The A-Team - just the facts

The A-Team - just the facts ( A article written in 2007 )

The A-Team was an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces who work as soldiers of fortune while being on the run from the military for a "crime they didn't commit". Despite being thought of as mercenaries, the A-Team always acted on the side of the good guys & helped the oppressed. The show ran for five seasons on the NBC television network, from January 23, 1983 to December 30, 1986 (with one additional, previously unbroadcast episode shown on March 8, 1987), with a total of 98 episodes.

George Peppard as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith (1983-1987)
Main article: John "Hannibal" Smith
The leader of the A-Team, he is a brilliant tactician & a master of disguise. Hannibal is distinguished by his cigar smoking, black gloves, disguises, & his catch phrase, "I love it when a plan comes together." Always "on the jazz" (a phrase coined by B.A., meaning that Hannibal thrives on adventure & life-threatening situations), he seems to genuinely enjoy every situation they get into. He also works as an actor, playing monsters in low-budget horror movies.
Dirk Benedict as Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck (1983-1987)
Main article: Templeton "Faceman" Peck
Suave, smooth-talking, & hugely successful with women, he serves as the team's con man & scrounger, able to get his hands on just about anything they need. Effectively second in command behind Hannibal (although technically Murdock outranks him), he is the one who arranges for supplies, equipment, & sensitive information using numerous scams & hustles. Tim Dunigan played this role in the pilot episode.
Mr. T as Sgt. Bosco Albert "B.A." Baracus (1983-1987)
Main article: B.A. Baracus
A highly-skilled mechanic & the A-Team's regular Mr. Fix-It, his character is basically that of the public persona of Mr. T himself. He is a skilled fighter & is easily roused to anger, earning him the nickname "Bad Attitude". Despite his reputed attitude, he is a "nice guy" at heart supposedly. He has a special fondness for children & , being a teetotaller, he never drinks alcohol, preferring milk instead. He is most upset by Murdock, frequently referring to him as a "crazy fool." He suffers an intense fear of flying, especially when the plane in question is flown by Murdock. This difficulty is often overcome by other members of the team drugging him, or otherwise rendering him unconscious, so he can be transported without objection.
Dwight Schultz as Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (1983-1987)
Main article: H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock
The best chopper pilot of the Vietnam War, Murdock is either mentally unstable or exceptionally good at pretending to be so. Although he was their pilot on the Hanoi bank raid, he was technically not part of the A-Team & so not tried by the military. Though interned at a psychiatric hospital, he routinely escapes to accompany the A-Team on their missions. The symptoms of his "insanity" varies from episode to episode, but generally includes self-identification with fictional characters, hallucinations, belief in the "intelligence" of inanimate objects, among others. He frequently refers to his invisible dog, "Billy". Unlike B.A., the initials "H.M." were never explained in terms of Murdock's actual name, & the nickname "Howlin' Mad" is simply attributed to them. He was permanently discharged from the hospital in the fifth season.

