Shark Bytes

Although frequently derided as the TV fiasco of the 20th Century, SuperTrain may well have been ahead of its time in relation to the 2001 terrorist attacks that would occur more than two decades later. Had NBC held off SuperTrain until after that time as well as hiring a more competent writing staff, this show might actually had a chance to find an audience.

LOVED IT! TRUE AMERICANA!

Well, there was at least one segment of viewers who loved it. I worked for the Southern Pacific railroad at the time, and the rail crews would gather in the lounge and watch this show with much laughter and derision.

this show jumped when they had special guest star bernie kopell as get this...a "doctor" who's on "shore leave". Oh brother!!!!!

Supertrain was one of the biggest fiascos in television history. Even by the standards of 1979 television (other new shows that year included BJ and the Bear and Hello, Larry), Supertrain was truly dire.

The sets and train models reportedly cost NBC a cool $5 million...in 1979 dollars! (Equivalent now would be around $15 million). After tons of publicity and the whispered prayers of numerous NBC execs, Supertrain managed to run for 8 episodes before wheezing into its terminal station.

In that brief time many cast members were dropped, others were added, numerous format changes occurred, and in the last episode, a laugh track was added. Needless to say, nothing worked! Ratings were so low for this turkey that NBC took to airing unsold pilots in Supertrain's slot...anything, just so they wouldn't have to air this abomination!

Supertrain was one of Fred Silverman's first projects at NBC after he left ABC (another of his pet projects at this time: Pink Lady and Jeff). Cynics muttered that Silverman was still secretly working for ABC by deliberately sabotaging NBC's schedule! More likely, Silverman simply was lulled into believing Joe and Mary Six-Pack to be even stupider than one would think given the continued popularity of Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley.

Jumped before the first episode aired.

The producers of "Supertrain" spent $1 million to build the train. They could have leased a train from Amtrak and spent the rest improving this show and had change left. A low rent "Love Boat" wannabe.

After Love Boat,how could last placed NBC resist?Sure it was dumb but the way NBC is going lately,they might consider a revival!Hey,why not a huge super bubmarine that travels from LA to Honolulu every week with has-beens and never-weres?

This show, long forgotten, was at the time touted as the biggest bomb ever to hit TV. NBC, already in last place, basically buried themselves. They lost so much money on this show they actually tried to recoup it by reusing the disco music in one ep. as the theme song to a daytime game show. But hey- just a few short years later Brandon Tarticoff resurrected them to dominate the 80's. Maybe with things at the peacock network as bad as they are now they should recover the old sets and add the crew of "Studio 60" as part of the new "Supertrain Comedy Revue." Sometimes you have to hit rock-bottom before you can recover. Or maybe that was "Manimal."

Forget this junk,although you might get some unintentional,embarassed laughs.Rent "The Big Bus"instead.It was a movie about an atomic powered bus going from New York to LA with stars on board and made fun of disaster films long before the monstrously overrated "Airplane"."The Big Bus"came out in 1976,"Airplane"not until 1980.Look for the catchy,"upbeat""SIX MONTHS TO LIVE" song!

SuperTrain was quite an escape from reality. The train was a background to put in the zany and scary plots. It was basically a hotel on steel wheels.

The locomotive did not need to be nuclear powered, there could have been a series on nuclear powerplants along side the tracks providing power. This was not practical in any terms. Just an escape from mundane life.

I loved this show. The exteriors, of the Supertrain pulling out of Grand Central Station and Los Angeles Union Station or speeding through the desert mesa were awesome. Disco Flo and the Rhythm Skaters were on my favorite epidsode that also starred Elaine Joyce, Rue McClanahan and Barry Gordon, and this was perhaps my all time favorite episode since Disco Flo was a friend of my Mom's. I wish NBC had given this series more of a chance, it could have gotten really good, Oh well. Joyce DeWitt was also in an episode with Isabel Sanford and Tony Danza and Bernie Kopell that I LOVED!! I still have them all on tape and moved them over to DVD!!! LOVED SUPERTRAIN!!

I remember this thing. Oh, god...sometimes you just KNOW when something's gone horribly wrong, and this was one of those things. A product of NBC's insane "Fred Silverman can do no wrong" ratings desperation/mindlessness at the end of the 70s, it proved that...well, Fred Silverman COULD do wrong. A lot of wrong. Lots and lots. The series premise was simply ridiculous from the start...what, a double-decker nuclear-powered train that goes coast to coast with exciting, changing new adventures every week won't work, you say? Oh, boy did it not work. In spades.

I am a railfan, and the premise of the show was too ridiculous to watch. I hated it when people asked me if I watched this show. Once I did, and yes, Martha, it was terrible. It made "Petticoat Junction" look like the "West Wing"! Another argument for the premise that the 1970s were the wasteland years for television .

Man, I was only 15 at the time but I knew a crap show when I saw it. And this was one of the quintessential crap shows of the 70's!

When Fred Silverman jumped from ABC to NBC, his career AND both networks jumped. One of his first acts on NBC was replace _Sanford and Son_ and _The Gong Show_ with _America Alive_, a gold-plated fiasco. He then pulled _CoastToCoast_ with _Lifeline_, a documentary series that proved about popular as the Morning Farm Report. Then came _SuperTrain_ First it was a _Love Boat_ wannabe, but that was changed. By the time I watched my only episode of the series, it had become a "Silverstreak" wannabe, with Roy Thinnes in the dual role as at Senator and some guy trying to kidnap. Then came other non-winners such as _The Big Show_ (the only reason I remember it was because it seemed to feature Dorothy Hamill every week) and _United States_. Fortunately, NBC has recovered, though by the time it had, Silverman was long gone.