February 7 (1979-02-07) – May 5, 1979 (1979-05-05)
Supertrain is an American science fiction-adventure-drama television series that ran on NBC from February 7 to May 5, 1979. Nine episodes were made, including a two-hour pilot episode.
Premise
The series takes place on the Supertrain, a nuclear-poweredhigh speed train that is equipped with amenities more appropriate to a cruise ship. It has luxuries such as a swimming pool, shopping centers, a gym, a library, a medical center, and a discotheque.[1] It is so big it has to run on very broad gaugetrack. Though it had a rated top speed of 250 mph, and cruised at 190 mph, the train took 36 hours to go from New York City to Los Angeles, which would put the train's average speed at around 78 miles per hour, slower than the moderately-paced AmtrakAcela Express and well below the speeds of bullet trains in Europe and Asia.[2]
Much like its contemporary The Love Boat, the plots concerned the passengers' social lives, usually with multiple intertwining storylines. Supertrain was described in a 1979 Variety review, "It's a 'Love Boat' on wheels which has yet to get on track."[3] Most of the cast of a given episode were guest stars. The production was elaborate, with huge sets and two high-tech model trains for outside shots.[1]
Production troubles
Supertrain was the most expensive series ever aired in the United States at the time. The production was beset by problems, including a model train that crashed. NBC paid $10 million for a total of three sets of trains: a full-size train with enormous passenger cars measuring 64 by 26 by 22 feet (19.5 m × 7.9 m × 6.7 m), and two model train sets at 1:9.6 and 1:48 scales for outside shots.[1] While the series was heavily advertised during the 1978-1979 season, it received poor reviews and low ratings. The 2-hour premiere was out-rated by a 2-hour special of ABC's Charlie's Angels, and received a 21.8 rating and 32 share, ranking it 17th for the week.[4] Despite attempts to salvage the show by replacing its producer, reworking the cast and the show's genre to a sitcom-like format, and a timeslot change from Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. to Saturdays at 10:00 p.m., it went off the air after only three months.[citation needed] NBC, which had produced the show itself, with help from Dark Shadows producer Dan Curtis, was unable to recoup its losses from the high production costs.[citation needed] This, combined with the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics the following season (whose coverage NBC was to have carried, costing the network millions in ad revenue), nearly bankrupted the network.[5] For these reasons, Supertrain has been called one of the greatest television flops.[6] The show finished 69th out of 114 shows during the 1978-79 season, with an average 15.7 rating and 25 share.[7][8]
Before the show aired in the U.S., NBC sold it directly to the BBC, the first foreign broadcaster to pick up the series. "For two runs, BBC reportedly coughed up more than $25,000 per hour episode, which if not a record series price in this market is close to it."[9] The BBC was planning to air Supertrain in the fall of 1979, after the series premiered in the U.S. in February. By selling the show to international markets, NBC hoped to offset its own development costs. After the failure of the series in the United States, the BBC never aired the show.[citation needed]
Reception
In 2002, TV Guide ranked Supertrain number 28 on its "50 Worst TV Shows of All Time" list.[10]
In the May 19, 1979, edition of TV Guide, the show received criticism from Robert MacKenzie. He compared the futuristic train to his traditional ideas of a Pullman locomotive and describes the environment as "bigger, gaudier, and noisier, including the passengers."[11] He described the amenities of the train and the "marvel, cinematically," of the set design and train itself. Mackenzie found fault with the show's reliance on the extravagant train to wow the audience and the lack of character depth or entertaining plot. "When the early ratings proved disappointing, NBC took the series off the air for emergency surgery. The 'All New Supertrain' appeared April 14 looking remarkably like the old Supertrain", which shows NBC's attempts to fix the show's flaws mid-season.[11] He summarized his opinion on the newly changed episodes by stating, "This tale d-r-a-g-g-e-d even more than previous episodes despite the attempt to glamorize it with models in bikinis and Peter Lawford playing his usual shopworn sophisticate."[11] In his annual television special later that year, comedian Alan King commented on the show's ratings failure: "It's a bird! It's a bomb! It's Supertrain!"[citation needed]
Supertrain was critiqued by the Telefilm Review in the February 9, 1979, edition of Variety. The article begins, "NBC's highly-promoted new Supertrain series features a slick new train of tomorrow, with a script from yesterday...it seeks to overwhelm, but underwhelms instead."[3] By emphasizing the train as the main character, the character plots and stories of each episode seem like more of a second thought. Telefilm predicted the show's failure in its review: "Without better scripts, the train's trek may well end in 13 weeks. More emphasis on characters, less on the train, is in order."[3] The show lasted just over 12 weeks. The choices of the producer, Dan Curtis, were harshly criticized, saying he was "neglecting characterizations for the sake of camera angles, and his contribution is a sorrowful one."[3]
Mike Post (Steve Lawrence), a passenger with a large gambling debt, finds himself the target of an unknown assassin on the train. A woman travels with her abusive boyfriend, who is hiding a dangerous past. Social director David Noonan (Patrick Collins) tries to stay clear of the amorous granddaughter of Supertrain's chairman and creator.