Additional team members

Culea as Amy Allen in The A-Team.Melinda Culea as Amy Amanda "Triple A" Allen (1983-1984)
Amy was an intrepid reporter for the L.A. Courier paper who joined the team in its pilot episode. At the end of the Pilot, Hannibal comments on how her initials are "Triple A"; But while much of the publicity surrounding the series used this name, it was never really used again in the show itself, with a company set up by the Team in the first season episode "The Out-Of-Towners" called 'Triple-A's' being it's only other appearance in the actual series (and even this was only referenced visually, with no acknowledgement to it in the dialogue). The character's boss is Grant Eldridge (Philip Sterling), seen in the first half of the Pilot, & in the first season episode "Holiday In The Hills". She has a best friend at the Courier, Zach (Ron Palillo), although he is only seen in the Pilot & never refered to again. Amy was written out of the show in the middle of the second season, as a result of a conflict between Culea & the production team; after featuring prominently in the Pilot story, the character had little impact in many of the following episodes, causing Culea to become increasingly unhappy with the role & wanting more to do, such as taking part in the Team's frequent fights with bad guys. It's also said that the fact that George Peppard didn't like her, feeling that the show didn't need a female lead, also had an effect. There are conflicting reports over whether Culea eventually left of her own accord, or if she was fired as a result of her continual pushing for more to do in the show. The latter is the more commonly accepted reason, & a oft-cited tale is that Culea found out about her firing when she was given a script & found out she was not included in the episode. In replacement Tawnia Baker (see below)'s first episode, "The Battle of Bel-Air", Amy is reportedly "on foreign correspondent duty" in Jakarta.
Marla Heasley as Tawnia Baker (1984-1985)
Tawnia (misspelled as 'Tanya' on a computer screen in the character's introductory episode "The Battle Of Bel-Air") was a relatively short-lived second season replacement for Amy during late 1983 - early 1984. She was also a reporter, who had heard of the Team through Amy, & helped the A-Team out a few times; although she never fully incorporated herself into the team as Amy had done (reflected by the fact that she was never added to the opening credits, & was not present in two stories, "Harder Than It Looks" & "Semi-Friendly Persuasion", during her time in the series). The character was dropped in "The Bend In The River", the feature-length second story of the third season, again said to be much to do with Peppard's insistance that the show didn't need a female character, but was given the dignity of being written out properly, as she married explorer Brian Leftcourt (Barry Van Dyke) who the Team rescued from river pirates in the Amazon. Marla Heasley had appeared in a small role previously in the second season, as Cherise in the episode "Bad Time On The Border".
Tia Carrere as Tia (1986)
The half-Vietnamese daughter of latter 4th season antagonist General Fulbright. She was inducted into the team in "The Sound of Thunder", the finale to season 4, after the death of her father & her own wanted status in Vietnam & illegal status in the US. However, Carrere's contractual obligations to General Hospital, made during a period when 5th season renewal for the series was uncertain, led to Tia vanishing from the story with no explanation or further mention.
Eddie Velez as Frankie "Dishpan Man" Santana (1986-1987)
Puerto Rican special effects expert who helps the A-Team during the final season. He was blackmailed into joining the team by Gen. Stockwell after he & Murdock helped the team escape the firing squad. The characters early script name was Frankie Sanchez, which filtered through to a number of coverage material. The character was also often given the nickname "Dishpan Man" (or simply "Dishpan") in much of the series' coverage, but while he was introduced as this in the fifth season opener, itself called "Dishpan Man", this nickname was very seldom used afterwards in the actual series.

Recurring antagonists & supporting characters
William Lucking as Colonel Lynch (1983)
Commander of Fort Bragg, which housed the stockade from which the team escaped. The Colonel pursued them throughout the first season. (He was mentioned to still be in pursuit of the team at the start of the second season, though was never actually seen). He seemed to have a personal vendetta against the A-Team which, coupled with the fact that he never managed to capture them, led to his being taken off the case. He also made a surprise return to make one last effort at catching the team in the third season episode "Showdown!".
Lance LeGault as Colonel Roderick Decker (1984-1985)
The second Colonel who tried to catch the team, he was picked for the job because of his unorthodox warfare techniques (it was revealed that in Vietnam, he was known for blowing up Viet Cong hospitals). Decker & Hannibal had a past, having gotten into a brawl at an officers' club in Vietnam. Decker was much more ruthless than Lynch, but also always got outsmarted. He equally despises & respects the A-Team, & Smith inparticular, for their ingenuity & teamwork.
Carl Franklin as Captain Crane (1984-1985)
Decker's right-hand man, he was much more naïve than Decker regarding the A-Team, & was often surprised at the team's ability to evade them.
Charles Napier as Colonel Briggs (1984)
The third Colonel who tried to catch the team but only appeared in one early season 3 episode ("Fire") before Colonel Decker returned. In reality the character was a temporary, one-off replacement (he even has very similar look & mannerisms to Decker) while Lance LeGault was filming an episode of Magnum P.I., in which he also had a recurring role.

