The Las Vegas Show
KOB-TV ad forThe Las Vegas Show[1]
Genre	Late-night talk show
Developed by	David Sontag[2]
Written by	Bill Dana Jack Hanrahan Jeff Harris Bob Hinkley Bernie Kukoff Howard Leeds[3]
Directed by	Win Opie[3]
Presented by	Bill Dana
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	23 (2 unaired)
Production
Executive producer	David Sontag[4]
Producers	Jerry Goldstein Howard Leeds[3]
Production locations	Hotel Hacienda, 3950Las Vegas Blvd S, Paradise, Nevada[4]
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	90[5] or 120 minutes[6]
Original release
Network	United Network
Release	May 1 (1967-05-01) – June 1, 1967 (1967-06-01)

The Las Vegas Show is an Americanlate night television program broadcast during the month of May 1967 on theUnited Network. Hosted by comedianBill Dana,The Las Vegas Show was intended to be the flagship of a plannedfourth television network, but was the only program the network ever transmitted. As United's affiliates largely scheduled the program to air at different times, the length of the program also varied between 90 or 120 minutes.The Las Vegas Show was cancelled solely due to the financial failure of the United Network after one month, with 23 episodes broadcast and two unaired episodes.

When entrepreneurDaniel H. Overmyer and formerABC presidentOliver Treyz announced the creation of the Overmyer Network on July 12, 1966, plans were immediately drafted for eight straight hours of nightly programming, with a late-night program as the centerpiece, originating fromLas Vegas.^[7] Overmyer's planned chain of UHF stations, includingWDHO-TV inToledo, Ohio, were to have beenowned-and-operated stations, with New York City'sWPIX-TV and Los Angeles'sKHJ-TV signed asflagships.^[7][8] Due to a financial crunch in Overmyer's other businesses, he sold off majority control of the planned network in early March 1967 to a 14-person investorsyndicate, which renamed it theUnited Network; the launch date for the late-night show was accordingly moved to May 1, 1967.^[9][10]

David Sontag was named as the show's executive producer; Sontag previously served as ABC's executive producer for specials and head of talent, and developedShindig!.^[4][2]Bill Dana, a former writer forSteve Allen and a comedian best known for hisJosé Jiménez character,^[4][11] was named as host of the program by late March.^[12] Dana signed a 13-week contract with United and was paid $8,000 per week.^[13][14] The show differed fromNBC'sThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson by having a regularrepertory group of comedians and actors,^[4] no table, desk and couch arrangement for show guests, and pre-recorded interviews,^[15] all filmedlive to tape^[12] weeknights at 9:30 p.m. local time.^[2] Sontag aimed the show for a younger audience thanTonight, whose audience was estimated to be 40 and older.^[4]

The program was the first of its kind to be telecast from Las Vegas.^[2] Originating at theHotel Hacienda on theLas Vegas Strip, show regulars includedAnn Elder,Pete Barbutti, Danny Meahan,Jo Anne Worley,Cully Richards and orchestra leaderJack Sheldon.^[4][16] A previously unused showroom in the Hacienda was converted into a 300-seat studio^[2] with the audience sitting at tables with access to free soft drinks; additionalremote broadcast capability allowed the show to transmit from up to nine other hotels in the city.^[11][15] Writers for the show includedJack Hanrahan,Howard Leeds,Bernie Kukoff andJeff Harris.^[3]Master tapes were transported to Acme Film Laboratories in Los Angeles^[2] prior to transmission over leasedAT&TBell System network lines.^[6]

The United Network's carriage nationwide varied significantly. Up to 123 stations signed with the network by December 1966 specifically to carryLas Vegas,^[17][18] but multiple stations either dropped out or failed tosign on the air whenLas Vegas debuted on May 1, 1967;^[a] this included Overmyer's unbuiltKEMO-TV (channel 20),^[19] which was sold toAmerican Viscose Corporation along with Overmyer's other unbuilt stations.^[20][21] Thus, the show never aired inSan Francisco.^[16]Knoxville, Tennessee, ABC affiliateWTVK-TV (channel 26) could not use ABC's network lines to receiveLas Vegas whenThe Joey Bishop Show debuted two weeks earlier.^[22]

The majority of United's affiliates were composed of existing "Big Three" affiliates, many of them withCBS as that network declined to launch a late-night show of their own.^[18] United affiliates with primary NBC affiliations either delayedLas Vegas to the late afternoon,^[1] aired it afterTonight^[23] or only on the weekends.^[24] Flagship WPIX airedLas Vegas on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11:30 p.m., and Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 9 p.m.^[25]WGN-TV inChicago aired the show at 12:35 a.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10:15 p.m. on Saturdays, and 8 p.m. on Sundays.^[15][26]The Las Vegas Show was ultimately carried on 106 television stations^[27] but the affiliate base was regarded as "irregular"^[26] and "erratic".^[28]

An additional 32 television stations based inLatin America also reportedly signed up to carry the program.^[5]

Guests that appeared onThe Las Vegas Show included the following:

