Blue Thunder

This show isn't nearly as bad as others make it to be.

Watching this twenty something years later, it holds up pretty well. It only lasted one season, that's true, but A LOT of 80s were canceled very early that had it's fans. "Blue Thunder" had a lot of competition back when it was on air with the likes of "Knight Rider". People here keep talking about "Airwolf", but this series actual competition in its slot was "Dallas", so "Dallas" is one of the shows that actually put the show out of competition then "Airwolf".

Evaluating the show itself, it's actually good. The actors are good from James Farentino, to Dana Carvey in his early roles. Carvey was very good here having the opportunity to do comedy in a drama series, and doing the impersonations that would make him famous. It's clear watching this why he would be a star on Snl. Dick Butkus and Bubba Smith also have nice supporting roles.

The stories are adequate enough, and there's a lot of action. It's a very good show that just didn't make the cut, but was very commonplace in the 80s.moreless

Someone forgot to file a flight plan for this turkey. You know a show is in trouble when the best actor on it is a police helicopter. Blue Thunder the movie had done big business the year before, so ABC figured this show to be a sure thing. James Farentino played our intrepid pilot, fighting the bad guys chopper-style. He was assisted by Dana Carvey,who was supposed to be an electronics geek. He sure looked the part. This was a few years before Carvey started doing annoying impersonations on Saturday Night Live. These two were supported on the ground by Dick Butkus and Bubba Smith, who followed the helicopter around in a truck. Why they couldn't hang around the airport, smoking cigarettes like the other mechanics, I never knew. After a few months, this show flew into a mountain and was never heard from again.moreless

This was a great show that came out about the time i was born. It was one of the show that would set some where in my mind and be forgotin because it is so old. I think this show was going places, it was a classic show made to be a part of the future of tv shows, I give it 6.9 score.

when you try to make a tv show based on a movie, it rarely works. here is an example of one that did not make it. however another show not very far from this premise did make it, airwolf. i only remember seeing blue thunder on tv once or twice.

I think with the success of a feature length film they decided that to make a TV series would put Blue Thunder on top of the charts, oh how little wrong they were.

Usually you make the TV series then the fature film(s) see X-men. The series used large portions of stock footage from the Blue Thunder film but only eleven episodes were made before the series was cancelled.

This show made no sense and did not light up the TV screens as the producers expected, if you want to enjoy a decent 80's TV show about helicopters then stick with Airwolf.moreless