Vaughn as Hunt Stockwell in The A-Team.Jack Ging as General Harlan "Bull" Fullbright (1985-1986)
A General who, once again, was determined to capture the team. In the season four finale "The Sound of Thunder", he actually tracked down the team, but instead of turning them in, persuaded them to traveling with him to Vietnam to try & find his long-lost offspring, not realizing he was being led into a trap; at the climax of the story the character is shot & killed (see: On-screen violence listing below). In his dying moments, Fullbright admitted to the team that he realized they were innocent, as they were willing to help him at any cost despite their being criminals on the run from him.
Robert Vaughn as General Hunt Stockwell (1986-1987)
Main article: Hunt Stockwell
The A-Team's boss during the final season, who blackmailed the team into working on an undefined number of top-secret government missions in return for their supposed eventual pardon. He is mysterious & unpredictable, with the team often feeling that he is just using him for his own gains, leading them on with undefined terms for their supposed pardon (in the episode "Alive At Five", Face tires of this & plans to go it at alone, although eventually decides to stay). Often Stockwell will send the team out on various missions, usually contacting them from his luxuary jet, but occasionally will take a more hands-on approach (such as the episode "Point Of No Return", when he leads the rest of the team to Hong Kong to find the missing Hannibal). His catch phrase was "(I'm going to do this...) My way."
Judith Ledford (sometimes as Judy Ledford) as Carla (1986-1987)
General Stockwell's assistant, & often the target of Face (and Frankie)'s unwanted advances. Seen for the first half of the final season, in the last few episodes several other assistants appeared in her place (Carla appears for the last time in "Point Of No Return").

Notable guest stars
Notable guest stars included Boy George, Michael Ironside, Dean Stockwell, Yaphet Kotto, Dennis Haysbert, Hulk Hogan, Xander Berkeley, Andrew Robinson, Markie Post, Marc Alaimo, Lance Henriksen, Tia Carrere, Kurtwood Smith, Ed Lauter, Sam J. Jones, June Chadwick, Brion James, Tracy Reed, William Perry, Rick James, Isaac Hayes, Sid Haig, Pat Sajak, Red West, Dennis Franz, David McCallum, Claudia Christian, Richard Moll, Sonny Landham, Ernie Hudson, Della Reese & Ana Obregón.

Plot

Episode introduction
Each episode began with this voiceover introduction:

“ Ten years ago / In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, & if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team. ”

The first season credits open with "Ten years ago...", which instantly dates the series. In fact, by the time the series began airing in January 1983, it was already out of date, as The A-Team escaped from prison in 1972 (the series began production in Fall 1982, & the first three stories carry a 1982 copyright). For the second - fourth season the dialogue was updated to "In 1972...", confirming the correct date. Due to the first season opening dialogue, some early coverage for the series mistakenly cite the team as escaping from prison in 1973.

The intro was narrated by John Ashley, who was also one of the show's producers. The intro was dropped for the final season, in which the Teams circumstances changed to instead be working for General Stockwell.

The opening credits for the second season episode "The White Ballot" have the second season opening credits visually, but due to an error have the first season audio (identified by the "Ten years ago..." opening dialogue, & the sound of the bi-plane from the Pilot over the shot of the helicopter chase from "Till Death Do Us Part").
In the later second, third & fourth season opening credits, in a clip taken from the second season episode "Steel", Face reacts to an actor dressed in a metallic Cylon centurion costume. Dirk Benedict had starred years earlier in the science fiction television series, Battlestar Galactica. His character, Starbuck, fought against Cylons.
Some viewers mistakenly thought[citation needed] that Airwolf appeared on the fifth season opening credits of The A-Team, with Murdock apparently piloting it. There is a brief shot of what looks like Airwolf, but it is, in fact, an unmodified black Bell 222 (taken from the feature-length fourth season opener "Judgement Day"). It is followed by a shot of Murdock piloting what is actually a different helicopter, from a fantasy sequence taken from the fifth season episode "Trial By Fire".