• Week of May 1, 1967:Milton Berle,Billy Daniels,Sarah Vaughan,Chad & Jeremy,Big Tiny Little,Rich Little,Della Reese,Julius La Rosa,Don Cornell,Helen O'Connell,Allen & Rossi,Abbe Lane,Dana Wynter,Frankie Laine,Fran Jeffries,Al Hibbler,Pat Morita,Molly Bee,Robert Clary,Jaye P. Morgan,Page Cavanaugh,Roberta Sherwood,Barbara McNair,Mel Carter,Sammy Shore,Rusty Draper,Tommy Leonetti^[3][29]
• Week of May 8, 1967:Sally Ann Howes,The Teddy Neely Five,Clea Bradford,Davis and Reese,Juliet Prowse,Anita O'Day,Gisele MacKenzie,Pat Henry,Sérgio Mendes,Nicholas Brothers,Jackie Gayle,Edith Head,Hugh O'Brian,Don Rickles,The Baker Twins,Harold Robbins^[30]
• Week of May 15, 1967:Mort Sahl, Dana Wynter,Carmen McRae, Helen O'Connell, Hank Grant,Tammy Grimes,Liberace,Rod Serling,Hugh Hefner,Elaine Dunn,Gretchen Wyler^[31]
• Week of May 22, 1967:Chita Rivera,Jennie Smith, Don Rickles,Tony Daryl,John Wayne,Gary Lewis & the Playboys,Earl Wrightson,Lois Hunt,Marty Ingels,Mary Grover,The Kingston Trio,Dave Barry,Marni Nixon,Eileen Brennan^[32]
• Week of May 29, 1967:Tommy Noonan,Damita Jo DeBlanc,Redd Foxx,Xavier Cugat,Charo, Don Cornell,Irwin Corey,Gilbert Price,Sue Ane Langdon,^[33]Tom Patchett &Jay Tarses^[34]
• Guest slated for June 1, 1967: Della Reese^[35]

Las Vegas was met with mixed reviews from critics.Jack Gould ofThe New York Times felt the debut episode to be "thin and strained" and said, "[t]o come up with 10 hours of variety a week is a staggering requirement that will require far more imagination, preparation and probably greater financial expenditure... the whole had the stamp of somewhat old-fashionedvaudeville."^[6] A later review by Gould called the show "indifferent variety, wanting in pace, cohesion and personality" and the remote broadcasts as "... disjointed and suggested a poor man's'Hollywood Palace'."^[36]Scripps-Howard'sHarriet Van Horne noted that, whileLas Vegas's premiere on WPIX toppedTonight,Joey Bishop andThe Merv Griffin Show, all three shows were outdrawn in the ratings byWCBS-TV's airing ofThe Incredible Shrinking Man.^[37] Dick Gray of theAtlanta Journal said Dana "... leaves me less than excited" but praised his show business knowledge and felt the show could be a success ifproduction values were upgraded.^[38]

Robert Goldsborough of theChicago Tribune was more receptive to Dana's "hesitant" on-air persona and saw the "endless parade of top talent moving steadily thru the gambling mecca" of Las Vegas as an asset, but was critical of the show's frequent commercial breaks.^[39]Variety viewed the excessive ads as detrimental to "a surprisingly posh program", saying they "made the Vegas end of [the show] seem mere wraparound for aMadison Ave. blurb festival ... as a kind of parallelMcLuhanism, '[the] money is the message.'"^[3] Hal Humphrey of theLos Angeles Times concurred, saying, "The Las Vegas Show wasn't a show at all. It was a supermarket, and I've been in supermarkets where the box boys tell funnier jokes than were heard here Monday night."^[40] Hank Grant ofThe Hollywood Reporter praisedLas Vegas as "... apotpourri that threatened to boil over with too much talent"^[41] whileKay Gardella of theNew York Daily News called it "... a late-night jackpot ... [that] promises to be everything a TV late show should be."^[42]

Las Vegas initially premiered to strong ratings, particularly in New York and Los Angeles,^[37][43][44] but experience a significant decline over the course of May 1967.^[45] Published reports showedLas Vegas ultimately falling to a fraction of a point nationally^[46][45] and at last place in New York with a 1 rating compared toTonight's 12 rating,Merv Griffin's 6 rating andJoey Bishop's 3 rating.^[47] Bill Dana asserted the show had around 2.6 million viewers in some surveys, making it "perfectly sound" oncost-per-thousand measurements.^[48]

United quickly lost money throughout May 1967 despite initial promise ofLas Vegas being able to lure advertising during the first week.^[49] The timing for the launch was poor, coming at both the end of the traditional television season and in the last quarter for traditional advertising budget cycles.^[46][48]Direct response advertising was noticeable during the Memorial Day broadcast.^[50] In the last few days, Oliver Treyz made a direct on-camera appeal for potential sponsors, emphasizing the advertising rates forLas Vegas were a fraction ofTonight on NBC.^[46][50] The fees to use the AT&T Bell System lines also proved to be far too expensive with a monthly advance fee of $400,000.^[51]

After an executive board vote, the United Network shut down on Thursday, June 1, 1967. Network president Oliver Treyz set atelegram to all 106 affiliates that United "ceased its interconnected program operations".^[13][46] Production staff was told following the previous night's taping thatLas Vegas "would stop taping for awhile".^[45] Two additional shows had been pre-recorded for broadcast,^[45][46] which did not happen as affiliates were pressed into finding replacement programming within a matter of hours.^[50]

Bill Dana, who blamed the failure of United on the reluctance of ownership to provide it financial sustenance, mused, "At least I set a record. I'm the first man in history to sink an entire network."^[48] In a later interview, Dana said, "[i]t burns me when they say the Vegas show folded. It didn't. It was the network that folded and down went the show with it."^[52] HistorianHal Erickson wrote that "The Las Vegas Show [was] the first series in history to leave the air because its network was cancelled."^[53]

• The Las Vegas Show atIMDb

• 1967 American television series debuts
• 1967 American television series endings
• 1960s American television talk shows
• 1960s American variety television series
• American English-language television shows
• Television shows set in the Las Vegas Valley
• 1960s American late-night television series

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• Use mdy dates from April 2024