Supertrain

This show, considered one of the biggest TV flops and one of the reasons NBC almost died in 1980, is recognized by the TV Trivia app. at Facebook, when Tabitha, Mr & Mrs Smith and CI5: the New Professionals—shows that lasted longer—aren’t.

   If you don’t remember it, no one blames you. It was about an atomic-powered train (with swimming pool and disco—yeah!) that was a mixture between The Love Boat and an actioner (bad guys trying to sabotage Supertrain). The network never knew what it wanted to do with it, despite spending millions, and by the time the last episode aired, they even chucked in a laugh track.
   Here is the second episode’s promo, when the network thought Supertrain might be Hitchcockian. Dick van Dyke seems to be a bad guy. Oooh, Rob!

   How about this? After a few episodes—three or four, if memory serves correctly—NBC tinkered with it. Now it is the ‘all-new Supertrain’.
   How many shows had three title sequences due to network tinkering, and didn’t last half a season? Here’s the third.
   It’s a surprise to find someone has these clips on YouTube, and I take my hat off to the uploader, Mr Tony Cook.
   There’s some retro–kitsch curiosity to all of this, but after seeing these clips, I can see why Supertrain didn’t work. No matter how big the train, the thing still seems claustrophobic. But most importantly, it never researched whether its audiences even wanted this show—it just thought bigger would be better. It was out of keeping with audiences and the $5 million special effects’ budget wouldn’t help it when the story styles kept changing.