{"id":28456,"date":"2013-10-22T06:58:47","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T10:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eyesofageneration.com\/?p=28456"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:04:53","slug":"remember-the-overmyerunited-network-this-photo-from-maureen-carney-is-a-ra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/?p=28456","title":{"rendered":"Remember The Overmyer\/United Network?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Overmyer\u2014later United\u2014Network remains one of television\u2019s most fascinating near\u2011misses. The photo shared by Maureen Carney captures comedian Bill Dana, famous for his Jos\u00e9 Jim\u00e9nez character, hosting the network\u2019s flagship program <em>The Las Vegas Show<\/em>. Beginning May 1, 1967, the two\u2011hour late\u2011night broadcast originated from the Hotel Hacienda and aired on 106 stations across the country.<\/p>\n<p>The network itself was conceived as a true fourth competitor to ABC, CBS, and NBC, offering eight hours of daily programming with UPI supplying news. But the dream collapsed almost as quickly as it launched. Within a month, the cost of leased AT&amp;T transmission lines\u2014staggeringly expensive \u201cad hoc\u201d network circuits\u2014overwhelmed the operation. The ambitious venture folded abruptly and paychecks failed to arrive.<\/p>\n<p>The network\u2019s founder, self\u2011made millionaire Daniel H. Overmyer, had already been forced to sell a controlling interest before the launch, though he remained the largest shareholder. The new ownership renamed the venture <em>The United Network<\/em>, but even with promising early reviews for <em>The Las Vegas Show<\/em>, the financial strain proved fatal. Stations carrying the program were mostly CBS affiliates\u2014comfortable airing it because CBS didn\u2019t program against <em>The Tonight Show.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Plans also existed for Continental Football League broadcasts, UPI news, and even a Bible\u2011themed cartoon to open the lineup. But when the investors realized the June AT&amp;T line lease alone would cost $400,000, they chose to walk away, reportedly taking a tax write\u2011off instead of pushing forward.<\/p>\n<p>Today, only scattered promotional photos, print ads, and a few surviving clips hint at what the United Network attempted to build. It remains a brief but intriguing chapter in broadcast history\u2014an ambitious fourth network that flickered brightly for a moment before disappearing almost without a trace.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/189359747768249\/photos\/a.197108410326716.39183.189359747768249\/586383918065828\/?type=3\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp_automatic_fb_img\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Remember-The-OvermyerUnited-Network-This-photo-from-Maureen-Carney-is-a-ra\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/189359747768249\/posts\/586383931399160\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Overmyer\u2014later United\u2014Network remains one of television\u2019s most fascinating near\u2011misses. The photo shared by Maureen Carney captures comedian Bill Dana, famous for his Jos\u00e9 Jim\u00e9nez character, hosting the network\u2019s flagship program The Las Vegas Show. Beginning May 1, 1967, the two\u2011hour late\u2011night broadcast originated from the Hotel Hacienda and aired on 106 stations across the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":28457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_popup_image":0,"_vp_format_audio_url":"","_vp_album_images":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail":0,"_vp_custom_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"_vp_custom_thumbnail_cover":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail":0,"_vp_hover_thumbnail_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[763,724,783,720,782],"class_list":["post-28456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-att","tag-cast","tag-cbs","tag-host","tag-nbc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28456"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81279,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28456\/revisions\/81279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eyesofageneration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}