The "crime they didn't commit"
During the Vietnam War, the A-Team's commanding officer, Colonel Morrison, gave them orders to rob the Bank of Hanoi to help bring the war to an end. They succeeded in their mission, but on returning to their base four days after the end of the war, they found their C.O. murdered by the Viet Cong & his headquarters burnt to the ground. Therefore no proof existed that the A-Team were acting under orders, & they were sent to prison by a military court.

Episode formula
A typical episode starts with the A-Team being hired by down-trodden, terrorized clients (often more than one member of the same family). The 'official' way of doing this was for the client to contact one of Hannibal's many comic aliases that were used to ensure that prospective clients were not working for the military. Just as frequently, the A-Team would be on the road & stumble across someone who needed their help. Often the A-Team would return their fee to the most needy clients or find another way to pay their expenses.

Typically (especially as the episodes progressed, & particularly in the third season), the team would have an opening brawl with the episode's opponents & win. The opponents would go away swearing to get even with the team. Later, B.A. would often lead the team in constructing a weapon, vehicle or other device out of resources at their disposal (often while held captive by the bad guys), which they would use to defeat their opponents.

Other typical elements include: Face (often paired with Murdock) running a scam to get resources that the team need; Murdock having a particular comic fixation or persona; Hannibal using another disguise to fool the bad guys; & B.A. arguing with Murdock. Every few episodes, the Military Police would catch up with the team, giving them an extra obstacle to overcome in that particular episode.

Recurring themes
Stock sequences involved the A-Team being captured & then escaping, an explosion or crash causing a vehicle driven by the antagonists to barrel onto its roof, the U.S. military turning up, having to break Murdock out of the mental hospital, or B.A. refusing to get on a plane. The team almost always engage in a fist fight with the episode's antagonists during the first half of the program (during which there is usually a camera shot of B.A. throwing one of the bad guys over his head & onto a car hood, pile of cardboard boxes, or other such surface). The A-Team win this fight rather easily, but allow their enemies to escape with a warning from Hannibal, despite being able to subdue them & accomplish their mission there & then.

Also, in nearly every episode the bad guys capture or lay siege to the A-Team, who, almost without fail, find themselves trapped in a barn/garage/warehouse etc. containing acetylene torches, sets of mechanical tools, an internal combustion engine of some sort & other materials which they use to build a contraption to finally escape & subdue their enemy in a non-lethal manner. Elaborate vehicle explosions--usually involving a car, truck, or jeep flipping over, with doors & axles flying, in a giant fireball--became something of a series trademark.

The show became emblematic of this kind of "fit-for-TV warfare" due to its depiction of high-octane combat scenes, with lethal weapons, wherein the participants (with the notable exception of General Fullbright) are never killed & rarely seriously injured.

The fifth season
The fourth season saw TV ratings fall dramatically, & as a result the format was changed during the show's final season in 1986-1987 in a bid to win back viewers. After years on the run from the authorities, the A-Team are finally apprehended by the military. They are given a choice between returning to prison & being executed, or being assigned to a government agency run by General Hunt Stockwell & performing secret missions. They choose to work with Stockwell.

This season marked a notable change to the show's format, in that the A-Team was no longer working for themselves, but rather working for the government, & that a new character, Frankie "Dishpan Man" Santana, was added as a fifth member of the team. The Team's missions in season five, somewhat reminiscent of Mission: Impossible are based more around political espionage than besting local thugs, & usually take place in foreign countries. In addition, the show's opening theme was changed, removing the introduction line, & featuring a revamped version of the theme song. However, these changes proved unsuccessful with viewers & ratings continued to decline. Only 13 episodes aired in the fifth season.

