A-Team Reboot Question

[HoudiniDerek]

For years, ABC has been working to reboot its serious THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO that was on in the early 1980s, another SJC production. NBC tried once in 1986 and failed with THE GREATEST AMERICAN HEROINE.

Last year and earlier this year, it was announced that there would be a reboot attempt. However, it has since failed.


Do you think the A-Team could be rebooted as an all-girl team? Why or why not?

[amyk]

I think they could surely try, but I don't think it would be a successful reboot....or else I don't think it would really be similar enough to the original A-TEAM to even be considered a reboot, even if it had the same title. For one thing, is there really any all-female special forces unit that fought in a recent war (presumably the war on terrorism)? To me, for it to really be THE A-TEAM, it is significant that the team have a history of being in war together. In addition, to really be THE A-TEAM, I feel like it needs to have the fist-fights, etc. that the original show had. Yet, I really don't think people are going to want to watch four women getting into those kind of fights....and who would they fight? Bad guys, or only "bad girls"? If they are punching out and defeating bad guys through sheer physical force all the time, this is also unrealistic. I know this may not be politically correct, but I do believe that women, in general, are not as physically strong as most men, especially with upper body strength. I'm not saying all women, so perhaps they would get four very physically strong women to play the lead characters. Maybe women that are in that MMA-type of stuff would be physically strong enough to defeat males time after time. But I know that for me personally, watching women being punched out by men (like the team was always being punched out) would not be something that I would feel comfortable watching. Yes, the women could eventually defeat the men, but if it were going to be like the original show, there often would be a fistfight where they are getting pretty beat up physically.

[HoudiniDerek]

Nov 20, 2018 18:26:17 GMT -5 amyk said:

I think they could surely try, but I don't think it would be a successful reboot....or else I don't think it would really be similar enough to the original A-TEAM to even be considered a reboot, even if it had the same title. For one thing, is there really any all-female special forces unit that fought in a recent war (presumably the war on terrorism)? To me, for it to really be THE A-TEAM, it is significant that the team have a history of being in war together. In addition, to really be THE A-TEAM, I feel like it needs to have the fist-fights, etc. that the original show had. Yet, I really don't think people are going to want to watch four women getting into those kind of fights....and who would they fight? Bad guys, or only "bad girls"? If they are punching out and defeating bad guys through sheer physical force all the time, this is also unrealistic. I know this may not be politically correct, but I do believe that women, in general, or not as physically strong as most men, especially with upper body strength. I'm not saying all women, so perhaps they would get four very physically strong women to play the lead characters. Maybe women that are in that MMA-type of stuff would be physically strong enough to defeat males time after time. But I know that for me personally, watching women being punched out by men (like the team was always being punched out) would not be something that I would feel comfortable watching. Yes, the women could eventually defeat the men, but if it were going to be like the original show, there often would be a fistfight where they are getting pretty beat up physically.

I definitely don't disagree that it would be a huge uphill battle.

I'm wondering if it would be more like Charlies' Angels or Cagney & Lacey. Maybe have some aspects of Yvonne Strahovski's character in Chuck.

While I think it unlikely overall, I'm thinking it could be possible.

[HoudiniDerek]

Nov 20, 2018 21:11:00 GMT -5 @macgyver56 said:

Personally, I wouldn't watch it. You already know my strong feelings about Starbuck being changed to a girl in the Battlestar Galactica reboot. I don't think many of the fans from the original would be too pleased with the idea. If they were to create it, I fear it would stray too far from the original plot to be appreciated by original fans.

I can see it faring well in some circles, but hardcore fans I agree would hate it.

I think similar to the fallout over the GHOSTBUSTERS reboot.

[HoudiniDerek]

Instead of a reboot, what if it was a continuation, a handoff from the old team to the new team?

I could see Face arguing for an all-girl unit to go out and spy and kick some butt. He could train them.

[amyk]

I would much prefer if they did some kind of re-boot that it was more along the lines of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, i.e., new characters set in a new time period, although it could have some continuity with the 1980s A-TEAM. I'm not quite sure how this could work out. I don't really fancy an all-female A-TEAM, primarily because I'm not aware of any all-female combat units, and I still think the connection of the team to some war or some period of military service is a part of what made the show good, even though it is not like they were always referring to that. Are there all-female combat units? Maybe they could have a combat unit of mixed gender who, for whatever reason, have to go on the run.

