TODAY SHOW 1979 - SUPERTRAIN on NBC

[nakamichiguy]

I really miss that low tech, laid back style of television. No, not crap like 'Supertrain', but news and sports production of the era. Wonderful clip, thanks for posting!

[goastsighting]

@goastsighting Seriously, that comment wasn't spam. I really think Actor Sean Connery would make a good band name.

[mrgb46]

You can buy SUPERTRAIN at mod cinema dot com....

[jshalom65]

I remember fondly the endless jokes by Johnny Carson about "Supertrain","Here's Boomer",and "Manimal"

[DesiluTrek]

There's a subtle degree of incredulousness among everyone on "Today" that they had to shill for this crap called "Supertrain" that was set to debut on their network, and that millions of dollars was spent on it. For basically a bad ripoff of Love Boat set on a train.

If nothing else, anyone who put up with that debut was rewarded with a Jack Klugman "Quincy" afterward.

[DesiluTrek]

Jack Perkins had a great laconic style, kind of like NBC's Charles Kuralt.

[mccarrpo]

GET A FUCKING HAIR CUT ! (sorry i was talking to Jane Paully, not Gene Shallet)

[YourFaceWillDie468]

Tom Brokaw used to be a good-looking man!

[wiedep]

another of freddie silverman's grate ideas...

[sideslide23]

200 MPH thats allmost as fast as what the California Future high speed train will travel in 10 years from now.

[VirtualVikki]

Supertrain was one of my favortie TV shows and this clip is simply astounding!  The modelwork on this series was simply asotounding. Shame the writing was not all that good. Still it was pretty cool while it lasted.

[tsliao]

To think families use to get together for breakfast back then.

[robfergusonjr]

@tsliao lol, no they didn't, the nuclear family broke up in the 60s, not the late 80s ... LMAO!

[radiodj1520]

In This Clip, From 0:00 To 1:02, It Was NBC News' Today Video Open From Wednesday Morning, February 17, 1979.

[robfergusonjr]

Ah yes, the Today show I remember as a kid ... I wanted to stay home from school just to watch it ... it all went down hill in the early 80s when Brian Gumball took the lead ... so sad.

[kd4adv]

This "Today" show was way before Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Ann Curry.

The front looks like a shuttlecraft of the future rather than a super-train. I didn't watch this much.

[1970sFeel]

You don't fool me Mr. Perkins I know if you're in Los Angeles and there in New York and they go to you live, there wouldn't be light yet in Los Angeles.

[Ian16545]

@1970sFeel It's all done with satellites, stupid.

[theSuperMetroid]

Gee, is a new train pulling into the station?

[balletcomposer]

Aw... I want to see "Women in White - A Sizzling Miniseries on NBC." It looks so sexy!

[johnnysama]

The theme song to Today during this era reminds me of Mister Rogers Neighborhood....

[dalekrueger]

who ever wrote the script for supertrain was a ditch wad

[AngelBearOH]

@dalekrueger I am impressed with your godlike ability to pronounce with utmost finality the judgment that something—it does not matter to me exactly what—does not deserve to live.

[mst3k4evr]

I guess I should thank God that show "died" two months before I was born. That looked absolutely terrible!

[imstillstuckinthe80s]

@mst3k4evr If you want to see how bad it really was, I have the entire series posted on my channel. Check it out....if you dare.

[EStar7580]

High quality - SWEET!! 5 stars for you!

[SteveD328]

No wonder this show bombed out!!

[puppetboyshow]

Everyone says howe awful this show is but compared to todays show it's a masterpiece.

[bmasters1981]

Notice the copyright-- "©National Broadcasting Company, Inc., 1979. All Rights Reserved"? That's a far cry from what it is now--"©MMX NBC Universal All Rights Reserved" or thereabouts.

[DREWtubeStreet]

@bmasters1981 I really love that copyright. And I'm 17. But it's 2011 so...

[donjabroni]

Supertrash! I only saw one episode of that crap and that was enough for me. Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky to avoid that train wreck, it was hyped quite a bit on Channel 5 in Chicago.

[collegeman1988]

I am old enough to remember hearing about this awful show, but I didn't see it because the local NBC affiliate in Denver, Colorado did not show it, it was that bad!

[bmasters1981]

I guess that in that sense you were lucky, if it turned out to be that bad.

[freewaydan]

I like the music used on the Today program in 1979.

[bmasters1981]

I enjoyed hearing the closing cut of the theme circa 1979 (around the 7-minute mark, towards the end)-- it is a wonderful piece of music. Give it a listen and you'll hear why I enjoyed it. It ranks up there with the 1981 package as some of the best music of "Today."

[sideslide23]

5 Million dollar for that train, I wander that 8 billions of dollar of Fed Stimulent package would pay for this supertrain project :P

[nomadcowatbk]

Biography

[damron13]

WOw ! A young Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley. Gene's afro is hilarous !

[TIPTON340]

This was a super flop. BIG TIME!

[fromthesidelines]

This was during NBC's 1978-'79 "anything goes" season, as they threw practically ANYTHING on in prime-time (courtesy of chief programmer/president Fred Silverman), in desperate hopes of getting viewers to watch the network more often. "SUPERTRAIN" was one of those efforts...and it was a "LOVE BOAT" imitation, pure and simple. As for "TODAY", it's now bloated to four hours (including an unnecessary "fourth hour" with Hoda and Kathie Lee), and shamelessly promotes MORE NBC shows than ever.

[daveyj1000]

Does Jane Pauley have a chance to speak on this show? I know she served in a diferential co-host capacity to Tom Brokaw but gosh they should give her a few words to say.

[USAGiant]

Its clear Tom Brokaw was being groomed to be the next anchor of the nightly news from this clip.

[garrisonskunk]

Supertrain aside, its remarkable how relaxed and lowkey the Today Show is compared with the 'thousand bits of info a second' formats of modern day shows.

[LcoolJfiveoh]

you make me sick

[rosskstar]

Shows in Sweden are still low-key like that.....the news reporting is low-key too, if some network did that today, they'd actually stand out from the rest!