In what was supposed to be the final episode, "The Grey Team" (although it was the second-to-last aired), Hannibal, after being misled by Stockwell one time too many, tells him that the team will not work for him any more. At the end, the team discusses what they were going to do if they got their pardon, & it is implied that they would continue doing what they were doing as the A-Team.

Episodes
Main article: List of The A-Team episodes
Season Ep # First Airdate Last Airdate
Season 1 14 January 23, 1983 May 10, 1983
Season 2 23 September 20, 1983 May 15, 1984
Season 3 25 18 September 1984 14 May 1985
Season 4 23 24 September 1985 13 May 1986
Season 5 13 26 September 1986 December 30, 1986*

*Note: One 'missing' episode, "Without Reservations", was broadcast as part of the fifth season re-runs, on 8 March 1987. (See Episodes section for more details)

Impact of show on society

Popularity
The A-Team was one of a wide variety of successful television shows from prolific television producer Stephen J. Cannell. Cannell is known for having a particular skill at capitalizing on momentary cultural trends, such as the machine guns, cartoonish violence, & joyful militarism of this series, which are now recognizable as trademarks of popular entertainment in the 1980s. Cannell had been producing shows for ABC in the early 1980s, but was fired by the network for not producing a hit for them. His next project would be The A-Team.

It has achieved cult status through heavy U.S. syndication. It has also remained popular overseas, such as in the United Kingdom, where the show has been on-air almost continuously in some form (ITV network, ITV regional re-runs, satellite) since it was first shown in July 1983.

Continuing cultural effects
As well as having huge ratings & being especially popular amongst children, there was countless merchandise available, including action figures of the characters, as well as their famous van & car. A cola flavored popsicle in the shape of Mr. T was also on the market at the show's height. Marvel Comics even produced a three issue A-Team comic book series. Mr. T has also appeared in his own comic books.

Unofficial reunions
On 18 May 2006, Channel 4 in the UK attempted to reunite the surviving cast members of The A-Team for the show Bring Back... in an episode titled "Bring Back...The A Team". Justin Lee Collins presented the challenge, securing interviews & appearances from Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz, Marla Heasley, Jack Ging, series co-creator Stephen Cannell, & Mr. T. (after much searching). Collins often used very unorthodox methods, such as ambushing the actors in their homes, hotel rooms, or even while out shopping, without any prior warning & , for Mr. T, attempting to gatecrash his way into the Latin Grammy Awards.

Collins eventually managed to bring together Benedict, Schultz, Heasley, Ging & Cannell, along with William Lucking, Lance LeGault, & George Peppard's son, Christian. Mr. T was unable to make the meeting, which took place in the Friar's Club in Beverly Hills, but he did manage to appear on the show for a brief talk with Collins.

During every interview, Collins would inquire about the rumored tension between Peppard & Mr T. Although Peppard was an established star of Hollywood movies, Mr. T was relatively new to on-screen acting yet, in a short time, he was generally regarded as the main star of the show. It was suggested that tension did indeed exist between the two & was most probably due to Peppard's bitterness of Mr. T's status in the show. During the interview with Mr. T, the trademark gold chains worn by his character were discussed. Mr. T stated that they were symbolic of the iron chains of his African slave-ancestors but made from gold because he thinks of himself as being a 'slave' except with a higher price now. As a lighthearted joke for the show, a medium attempted to contact the deceased George Peppard via seance.

The program never touched upon the fifth season of the series in any way, with no mention of Eddie Velez' & Robert Vaughn's characters, & neither actor appearing at the reunion itself. Additionally, the episode in which Jack Ging's character General Fullbright is shot & killed is specifically described as the series' final episode (it was in fact, the final episode of season four). However, this is most likely due to a genuine misunderstanding, as several other facts (such as those surrounding Melinda Culea & her time on the show) were also slightly off. A more serious attempt to contact Peppard will take place later in 2007 when Most Haunted will get Benedict, Schultz & Mr T. together to perform a proper séance. Presenter Yvette Fielding has said "We're all going to Los Angeles for a week to film it. It took a lot of doing to get those three together - now we have to do the really hard part."