[HoudiniDerek]

Apr 30, 2019 17:10:20 GMT -5 amyk said:

I would much prefer if they did some kind of re-boot that it was more along the lines of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, i.e., new characters set in a new time period, although it could have some continuity with the 1980s A-TEAM. I'm not quite sure how this could work out. I don't really fancy an all-female A-TEAM, primarily because I'm not aware of any all-female combat units, and I still think the connection of the team to some war or some period of military service is a part of what made the show good, even though it is not like they were always referring to that. Are there all-female combat units? Maybe they could have a combat unit of mixed gender who, for whatever reason, have to go on the run.

I'm not sure if they have all female combat units or not. It would be a good research topic if someone was interested.

I would prefer a gender mix myself if they update the show. I think you could easily have better storylines if women were involved too. It would be a good mix of personalities. Plus, you could have a family style group that was not hitting on each other. I think TV needs more of that.

[amyk]

But knowing how TV goes, I really doubt they would be able to keep it where the team members don't end up sleeping together, having on/off romances with each other, etc. Maybe they could.....did Elaine on SEINFELD have romances with any of the other three major characters? (I know this may be hard to believe, but I'm not sure I have ever seen an entire episode of SEINFELD, although I'm a bit familiar with it just due to popular culture references, etc. I may have watched one full episode at once, but it was not really the kind of show that was "my thing.")

[HoudiniDerek]

May 1, 2019 21:31:22 GMT -5 amyk said:

But knowing how TV goes, I really doubt they would be able to keep it where the team members don't end up sleeping together, having on/off romances with each other, etc. Maybe they could.....did Elaine on SEINFELD have romances with any of the other three major characters? (I know this may be hard to believe, but I'm not sure I have ever seen an entire episode of SEINFELD, although I'm a bit familiar with it just due to popular culture references, etc. I may have watched one full episode at once, but it was not really the kind of show that was "my thing.")

Elaine and Jerry had dated prior to the show and were friends now. There was one episode where she sleeps with him because she had told him how bad he was at sex and he wanted to prove his reputation as good. (It failed). Otherwise, she was only platonic with the other main male characters on the show.

[HoudiniDerek]

Thinking about this some more yesterday, I was wondering WHO would play the team members if it was an all-female reboot. Who would we want to play the iconic roles?

[amyk]

I don't even know enough of current actors to be able to say who I might want to play female team characters (or for that matter, male team characters!).

[HoudiniDerek]

May 16, 2019 15:26:58 GMT -5 @macgyver56 said:

Even though I am against the idea, there is a new character on the new MacGyver called Desiree (Desi) Nguyen. She is extremely skilled in combat and would be a good no-nonsense character. Her real name is Levy Tran.

Who would she play on the team?

I still think Yvonne Strahovski would be great in a reboot. I could see her being the Face or Hannibal character, similar to her role she played on CHUCK. Probably more Face if you are thinking that role, but less squeamish about fighting.

[HoudiniDerek]

The GHOSTBUSTERS are coming back with a new generation of busters. It looks like it will be a mix of adults and kids, boys and girls.

Do you think something like this would work for the A-Team? A continuation and change rather than just a straight gender swap?

[amyk]

I think the A-TEAM probably should just be left alone. No reboots needed. To me, it was a specific group of men set in a specific time period and that group of men and that time period is gone. I prefer it just be left as it was in our memories (and re-runs) rather than trying to modernize it or whatever. Just my opinion. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I would love it if it were re-booted. But I tend to think that I would not like it.

[HoudiniDerek]

Apr 14, 2020 17:51:11 GMT -5 amyk said:

I think the A-TEAM probably should just be left alone. No reboots needed. To me, it was a specific group of men set in a specific time period and that group of men and that time period is gone. I prefer it just be left as it was in our memories (and re-runs) rather than trying to modernize it or whatever. Just my opinion. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I would love it if it were re-booted. But I tend to think that I would not like it.

I'm generally of this thought too.

I haven't seen the new MAGNUM, P.I. or LETHAL WEAPON, but I have heard both were not great. My wife did say the MACGYVER reboot was good, but I have heard mixed reviews. The CUPID reboot in 2009 I heard was very good, but it was short-lived.

The one reboot I did like because it took a different tack: FANTASY ISLAND. A lot of people hated it, but I thought it was very well done for what it was. But I think it was short-lived because not many people cared for a reboot, especially in that time.

I'm intrigued by the GHOSTBUSTERS because it's the original team sort of handing over the reins from what I hear. I think a quality transition to similar, but modern characters could work. I will have to see if I feel that way after the movie, but I think that it could work.

I'm not sure the A-TEAM could work as a reboot either, but I definitely think this tactic would work better than just switching to all females or completely forgetting the original.