The A-Team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the United States Army military unit, see The A-Team (military).

For the 2008 movie, see The A-Team (film).

The A-Team
The A-Team. Clockwise from top: Dwight Schultz, Mr. T, George Peppard, Dirk Benedict.
Genre	Action/Adventure
Running time	48 minutes per episode
Creator(s)	Frank Lupo Stephen J. Cannell
Starring	George Peppard Dirk Benedict Dwight Schultz Mr. T et al.
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	NBC
Original run	January 23, 1983–March 8, 1987
No. of episodes	98
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces who are on the run from the military for a "crime they didn't commit" while working as soldiers of fortune. Despite being thought of as mercenaries, the A-Team always acted on the side of the good guys, helping 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 popping up on March 8 1987), with a total of 98 episodes.

[edit] Intro

Each episode of the first season began with this voiceover introduction:

Ten years ago, 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, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team.

Seasons 2-4 substituted "In 1972" for "Ten years ago". The intro was dropped for the final season.

The intro was narrated by John Ashley who was also one of the show's producers.

[edit] 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 and his headquarters burnt to the ground. Therefore no proof existed that the A-Team were acting under orders, and they were sent to prison by a military court.

[edit] Episode formula

A typical episode starts with the A-Team being hired by down-trodden terrorized client(s) (quite often members 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 their clients were not working for the military. Just as frequently the A-Team would be on the road and stumble across someone who needed their help. Often the A-Team would return the fee to their most needy clients or find some other way to pay their expenses. Typically (especially as the episodes progressed, and particularly in the third season), the team would have an opening brawl with the episode's opponents and win. The opponents would go away swearing to get even with the team. The team would then quite often construct a weapon / vehicle / etc. out of resources at their disposal (often while held captive by the bad guys) and send their opponents packing. Thrown into this mix was typically one of Face's cons (often paired with Murdock) to get resources that the team needed, Murdock's particular comic fixation / persona of the episode, another disguise by Hannibal to fool the bad guys, and B.A. building aforementioned defensive construction, and 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.

[edit] Recurring themes

Stock sequences involved the A-Team being captured and 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 would almost always engage in a fist fight with the episode's antagonists during the first half of the program (during which there would usually be a camera shot of B.A. throwing one of the bad guys over his head and onto a car hood, pile of cardboard boxes, or other such surface). The A-Team would win rather easily, but would allow their enemies to escape, despite being able to subdue them and accomplish their mission there and then.

Also, in nearly every episode the bad guys would capture or lay siege to the A-Team, who would, 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 and other materials which they would use to build a contraption to finally escape and subdue their enemy.

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 and rarely seriously injured.

[edit] 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, and 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 and enjoyed a brief revival in the 1990s when re-runs were shown in the United Kingdom. As of 2006 the show is in syndication on Sleuth and TV Land. Also currently each season is shown in progression in a recurring cycle on the UK satellite channel UKTV Gold.

[edit] The GMC van

The black and grey GMC van used by the A-Team, with its characteristic red stripe, black and red tire rims, and rooftop spoiler, has become an enduring pop culture icon. 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 and faded paint and is available for tourists to photograph.

One criticism of the show is that a group, wanted by so many law enforcement agencies, would most likely not use such a customized and eye-attracting vehicle on a consistent basis. One slight inconstancy is that, in some episodes, the Military Police recognise the van, whereas in other episodes they don't.

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

[edit] The fifth season

The penultimate season saw TV ratings fall dramatically, and 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 and being executed, or being assigned to a government agency run by General Hunt Stockwell and 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, and that a new character, Frankie "Dishpan" Santana, was added as a fifth member of the team. In addition, the show's opening theme was changed, removing the introduction line, and featuring a revamped version of the theme song. However, these changes proved unsuccessful with viewers and 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, and it was implied that they would continue doing what they were doing as the A-Team.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of The A-Team episodes

