(This is the latest chapter of a book-in-progress, “Television, and How It Got That Way.” If you scroll up one, you’ll see all of the chapters so far, including this one, in their places in the book.)
For 30 years, a fourth TV network seemed like mere myth.
That was after the death of DuMont and before the birth of Fox. There were several tries, all imploding quickly.
One such fizzle (a 1967 latenight show led by Bill Dana, shown here) was declared by Jack Gould, the New York Times TV critic, to seal things. It was “further evidence that expansion of commercial TV is little more than a pipe dream.”
Hey, weren’t three enough options? Just look at the choices in ‘67:.
— As primetime started on Wednesdays, you could choose between two cowboy shows (“Custer” and “The Virginian”) and “Lost in Space.” There was nothing set in this era on this planet.
— The next night, you could choose between two more westerns (“Daniel Boone” and “Cimarron Strip”) and “The Flying Nun.”
Surely, three choices would be enough. One network executive said viewers would simply choose “the least objectionable program.” Sometimes, we did.
Except later, it turned out that we really prefer having four choices … or seven … or, as the cable and streaming eras took hold, seemingly hundreds.
But at first, no one could get a fourth network right – especially Paramount.
As a studio, Paramount has done a splendid job of making movies (“Godfather,” “Titanic,” “Forrest Gump,” etc.). And TV? After a wobbly start, it bought the Desilu company from Lucille Ball, later adding top comedies from Garry Marshall (“Happy Days,” “Laverne and Shirley,” “Mork and Mindy”) and beyond (“Cheers,” “Family Ties”).
But creating its own network? Paramount kept botching it:
— It could have nudged DuMont to success. It owned 40 percent of the network and had two things that would have helped – stations it owned in Los Angeles and Chicago, plus lots of films that could have been shown. Instead, it withheld both and watched DuMont die.
— At the same time, it tried the Paramount Television Service. That was sort of a syndicator (selling shows, station-by-station), with network aspirations.
A few programs were notable. “Time For Beany,” a children’s show, won a 1949 Emmy; Lawrence Welk was briefly at Paramount, before moving on.
And the rest? The world soon forgot “Hollywood Wrestling” or “The Spade Cooley Show” or “Frosty Frolics” or “Adventures in Music” – which, of course, centered on an organist.
— In 1977, it had a simple plan for Saturdays – a new “Star Trek” series at 8 p.m. and a movie at 9. That one might have worked, but never got started..
— A decade later, that series — “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — finally debuted. Syndicated to individual stations, it was beautifully crafted and a quick ratings success. That brought yet another network scheme: Combine three syndicated shows – the “Star Trek” one plus “She-Wolf” and “They Came From Outer Space” – with three new ones. That, too, was abandoned.
Other new-network plans kept surfacing, some from potent sources: There was Mutual, already big in radio … and Kaiser Broadcasting … and MGM … and a combination of three big station groups, Metromedia, Westinghouse and Hughes Television Network.
Even Pat Weaver, the early NBC mastermind, started a syndicator that could evolve into a network.”Within a year,” he wrote, “we had acquired ‘Ding Dong School’ … and had it widely sold, five mornings a week.” Also, “our nighttime programming showed promise.”
Alas, there’s a huge gulf between “Ding Dong School” and a new network. He never got close; neither did others, including a splashy one:
Daniel Overmyer was dubbed “the king of warehousing.” Expanding a business his father started, he had more than 350 warehouses.
Somehow, he considered that a fine background for starting a TV network. Fortunately, he knew enough to hire a pro.
Ollie Treyz had become ABC’s president in 1956, when he was only 38 and the network was only so-so. “He was brilliant,” Leonard Goldenson, the network co-founder, wrote. “Charismatic, ebullient, a born salesman.”
During his four years as president (and two as vice-president), Treyz molded ABC as an action network. He fostered cowboy shows (“Maverick,” “The Rifleman,” “Cheyenne”), plus “The Untouchables,” “Hawaiian Eye,” “77 Sunset Strip” and more.
When he took over, ABC had one show in the top-30; when he left (after controversy over violence in a “Bus Stop” episode), it had seven.
This was someone who knew TV: He linked with the Overmyer for a plan:
The new network would own seven small-ish stations (the limit at that time) and have affiliate agreements with others, including flagship stations in New York and Los Angeles.
And it would start ambitiously, with “The Las Vegas Show.”
Here was a two-hour show (90 minutes in some markets). It had a clever host (Bill Dana, a writer and comedian, known for the Jose Jimenez character), lots of sketch-comedy regulars (including Jo Anne Worley and Ann Elder, who both became “Laugh-In” regulars) and more.
Guests included comedians (Mort Sahl, Red Foxx, Milton Berle, Don Rickles), musicians (Sarah Vaughan, Della Reese, Liberace) and personalities (Hugh Hefner, John Wayne).
This was a latenight show. It faced Johnny Carson, but the rest of its competition was light. ABC was set to introduce the bland Joey Bishop show; CBS had no latenight, so some of its affiliates carried Overmyer’s show.
Except by then, this was no longer “The Overmyer Network.” Forever juggling finances (he was later sentenced to three years in prison), Overmyer ran out of money. A few weeks before the network opened, he sold it to investors. They changed its name to The United Network and closed its only show after four-and-a-half weeks.
“The Las Vegas Show” had big ambitions, plus flaws. There was no desk, no chairs; Dana and a guest would both be standing, with their conversation seeming stiff and forced.
Much later, the Fox network would also debut with a latenight show. That show also failed; the network didn’t. TV would finally have its fourth commercial, over-the-air network.