On-screen violence
The violence presented in The A-Team is highly sanitized. People do not bleed or bruise when hit (though they might develop a limp or require a sling). The members of the A-Team do not kill people. The results of violence were only ever presented when it was required for the script. For instance, when Murdock needed to have a black eye to legitimize the effects of a staged plane crash, Peck punched him in the face to facilitate this. The methods the A-Team use to subdue their targets are deliberately non-lethal. As Hannibal tells a customer in season one: "We're not murderers."

In almost every car crash there is a short take showing the occupants of the vehicle climbing out of the mangled/burning wreck (even in helicopter crashes), although by late in the fourth season, some of these takes were dropped. In takes where there was no footage of the survivors scrambling to safety, a voiceover was sometimes employed. For instance, in the episode "The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas", a Mafia car flips over & lands on its roof during a chase. The vehicle lands in such a way that any occupants would have been instantly crushed, but a rather obvious loop-in is used of the driver asking "Hey, Cliff, are you okay?" & the passenger replying "Yeah, I'm okay" in a rather unflustered manner. This is similar to another 1980s television show, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, in which lasers were used instead of bullets & all personnel escaped from downed planes or destroyed boats.

Contrary to popular belief, however, the show did feature at least eight possible on-screen deaths, although only five are definitive, with one other being from a dream sequence & the remainder left ambiguous:

In "The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas" (season 1), gangster Gianni Christian is thrown from a high-rise hotel window into the fountain at the front of the hotel; a report of Gianni's death was heard by the team on the radio (this scene was usually awkwardly edited out in the UK when shown by ITV).
In "Beast From the Belly of a Boeing" (season 1), the main villain is sucked out of an aircraft to fall to his death when a bullet causes the plane to depressurize (although he was wearing a parachute, the villain was apparently trapped by his parachute rig on the emergency door as they both go out the plane together — so even if he has time to use it, he would still be too heavy to save himself).
In "Pros & Cons" (season 1), an inmate was shot & killed by a corrupt Warden just as the scene changes. (This scene, as with the fight scenes in the episode, were also edited quite heavily by ITV in the UK).
In "Diamonds 'n Dust" (season 2) a mine-owner was shot & killed, although not seen on-screen. The characters often refer to this.
In "Skins" (season 3), a park ranger is ambushed & shot, later to have his sister call the A-Team. Bar General Fullbright's slow death in "The Sound of Thunder" (see below), this instant death is the most graphic instance of someone being killed on-screen in the series.
In the season 4 finale "The Sound of Thunder", General Fullbright is shot & killed. Fullbright's assailant is immediately killed thereafter when the shack he was hiding inside erupted in flames (Hannibal had fired his gun at gas barrels outside the shack. This is the only time Hannibal killed anyone in the entire series). (UK-wise on ITV, this episode was nearly always dropped from runs of the season. When it did eventually appear, it was one of the most heavily edited episodes of ITV's run).
In the season 5 episode "Firing Line", the A-Team, awaiting excecution escape their prison cells & have a gun battle with the MPs guarding them. One is clearly seen to be struck & killed, & ends with B.A. & Face seemingly about to be shot — but the scene is revealed to be a dream sequence. There are also several other dream sequences with the team facing excecution.
In season 5, episode 91 "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair" General Stockwell is shown in a gunfight with an old intelligence comrade turned traitor (David McCallum) who crashes a truck he is trying to escape in, ending in the truck exploding. It is ambiguous as to whether he is killed or escapes. (Although the explosion itself was left in, this was another heavily edited episode by ITV in the UK).
In the season 5 episode "The Spy Who Mugged Me", the episode's primary villain Jourdan, is shot & falls from a boat from the impact. His fate is not revealed, but it is unlikely he would've survived such a thing as none of the characters are seen to save him.
The majority of the above examples do not directly involve the A-Team members themselves & instead are acts that are conducted by villains. More commonly, episodes refer to deaths off-screen, typically before the story has started, & giving family members or friends reason to hire the Team in the first place.