[edit] Cast

[edit] Main characters

George Peppard as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith

Main article: John "Hannibal" Smith

Dirk Benedict as Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck

Main article: Templeton "Faceman" Peck

Mr. T as Sgt. Bosco Albert "B.A." Baracus

Main article: B.A. Baracus

Dwight Schultz as Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock

Main article: H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock

[edit] Additional team members

Melinda Culea as Amy Amanda "Triple A" Allen — Amy was an intrepid news reporter who joined the team in its pilot episode. She was written out of the show in the middle of the second season, as a result of a conflict between Culea and the production team. It's also said that the fact that George Peppard didn't like her didn't help matters. It was said she found out about her firing when she was given a script and found out she had no lines. She played a vital role in the early episodes, but was written out when Culea wanted to become an increasingly dominant figure in action scenes. Her character was reportedly 'on foreign correspondent duty' in Jakarta.
Marla Heasley as Tawnia Baker — Tawnia (misspelled as 'Tanya' in the episode The Battle Of Bel-Air) was a short-lived replacement for Amy during late 1983 - early 1984. She was also a reporter and helped the A-team out a few times; although she never fully incorporated herself into the team as Amy had done. She left early in the third season because she got married (with a little help from the A-Team).
Tia Carrere as Tia - The half-vietnamese daughter of latter 4th season antagonist General Fulbright. She was inducted into the team in the finale to season 4, after the death of her father and her own wanted status in Vietnam and illegal status in the US. However, Carrere's contractual obligations to another show, 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 — 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 and Murdock helped the team escape the firing squad.

[edit] Supporting characters

William Lucking as Colonel Lynch — 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 — 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 and 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 seemed to equally despise and respect the A-Team for their ingenuity and teamwork.
Carl Franklin as Captain Crane — Decker's right-hand man, he was much more naïve than Decker regarding the A-Team, and was often surprised at the team's ability to evade them.
Charles Napier as Colonel Briggs — The third Colonel who tried to catch the team but only appeared in one early Season 3 episode ('Fire') before Colonel Decker returned. Lance LeGault may well have been busy working on Magnum, P.I., in which he had a reoccurring role as Colonel Buck Greene, and was unavailable for the episode. The fact that Briggs looks and acts very similar to Decker would suggest that he was used simply as a stand in.
Jack Ging as General Harlan "Bull" Fullbright — A General who also tried to catch the team, except that when he was traveling with the team to Vietnam in the Season 4 finale, the character himself was killed (see: On-screen violence listing below). Prior to his death, 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 — The A-Team's boss during the final season. He blackmailed the team into working top-secret government missions in return for their eventual pardon. His catch phrase was "My way."

Famous 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 and Claudia Christian.

[edit] 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 A-Team does 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.

In almost every car crash there was 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 and lands on its roof during a chase. The car 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?" and 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 and all personnel escaped from downed planes or destroyed boats.

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

In Season 1's "The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas", gangster Gianni Christian is thrown from a high-rise hotel window into the swimming pool below (although clearly this is open to debate, particularly since Faceman himself was similarly thrown from a highrise window into a swimming pool in Tawnia Baker's introduction episode).
In Season 1's "Beast From the Belly of a Boeing", 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 Season 1's "Pros and Cons", an inmate was shot and killed by a corrupt Warden.
In Season 3's "Skins", a park ranger is ambushed and shot, later to have his sister call the A-Team.
In the Season 4 finale "The Sound of Thunder", General Fullbright is shot and 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).
In Season 5, the A-Team escape their prison cells and have a gun battle with the MPs guarding them. One is clearly seen to be struck and killed—but the scene is revealed to be a dream sequence.
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 (David McCallum) who crashes his truck. It is ambiguous as to whether he is killed or escapes.

The majority of the above examples do not directly involve the A-Team members themselves and instead are acts that are conducted by villains.

[edit] 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 and 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 and later become the dominant professional wrestling entity^{[citation needed]}.

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, and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Later, wrestler John Cena would parody the show for his music video, "Bad Bad Man".

