Was The Secret Service a flop?
The show has been reviewed mostly negatively throughout its fifty-year history. Some would say it's eccentric, some would say dismal, and some would say that the show has little appeal to younger audiences. Anderson did once state that The Secret Service was his favourite out of all his productions - so it does have some appeal to some people. The series itself does have a variety of strong stories and many intelligent ideas throughout, covering important themes of even today's standards whilst playing the story over first instead of giving the audience a message, something common in entertainment today.
In retrospect, this was the only Gerry Anderson series to be cancelled when production had only just started, which shows that this show defiantly had its problems that can be seen in the first episode alone. The idea was obviously less popular and hardly caught on as well as the other shows, among those who actually got to see it. As only a handful of ITV networks got to show the series, it would have diminished the chance of it becoming a national institution in the same way Thunderbirds has become. Little merchandise has also been released, especially at the time of broadcasting. In fact, many people aren't even aware that the series exists. Judging by the criticism, the little merchandising, broadcasting and ideas, there will always be people who will enjoy the show for years to come. But it wasn't the premise itself that flopped, it was the series itself - it just didn't work. This series didn't just end and the Century 21 team would move onto another puppet series, this was the demise that was SUPERMARIONATION. We could class The Secret Service as a SUPERMARIONATION series as a flop, but as its own television series away from Gerry Anderson, it stands as a unique, quirky program that is still an entertaining show 50 years on.