This 1970s Sci-Fi TV Flop Was One Of The Most Expensive Shows Ever Made
by Joe Roberts · /FilmThere have been some truly impressive TV blunders over the years; just look at all the shows canceled after only one season. But there's an even more abject level to the history of television missteps: series that didn't even make it through their debut season. Indeed, some of the worst TV shows of all time have been unceremoniously yanked from the air after failing to live up to expectations, but only one of these nearly bankrupted its own network. "Supertrain" was a sci-fi drama series designed to be like "The Love Boat" on a locomotive. Unfortunately, it suffered from a distinct lack of love before derailing entirely and leaving NBC with a hefty deficit.
In the late 1970s, former CBS and ABC president Fred Silverman took over as head of NBC. The man responsible for such TV classics as "All In The Family," "Happy Days," and "The Love Boat" was hailed as someone who could use his supposed "golden gut" to rack up a string of hits that would ensure NBC became the biggest network going. When he first arrived, he decided to put all of his weight behind a show about a luxurious, futuristic, nuclear-powered train focused solely on the passengers' social interactions. It was set to be yet another big win for Silverman and NBC.
Instead, "Supertrain" turned out to be one of the most legendary TV bombs of all time. NBC brought in "Dark Shadows" creator Dan Curtis as showrunner and made several episodes, including a two-hour pilot episode that cost the network a reported $7 million. That alone made it the most expensive show in TV history at the time. The series was then canceled outright after nine episodes and has since become notorious for being one of TV's biggest and most expensive failures.
NBC invested millions in Supertrain only for it to quickly derail
Like the intriguing but disappointing 1980s sci-fi series "Manimal," "Supertrain" very quickly became a cautionary TV tale. But in the beginning, it seemed to have some promise. The show takes place aboard the titular locomotive, which takes passengers from New York to Los Angeles via Chicago, Denver, and Texas in luxurious, two-story carriages. We're talking swimming pools, clubs, and shopping centers. Amid this swanky setting, audiences were treated to a medley of melodramatic storylines, including murder mysteries, mob assassins, kidnapping plots, and jewelry heists. But not only were the storylines lackluster, the sets failed to project any of the elegance for which they were designed, often feeling oppressive and claustrophobic.
When it first debuted with a two-hour special, the show starred Edward Andrews as conductor Harry Flood and Robert Alda as the train's doctor. These two appeared alongside an expansive main cast that were frequently joined by guest stars such as Steve Lawrence, Larry Linville, Tony Danza, and Dick Van Dyke, the latter of whom played one of many hitmen to appear on the series.
Meanwhile, NBC invested in lavish sets and detailed model trains. The set alone cost NBC $5 million but the network also shelled out a further $10 million for three model trains, one of which crashed, requiring the show's production team to hurriedly construct a replacement. This exorbitant spending eventually came back to haunt Fred Silverman and NBC. In fact, the millions NBC lost on "Supertrain" coincided with the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics, which cost the network millions in advertising revenue. These two factors almost resulted in NBC going bankrupt.
NBC lost millions after Supertrain's ratings ran out of steam
"Supertrain" did not have a smooth maiden run. A then-contemporary report from The Hollywood Reporter noted taht the show had failed to win its time slot with each of the first five episodes, after which it had been "sent back to the foundry for extensive repairs." Many shows have undergone extensive and often ridiculous overhauls, but "Supertrain" was an unsuccessful example. After being retooled, it re-emerged with a main cast that had shrunk from 10 regulars to five and a more "Love Boat"-esque tone. It didn't work.
Not only were the reviews terrible, but by the end of the 1978-79 season, "Supertrain" (the most expensive TV show yet created) only managed to chart at number 69 out of 114. By that point, NBC had cut its losses, but it was too late. According to THR, each episode cost $500,000 and up. That was on top of the millions NBC had invested in the sets and model trains.
Years later, Ben Thoburn of Hagerstown, Maryland, purchased what he thought was a model train from a Philadelphia jewelry dealer. As a 2018 Herald Mail report documented, when Thoburn picked up his new purchase, he suspected the 50-foot long train made up of cars measuring 2 feet by 4 feet was something more significant. Thoburn had come across one of the original model Supertrains, which NBC sold to a Philadelphia-based model-train manufacturer after the show was canceled. It was eventually acquired by the jewelry store owner before Thoburn bought it and sold it on to Jack Morrissey, a Los Angeles-based producer who had been transfixed by the train during the original "Supertrain" run and ultimately brought it back to where it had started life. At least somebody liked the show, then.