[edit] Trivia

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.
Though B.A. is afraid of flying, the dress uniform he wears during his court martial contains a Master Parachutist pin.
In the episode "A Nice Place To Visit", Hannibal's dress uniform shows that he was awarded the Medal Of Honor at some point in his military career.
Actor James Coburn was considered for the role of Hannibal Smith.
In the later second, third and 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.
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 be shown, scenes from the first season episode "Holiday In The Hills" were recycled to make up the pre-opening credits section of the story. "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 any longer, and 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 early episodes the team used M16 rifles, in later episodes they used Mini-14 variants, called AC-556's
In one episode, it is revealed that Face's real name is not Templeton Peck. The complete list of his assumed names is, in chronological order: Richard Bancroft (birth name), Alvin Brennar, Al Brennan, Al Peck, Holmes Morrison, Morrison Holmes, and finally Templeton Arthur Peck. (Holmes Morrison was the full name of Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison)
In "Pros and 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, and Pepper is similar to Peppard.
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.
Tia Carrere guest starred in one episode at the end of season four, and 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, and 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, and was unable to join the cast of The A-Team. Her character was abruptly dropped as a result.
An A-Team video game was to be released for the Atari 2600, but was cancelled. [1]
There was a published A-Team video game from Zafiro Software Division for the ZX Spectrum [2] and Amstrad CPC [3].
In the Italian dubbed version, Baracus' initials are "P. E.", for "Pessimo Elemento" ("Awful element"). They were chosen because of dubbing reasons (phonetically, the Italian "e" is pronounced like the English "a", therefore the lip movements are similar) and in order to have something of an equivalent to "Bad Attitude".
In the French dubbed version, B.A. Baracus is called "Barracuda", Face is "Futé" ("Smart Guy"), and Murdock is "Looping". Hannibal's signature phrase is translated as "J'adore quand un plan se déroule sans accroc" and has become some kind of a catchphrase in France.
In the German dubbed version, Hannibal's signature phrase is translated as "Ich liebe es, wenn ein Plan funktioniert".
In the Spanish dubbed version, B.A. Baracus is named M. A. Barracus, the "M. A." for "Mala Actitud" ("Bad Attitude"); and Face is "Fénix" (Phoenix). This nick was chosen just because its sounds similar to "face", so the lipsync made a better match when dubbing the voices.
In Latin American dubbed version B.A. is called "Mario Baracus" and Face is called "Faz," which means "face."
In the Japanese dubbed version, B.A. Baracus is called "Kongu" as in "King Kong" and Murdock "Kureijii Monkii", for English "Crazy Monkey".
In the United Kingdom, an A-Team comic strip appeared for several years in the 1980s as part of the children's television magazine and 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.
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 and McCallum co-starred in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
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 and "Howling Mad" Murdock in The A-Team. Another early Rockford episode features a character called Tawnia Baker.
The A-Team van is commonly mistaken for being all black, with a red stripe, when in fact the section above the red stripe is actually dark metallic grey / silver. Many toys based on the van used the incorrect all-black colour scheme.
The series was developed as a cross between Seven Samurai (and it's western remake The Magnificent Seven) and The Dirty Dozen. (Interestingly, James Coburn, who co-starred in The Magnificent Seven, was considered for the role of Hannibal in The A-Team.) It also had elements of Mad Max.
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.

