and special effects techniques, it won a 1962 [[Emmy Award]].<ref name="Emmy"/> Kovacs and co-director Behar also won the Directors Guild of America award for an ''Ernie Kovacs Special'' based on the earlier, silent "Eugene" program. Kovacs' last ABC special was broadcast posthumously, on January 23, 1962.<ref name="Directors">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13989140/kovacs_posthumous_honor/|title=Late Ernie Kovacs Is Honored As Best TV Director Of 1961|page=18|date=12 February 1962|newspaper=Courier-Journal|access-date=September 25, 2017|via = [[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref>

The [[Dutch Masters (cigar)|Dutch Masters]] cigar company became well known during the late 1950s and early 1960s for its sponsorship of various television projects of Ernie Kovacs. The company allowed Kovacs total creative control in the creation of their television commercials for his programs and specials.  He produced a series of non-speaking television commercials for Dutch Masters during the run of his television series ''Take A Good Look'' which was praised by both television critics and viewers.{{sfn|Spigel|2009|pp=202-203}}{{efn|During 1960, the trade journal ''[[Advertising Age]]'' termed Kovacs "one of the TV commercial's best public relations experts right now". Shortly before his death, Kovacs was negotiating with Colgate-Palmolive to produce silent commercials for the company's products. After Kovacs's death, the trade magazine ''[[Printers' Ink]]'' wrote that Kovacs's silent Dutch Masters commercials proved that creativity can be compatible with commercialism and that pioneering with regard to sponsorship can pay.{{sfn|Spigel|2009|p=205}}{{sfn|Samuel|2001|p=173}}}}

While praised by critics, Kovacs rarely had a highly rated show.<ref name=Museum/> The Museum of Broadcast Communications says, "It is doubtful that Ernie Kovacs would find a place on television today. He was too zany, too unrestrained, too undisciplined. Perhaps Jack Gould of ''[[The New York Times]]'' said it best for Ernie Kovacs: 'The fun was in trying'."<ref name="Museum">{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/E/htmlE/ErnieKovaksShow/erkovacshow.htm |title=The Ernie Kovacs Show |publisher=Museum of Broadcast Communications |access-date=September 5, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204111710/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/E/htmlE/ErnieKovaksShow/erkovacshow.htm |archive-date=December 4, 2010 }}</ref>

Other shows had greater success while using elements of Kovacs's style. [[George Schlatter]], producer of the later television series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'', was married to actress [[Jolene Brand]], who had appeared in Kovacs' comic troupes over the years and had been a frequent participant in his pioneering sketches. ''Laugh-In'' made frequent use of the quick blackout gags and surreal humor that marked many Kovacs projects. Another link was a young NBC staffer, [[Bill Wendell]], Kovacs's usual announcer and sometimes a sketch participant. From 1980 to 1995, Wendell was the announcer for [[David Letterman]].<ref name="Wendell"/>
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