Post by HoudiniDerek on Jan 27, 2008 14:57:10 GMT -5
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.
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 while working as soldiers of fortune. Despite being thought of as mercenaries, the A-Team almost 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. It has achieved cult status through heavy US syndication.
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. 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 are never killed or seriously injured.
A typical episode starts with the A-Team being hired by a down-trodden or terrorized client. 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.
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 US military turning up, having to break Murdock out of 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 carboard 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 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.
As a result of falling ratings during the fourth season, during the show's final season in 1986 - 1987, the format was changed 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.
For Seasons 2-4, the above opening is changed to the following:
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, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team.
The voiceover was dropped completely for the final season and the theme was remastered and rerecorded.
According to Cannell, the show was canceled because it was becoming too expensive to produce.
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.
I hope this has given you a brief idea of what the A-TEAM was about and I hope it encourages you to further enhance your knowledge of the show.
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 while working as soldiers of fortune. Despite being thought of as mercenaries, the A-Team almost 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. It has achieved cult status through heavy US syndication.
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. 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 are never killed or seriously injured.
A typical episode starts with the A-Team being hired by a down-trodden or terrorized client. 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.
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 US military turning up, having to break Murdock out of 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 carboard 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 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.
As a result of falling ratings during the fourth season, during the show's final season in 1986 - 1987, the format was changed 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.
For Seasons 2-4, the above opening is changed to the following:
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, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The A-Team.
The voiceover was dropped completely for the final season and the theme was remastered and rerecorded.
According to Cannell, the show was canceled because it was becoming too expensive to produce.
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.
I hope this has given you a brief idea of what the A-TEAM was about and I hope it encourages you to further enhance your knowledge of the show.