[edit] Cultural effect

As well as having huge ratings and being especially popular amongst children, there was countless merchandise available, including action figures of the characters, as well as their famous van and 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.
British comedian Benny Hill did a parody, "The B Team", in his TV show, playing both Hannibal Smith and B.A. Baracus. Face was played by Carl Wayne.
In 2002, promos for The NFL on FOX featured commentators Joe Buck as Hannibal, Cris Collinsworth as Face, and Troy Aikman as B.A. Baracus. FOX was trying to drive home the point that Buck, Collinsworth, and Aikman were the new #1 announcing team (or "A-team") for their NFL telecasts.
In an early episode of the animated series Sealab 2021, Captain Murphy hosts a pirate radio show using the name "Howlin' Mad" Murphy.
The Family Guy episode "Brian Goes Back to College" uses the A-Team as a subplot to the show. Peter, Cleveland, Quagmire, and Joe enter a costume contest as the A-Team. With Peter as Hannibal, Cleveland as B. A. Baracus, Quagmire as Face, and Joe as Murdock, the group wins the contest and decide to become the "new" A-Team. The episode contains many other A-Team references such as the credits and the team van, as well as a re-working of the show's theme song.
John Cena performs a music video based on the show of his hit single, "Bad, Bad Man." He plays the role of Hannibal, with Tha Trademarc as Murdock, and Bumpy Knuckles as B.A. Baracus.
Cult webcomic Sluggy Freelance features a quartet of pirate aliens, "The Gray Team", named after the A-Team members, as major secondary characters in one of its longest-running arcs, Oceans Unmoving. It is still unknown if they chose those names or they were given to them. It is also notable that one alien, named B.A.(for Bachelor of Arts), parodies the real B.A.'s catch phrase after a gunfight, saying "I pitted the fools!"
The popular 2004 feature film Napoleon Dynamite features the show's theme song during a montage sequence showing Napoleon and Pedro hanging flyers for the school election.
The Robot Chicken episode "Nightmare Generator" contains a parody of The A-Team.
The last episode of Season 3 of Bo' Selecta! also has Avid Marion dressed as Mr. T.
The second episode of the British comedy series Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere features a homage of the A-Team customizing their vehicle, complete with the proper music from the show, and even BA's distinctive walk, parodied by Peter Kay. Throughout the series, a nodding Mr. T doll is seen on the dash of their vehicle.
An advertisement for 118 118 has an A-Team homage, including an A-Team-style van (although white), a young boy with a mohawk haircut saying "Crazy fool" like B.A. Baracus, the two leads running into a garage and racing out on a makeshift motorcyle, and the leads disguised as trees.
The show's famous theme music was used in a United Kingdom commercial for the video game Sonic Heroes.
"JCB Song" by Nizlopi contains a reference to The A-Team, with lyrics in the second verse. The video by Monkeehub to accompany the song also contains a cartoon drawing of the A-Team's van following the JCB.
The A-Team are mentioned often in the movie Ali G Indahouse. It is clear that Ali believes them to be real people and during a break-in, he assigns each of his "crew" names, with himself being B.A. Baracus.
Numerous references to The A-Team are made in the British TV sitcom Spaced during the first and second series of the show.
The British comedy Little Britain had a sketch featuring Matt Lucas dressed up as B.A. Baracus while working out in a gym. When someone tells him he looks like B.A. from the A-Team, he seemingly has no idea who he resembles. He is later seen driving away in a copy of the A-Team van.
In the South Park episode "Ike's Wee Wee," South Park elementary councilor Mr. Mackey loses his job, travels to India, and ends up being captured by the A-team and taken to rehab.
In Scrubs, the janitor owns a van designed after the one of the A-Team, after Perry Cox crashed his old one as result of winning a bet.
In the video game Blast Corps, the A-team van is featured as a hidden vehicle. When the player honks the horn one can hear: "Outta my way."
On their 2000 album Deviant, British metal band Pitchshifter included the song "As Seen On TV", featuring spoken vocals from Jello Biafra. The song, an indictment of the perceived acceptability of violence in modern media, contains the line "No-one loses on TV." Singer JS Clayden has said that this line refers to the fact that no one is ever killed by the A-Team despite the group's frequent use of automatic weapons ^{[citation needed]}.
Hannibal's catchphrase "I love it when a plan comes together!" has been used numerous times in various TV shows (ranging from The Daily Show to MythBusters) and movies.
The anime shows Full Metal Panic and FMP:Fumoffu both utilize the A-Team theme in their soundtracks, particularly the previews for the next episode.
There is a rap group called "The A-Team," with "Acey the Faceman" and "A.B. Baracus." The album also called "The A-Team" contains many references to the show.
Mr. T guest stars in an episode of the The Chipmunks. He helps to train Alvin, Simon and Theodore and they become The C-Team.
In series 3, episode 1 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Ninja Quest, Rito Repulso quotes "I love it when a plan comes together." This statement is made after the villains' plan to trap the rangers works correctly.
One episode of The A-Team is a crossover with Wheel of Fortune on which Murdock appeared and at the end, wins the game, a trip to Hawaii, and a new car, as well as various prizes for his teammates (a bed for Face, a cigar humidor for Hannibal, and a year's supply of Turtle Wax for B.A.).
CWF superstar Sgt. Cable Briggs used the spoken-word intro to the opening theme for his entrance music, but the song cut off before the actual song began, leaving silence as Briggs entered the ring.
Mister T featured in a 1983 episode of the long-running U.S. comedy Diff'rent Strokes called 'The Idol', when The A-Team crew supposedly came to the penthouse to film an episode. In order to emulate his hero, Arnold (Gary Coleman) shaved his head and dressed up like him. (References to the other A-Team actors were made, although only Mister T was actually seen). In a later episode, Arnold boasts that he is going to get Mister T for a school event, commenting "I bet you didn't know that the 'A' in 'A-Team' stands for 'Arnold". Mister T is mentioned but does not actually appear in the episode.
An episode of surreal British spoof quiz Shooting Stars featured a sketch spoofing The A-Team, with Vic Reeves in the role of Hannibal, Mark Lamarr as Face, Bob Mortimer as Murdock, and Matt Lucas as Mister T (incorrectly referred to as Mister T, not B.A.), a character he would re-create some years later in a Little Britain sketch (see above). They had to rescue a damsel in distress (Ulrika Jonsson) from two villains (again played by Reeves and Mortimer) - who were "pushing and pulling her about a bit" - by modifying the van utilizing items from Mister T's wash-bag.
British spoof horror series Garth Marenghi's Darkplace clearly has The A-Team as one of its many influences. It also closes with a shot of 'writer' Garth Marenghi sitting at his typewriter and pulling a script out, as Stephen J. Cannell was seen to do at the end of his productions, including The A-Team.
In Australia, radio hosts Hamish and Andy use the opening intro of the A-Team for the introduction to their show.