The only other notable instance of someone getting badly hurt is in the second season finale "Curtain Call", in which Murdock is seriously wounded by a gun-shot. This serves as the basis for the episode, as the team recall Murdock's past antics while trying to evade Colonel Decker.

Sexism
Because of the fact that neither Melinda Culea or Marla Heasley had a very long tenure with the show, & the show portrayed females in strong roles only occasionally, the show was at times accused of being sexist. The network & producers had brought in both Culea & Heasley to stem these critiques, hoping that a female would properly balance the otherwise all-male cast. Eventually, the producers decided that abandon this & wrote Heasley out of the show at the start of the third season (Culea had long since quit).

Response
Years after the show ended, in 2006, in an episode of the British Bring Back..., Justin Lee Collins tried to reunite the cast members & Dirk Benedict remarked that, indeed, the show was very male driven:

“ "It was a guy's show. It was male driven. It was written by guys. It was directed by guys. It was acted by guys. It's what about guys do. We talked the way guys talked. We were the boss. We were the God. We smoked when we wanted. We shot guns when we wanted. We kissed the girls & made them cry... when we wanted. It was the last truly masculine show." ”

In a similar interview in 2007, on the Dutch talk show Jensen & RTL Boulevard, Benedict remarked again that the A-Team was a guy show, & if it were remade today, it'd be a lot more femine, & a more adequate naming would be "The Gay-Team".

Trivia
This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into the body of the article or removed.

This article has been tagged since June 2007.
The name of the show comes from "A-teams", the nickname for Operational Detachments Alpha (ODA). The US Army Special Forces uses the term ODA for their 12-man direct operations teams.
In early episodes the team used M16 rifles, in later episodes they used the Mini-14's modified with a pin-on Flash Suppressor to hide the Hollywood Blank Firing Adapter. Full auto fire was simulated by dubbing sound effects onto the action sequence.
There was some talk about an A-Team reunion, a TV movie where the team would receive a full pardon. After George Peppard died, the idea was dropped.
In the United Kingdom, an A-Team comic strip appeared for several years in the 1980s as part of the children's television magazine & comic Look-In, to tie in with the British run of the series.
The Fort Bragg stockade, which the A-Team was supposed to have escaped from, is now the home of the secretive, Special Forces-based counterterrorist unit, Delta Force.
A late episode of Stephen J. Cannell's previous hit, The Rockford Files, "The Hawaiin Headache", features a character called 'Colonel John "Howling Mad" Smith', names that would evolve into Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith & Captain "Howling Mad" Murdock in The A-Team. Another early Rockford episode, "The Kirkoff Case" (the first regular episode after the Pilot) features a character called Tawnia Baker.
The villain in the first season episode "West Coast Turnaround" is called Chuck Easterland. Cannell has used this name in a number of penned episodes of various shows, including the first season Hunter episode "A Long Way From L. A.". A villain in the third season A-Team episode "The Bells of St. Mary's", also by Cannell, also has a notably similar name, Zeke Westerland.
The series was developed as a cross between Seven Samurai (and its western remake The Magnificent Seven) & The Dirty Dozen. According to the interview with Cannell on the fifth season DVD set, it also had vague elements of Mad Max.

