''Supertrain'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

television series that ran on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

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-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

high speed train High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

that is equipped with amenities more appropriate to a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

. It has luxuries such as a swimming pool, shopping centers, a gym, library, medical center, and a

discotheque A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gene ...

. It is so big it has to run on very broad gauge track. It runs along a route between

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and

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, with additional stops in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and a fictional town in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Much like its contemporary ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pa ...

'', the plots concerned the passengers' social lives, usually with multiple intertwining storylines. ''Supertrain'' was described in a 1979 ''

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'' review, "It's a 'Love Boat' on wheels which has yet to get on track."Telefilm Review: Supertrain. (1979). ''Variety'', (46), p.18. 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.

Production troubles

''Supertrain'' was the most expensive series ever aired in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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 A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

measuring , and two model train sets at 1:9.6 and 1:48 scales for outside shots. 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. Despite attempts to salvage the show by replacing its producer, reworking the cast and the show's genre to a

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

-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. NBC, which had produced the show itself, with help from ''

Dark Shadows ''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinspo ...

'' producer

Dan Curtis Dan Curtis (born Daniel Mayer Cherkoss; August 12, 1927 – March 27, 2006) was an American director, writer, and producer of television and film, known among fans of horror films for his afternoon TV series ''Dark Shadows'' (1966–1971) and ...

, was unable to recoup its losses from the high production costs. 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. For these reasons, ''Supertrain'' has been called one of the greatest television flops. The show finished 69th out of 114 shows during the 1978-79 season, with an average 15.7 rating and 25 share. Before the show aired in the U.S., NBC sold it directly to the

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...

Premise

Production troubles

Reception

Episodes

Home media

See also

References

External links