Main Cast:Edward Andrews as Harry Flood, Patrick Collins as Dave Noonan, Harrison Page as George Boone, Robert Alda as Dr. Dan Lewis, Nita Talbot as Rose Casey, Aarika Wells as Gilda, Bill Nuckols as Wally (credited as William Nuckols), Michael DeLano as Lou Atkins (credited as Michael Delano), and Charlie Brill as Robert.
Other Guests:John Karlen as Quinn, Frank Christi as Tony Packoe (credited as Frank R. Christi), H.M. Wynant as Fairmont, Anthony Palmer as T. C. Baker, Howard Honig as Sam Howard, Allen Williams as Riley, Parley Baer as Heaton, Sid Conrad as Whittington, Robert Karnes as Martin, Cameron Young as Fenner, Sylvester Words as Porter, Orin Cannon as Stationmaster, Chuck Mitchell as Big Ed, and Bert Conway as Workman.
Note: The pilot episode was a two-hour special.
In the opening credits, Winfield Root, the chairman of the fictitious company Trans Allied Corporation, mentions they will create an "atom-powered steam turbine machine capable of crossing this country in 36 hours." The maiden voyage left Grand Central Terminal in New York City 22 months later en route to Los Angeles. The Supertrain stops a few times, including somewhere in Texas, before arriving in Los Angeles at the end of the show.
A man (Larry Linville) frantically tries to catch Supertrain, where a professed hitman (Dick Van Dyke) is targeting his soon-to-be late wife (Barbara Rhoades). Meanwhile, the spoiled great-grandchildren of Supertrain's chairman of the board make life miserable for the crew by playing practical jokes.
The Supertrain stops in Chicago at the end of the show.
A young travel reporter falls for a mysterious young woman riding on Supertrain, but both are unaware that she is the heir to a throne and the target of a kidnapping plot.
The Supertrain stops in Denver at the end of the show.
A man knocks out and takes the place of his twin brother, a leading presidential candidate, on the eve of the election. But his deception becomes even more difficult when his campaign manager invites his estranged wife to help during the final campaign swing on Supertrain.
5
"Superstar"
David Moessinger
Larry Alexander
March 14, 1979 (1979-03-14)
A has-been Hollywood producer sneaks onto Supertrain to convince his ex-wife, a famous actress, to star in his comeback film. At the same time, he has to avoid two hit-men searching for him on the train, sent by the underworld figure who bankrolled the movie. Only an elderly woman is willing to believe and help him.
Supertrain's newest crew members, Wayne Randall (Joey Aresco) and Penny Whitaker (Ilene Graff), attempt to track down a jewel thief who has stolen a socialite's necklace.
Barry Gordon and Rue McClanahan guest star in a bizarre comedy of errors about a weak-willed young man who holds some Supertrain passengers hostage while trying to plan his escape from the police.
Home media
The pilot was released on VHS, as Express to Terror in the US,[12] and Super-Train in the UK. It was also released in Norway.[13]
See also
Breitspurbahn — broad-gauge railway planned by Nazi Germany.
Snowpiercer — A 2013 science fiction film about a cruise ship-like train (with an aquarium and a swimming pool) that went around the world serving as the last resort of humanity in a new ice age.
The Big Bus — A 1976 comedy film that follows the maiden cross-country trip of an enormous nuclear powered bus.
References
^ abc"Supertoy". TV Guide. 17 March 1979. p. 2+. Archived from the original on 2021-08-30. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
^Some episodes state, however, that the train also stops in Chicago, Denver, a (fictitious) town in Texas and presumably other cities, which would extend the length of the run and thus would require faster speeds.
