Sci Fi TV Obscurities: A look at sci fi and fantasy TV shows that made it to the air only briefly before getting cast to the television wasteland.
What Is It? A mysterious train has the ability to travel back in time and give people a chance to relive a pivotal point in their life. Each week, two passengers receive a ticket in the mail specifying a specific time and place in their past giving them the opportunity at a second chance.
Aired: CBS, 1979, 1 Season Totaling 4 Episodes
Created By: Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts
Notable Guest Stars: Vincent Price (Host), Coral Browne (Host), Jerry Stiller, Morgan Fairchild, John de Lancie, Lyle Waggoner
Is It Must Watch Sci Fi TV? No, it is mostly just a curio from its era that delivered a more genre-heavy spin on the Fantasy Island/Love Boat format and one of the last times that iconic genre actor Vincent Price would appear on television.
The Skinny: By the time this show hit the air in April of 1979, ABC was ready to cut ties with Battlestar: Galactica (though it would try again the next season with the dreadful Galactica: 1980) and NBC was about to launch Buck Rogers in the 25th Century which would be truncated after a disappointing two-season run. The broadcast networks had shied away from genre entries in the ’70s but had briefly flirted with big budget shows following the success of Star Wars. Those did not pan out, but CBS actually had a very Prime Time-friendly fantasy series in Time Express that could have turned into a hit if handled correctly. Both Fantasy Island and The Love Boat were in the Top 30 for ABC, and this show followed a similar quasi-anthology format with notable guest stars appearing each week. Vincent Price and Coral Brown were the hosts of the train and the episodes would start with flashbacks to the lives of the passengers as a pivotal moment in their lives is reviewed. The train would then take those passengers back to that moment with the opportunity to change the course of events (and since this was ’70s Prime Time TV, there was no concern about the butterfly effect or other implications of time travel). The existence of the train was suggested to be supernatural in origin, and perhaps they would have explored that more if the show had lasted longer.
This was not ground-breaking, edgy drama, just the latest attempt to put a spin on a trend that had already proven popular with audiences. It came from Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts who had created the icon of ’70s fluff-TV Charlie’s Angels. But Time Express actually could have worked if given more support from the network. Fantasy Island remained viable for ABC for seven seasons, and while it may not count as a classic genre entry, it had its moments. Time Express could have followed the same path. It offered the expected who’s who of ’70s face and even gave John de Lancie one of his early television appearances long before he was whisking through time and space as Q on Star Trek. But perhaps it was just too heavy on the genre elements for network execs who preferred cookie-cutter, Prime Time-friendly fare that regressed to the mean. The show disappeared after four episodes (more on that below), and it is now no more than a footnote in television history.
Cancelled Too Soon? Yes. This show might have caught on if CBS had given it more support on the schedule. It got off to a late season start and it was slotted against ABC’s Thursday juggernauts Mork & Mindy and Angie which ended the year ranked at Number 3 and Number 5 respectively. The ratings were poor, and after its short trial run, the network sent it to the end of the line where it would fade away into television obscurity.
Should It Be Rebooted? It could, but it won’t be. The premise has potential, and it could be brought back with the light tone of the original while throwing in a few more dramatic stories from time to time to keep it in Emmy contention. But this show is long-forgotten, so it brings no name recognition. A variation on the theme could still work, though.
Interesting Facts: While Vincent Price has many television appearances to his name (including playing the villain Egghead in the ’60s Batman series), Time Express is the only ongoing series in which he had a starring role (his name is first in the credits). It was also one of his last appearances on television. And this show was one of two train-based anthology shows that bombed during the second half of the 1978-79 season. NBC’s high-dollar Supertrain premiered in February 1979 but had derailed in the Nielsens by the time Time Express hit the schedule.
Where Can You Watch It? This show has never received the DVD or Blu-ray treatment, and it is unlikely that it ever will unless it gets included in some sort of complete collection of Vincent Price’s works. It is also not available for streaming, but you can find episodes on YouTube (sadly, the video quality is very poor).
Read More About the Show: Wikipedia | IMDb.com
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Co-star Coral (not Coraline) Browne was Vincent Price’s wife at the time.