Back in 1979, NBC debuted a new show that they were sure would be a big hit -
Supertrain. It wasn't and almost slayed the peacock network. The best way to describe the premise is that it was essentially
The Love Boat, but on a huge nuclear powered train. A nuclear powered train who's top speed was only about 78mph. You'd think something with a nuke reactor would move faster, but I guess not. Honestly, the idea of a nuclear powered train is more than a little far-fetched, given that trains will sometimes derail or crash into other trains. Anyway, the show featured the tried and true formula of 70s and 80s television, celebrity guests. Like
The Love Boat, the episodes centered around the guest stars and you can probably guess their level of quality. The show lasted all of nine episodes and when combined with the lack of revenue from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow - which the United States famously boycotted - it nearly drove NBC to bankruptcy. Oops.
Reading the summaries for the nine episodes, I can see why it failed: they were too similar. I mean, three of the nine involved characters being hunted by hit men and unbelievably, two of those were the first two episodes of the series. Seriously, they aired two episodes a week apart that both featured hired killers. Another two episodes not only revolved around kidnapping plots, but in both episodes, the intended victims were heiresses. I can see why
Supertrain flopped, five of the nine episodes aired had similar plots! Brilliant work, guys.
(h/t
Wikipedia and
Business Pundit)
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