[edit] A-Team reunion

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 and appearances from Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz, Marla Heasley, Jack Ging, series co-creator Stephen Cannell, and 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 and, for Mr. T, attempting to gatecrash his way into the Latin Grammy Awards.

Collins eventually managed to bring together Benedict, Schultz, Heasley, Ging and Cannell, along with William Lucking, Lance LeGault, and 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.

As a lighthearted joke for the show, a medium attempted to contact the deceased George Peppard via seance.

[edit] DVD releases

DVD Cover for Season One

DVD Name	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The A-Team Season One	June 8, 2004	September 13, 2004	December 1, 2004
The A-Team Season Two	April 12, 2005	July 4, 2005	July 11, 2005
The A-Team Season Three	January 31, 2006	May 22, 2006	July 12, 2006
The A-Team Season Four	April 4, 2006	September 18, 2006	September 20, 2006
The A-Team Season Five	October 10, 2006	n/a	February 21, 2007

As of October 10, 2006, all five seasons of The A-Team are now available on DVD.

Note: The Region 1 releases of Season One (during the Pilot episode) and Season Three (two instances during the episode 'Beverly Hills Assault') replace music tracks with generic music, due to copyright problems. (Confirmation needed if this is the same on the Region 2 versions).

Note: On the Region 1 release of Season Four, a number of the opening trailers, previewing the upcoming episode, are missing (Again, confirmation needed if this is the same on the Region 2 versions).

[edit] International

In Argentina, the show was originally shown on Canal 9 as "Brigada A," which means "The A Brigade."
In Australia, it was originally shown on the 0/10 Network (which became the Ten Network) and now is being re-run on the pay television network TV1.
In Austria, the show was shown on ORF1.
In Brazil, the show was shown on SBT, and later again on Rede Globo.
In Canada, the show is being shown on Dejaview.
In Costa Rica,the show was originally shown on Canal 6 as "Los Magnificos".
In the Czech Republic, the show was shown on TV Prima.
In Estonia, the show was/is on TV3.
In France, the show was shown on TF1, renamed "L'Agence tout risques". The show was re-aired again in 2000-2002 on Métropole 6.
In Germany, the show was originally aired on Das Erste. Later seasons and reruns were shown on RTL and are now shown on RTL 2.
In Hungary, the show was on TV2.
In Indonesia, the show was shown on TVRI, and highly popular at that time. The show was re-aired again in 2003 - 2005 in TV7.
In Italy, the show was shown on Italia 1.
In Ireland, the show was shown on and is repeated on Radio Telefís Éireann.
In Japan, the show was shown on TV Asahi TV 10.
In Lithuania, the show was shown on TV3 and Tango TV.
In Malaysia, the show was shown on RTM2.
In Mexico, the show was renamed as "Los magníficos".
In The Netherlands the show was shown on TROS and later on Veronica, RTL 5 and SBS6.
In New Zealand the show was shown on Prime.
In Norway, the show was shown on TV3 and had several reruns during the 1990s.
In the Philippines, the show was aired over GMA-7.
In Panama, the show was on Rpc canal 4 and the show was renamed as "Los Magnificos."
In Poland, the show was shown on Polonia 1 and later on Polsat.
In Portugal, the show was originally shown on RTP 1. However, reruns were shown on TVI using the Brazilian dub. Nowadays the show can be seen in SIC Radical, a "radical" Portuguese channel, subsidiary of the largest SIC Network.
In Russia, the show was initially shown on STS (Russian: СТС), the entirely entertainment-oriented channel.
In Saudi Arabia, the show was shown on Saudi TV Channel 2.
In South Africa, the show was shown on SABC 1.
In Spain, the show was shown on TVE. The show was renamed as "El Equipo A", which is the Spanish translation of The A-Team.
In Sweden, the show was shown on TV3. Kanal 5 currently shows reruns of season 1.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the Show was shown on Trinidad and Tobago Television,
In the United Kingdom, the show was shown on ITV for many years, firstly networked from 1983 until 1989 (although the times varied in some regions), after which various episodes were scattered around the regions in repeat runs until the rights expired in December 1994. Reruns are shown on satellite channel UKTV Gold and Bravo.
In Zimbabwe, the show was shown on ZBC TV 1.

[edit] External links

[edit] English

[edit] Other languages

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The A-Team

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/h/e/The_A-Team_357d.html"