Episodes
A 'lost episode', "Without Reservations", aired for the first time during re-runs in March 1987. This episode was meant to air before the final episode "The Grey Team", which is reflected by the fact that in "Without Reservations" Murdock's T-shirt says "Almost Fini" while in "The Grey Team" it says "Fini". Apparently, the axe fell on the series more suddenly than expected, leaving the episode too short to be broadcast. To make it long enough to air, the entire pre-opening credits sequence was made up of footage from the first season episode "Holiday In The Hills", re-edited with a new fifth season-style backing score, & a shot of Frankie added from the fifth season episode "The Crystal Skull". "The Grey Team" is also more likely to be the 'proper' final episode, as Hannibal tells General Stockwell that the team will not work for him (Stockwell) any longer after being mislead one time too many, & at the end of the story, the team ponders their future.
The final episode of the fourth season at one point may have been the last, as Murdock's "All Good Things Must Come To An End" t-shirt hints. But the show returned, re-vamped, for one more season.
In "Pros & Cons", Face pretends to be Dr. Dwight Pepper, the author of a book on prison reform. The photo on the back of the book (supposedly the actual Dr. Dwight Pepper) is a photo of Stephen J. Cannell, the producer of the series. The name is a gag on the soft drink of the same name, although some have noted that Dwight is Dwight Schultz's first name, & Pepper is similar to Peppard.
Many of the episode titles (and plots) are plays on those of famous movies. For example, the early episode "Black Day At Bad Rock", is a play on the classic 1955 movie Bad Day at Black Rock. An early Knight Rider episode, 'Good Day at White Rock' is also a similar play on the title. Both episodes also contain notable parallels, with both stories involving a biker gang terrorizing a small town.

Casting & actors
Tia Carrere guest starred in one episode at the end of season four, & was intended to join the principal cast of the show in its fifth season. Her character was a Vietnamese war orphan now living in the United States, & she would have provided a continuing tie to the team's inception during the war. There has been some fan speculation that her character would eventually have been revealed to have been Hannibal's illegitimate daughter, but there seems to have been no discussion about this among the producers. However, Tia was under a prior contract to General Hospital at the time, & was unable to join the cast of The A-Team. Her character was abruptly dropped as a result.
In season 5, episode 91 "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair", David McCallum guest stars as a former comrade of Robert Vaughn's character General Stockwell. Vaughn & McCallum co-starred in The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
James Coburn, who co-starred in The Magnificent Seven, was considered for the role of Hannibal in The A-Team.
George Peppard (Hannibal) was the original consideration for Vin, Steve McQueen's character.
Robert Vaughn (Gen. Stockwell) has appeared in every incarnation of The Magnificent Seven apart from the original Japanese work, which he often jokes he wishes he could have been in because then he'd "have the full set". He even appeared in the science fiction version Battle Beyond the Stars alongside George Peppard.

Professional wrestling tie-in
Because this was NBC's most popular show at the time, Vince McMahon worked a deal to co-promote his World Wrestling Federation ("WWF") by allowing Hulk Hogan to make appearances on the show. It also co-promoted Wrestlemania, in which Hogan made an appearance & Mr. T was featured in a wrestling match. This show, along with The Rock n' Wrestling Connection, was a major reason why the WWF was able to go national & later become the dominant professional wrestling entity.

In addition to Hogan, the show also featured professional wrestlers Professor Toru Tanaka, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, The Dynamite Kid, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, Davey-Boy Smith, Big John Studd, & Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Later, wrestler John Cena would parody the show for his music video, "Bad Bad Man".

The GMC van
The black & grey GMC van used by the A-Team, with its characteristic red stripe, black & red tire rims, & rooftop spoiler, has become an enduring pop culture icon. Less detailed stunt vans were sometimes used in certain scenes, notable to the more casual viewer by different headlights (round as opposed to the regular rectangular).

One of the original six vans used for the show is displayed in the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in Keswick, northern England. Another sits on the Universal Studios back lot with flat tires & faded paint & is available for tourists to photograph.

The ateam is spelt the a-team, some make jokes about the b team and a team.

One criticism of the show is that a group, wanted by so many law enforcement agencies, would most likely not use such a customized & eye-attracting vehicle on a consistent basis. A inconsistency is that, in some episodes, the Military Police recognize the van, whereas in other episodes they do not.

One common misconception is that the van is all black, but actually, the section above the red stripe is dark metallic grey

There have been many A team dvd series released,

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The favourite foods of famous fictional characters

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