VIDEO: Sneak Peek - PBS to Premiere Film on 'America's Mayor' KOCH

By: Sep. 02, 2014
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Ed Koch -- who New Yorkers either loved or hated -- will be featured in the upcoming film "Koch," which will have its national broadcast premiere on Monday, September 22 at 10:00pm on PBS as part of the 27th season of POV (Point of View). The film is the story of "America's Mayor" and traces the rise in his popularity during three terms in office at a time of crisis and re-invention.

First-time director and former New York Daily News and Wall Street Journal reporter Neil Barsky brings the story of this quintessential New York City politician to life, capturing Koch's many dimensions of being funny, blunt, combative, shrewd and yet charismatic.

PBS Premiere: September 22, 2014

Check local listings »

Online: Sept. 23, 2014 - Oct. 22, 2014

Synopsis

New York City mayors have a world stage on which to strut, and they have made legendary use of it. Yet few have matched the bravado, combativeness and egocentricity that Ed Koch brought to the office during his three terms from 1978 to 1989. As Neil Barsky's Koch recounts, Koch was more than the blunt, funny man New Yorkers either loved or hated.

Elected in the 1970s during the city's fiscal crisis, he was a new Democrat for the dawning Reagan era-fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Koch finds the former mayor politically active to the end (he died in 2013)-still winning the affection of many New Yorkers while driving others to distraction.



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