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A-team Trivia knowledge
George Peppard .... Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith
Dirk Benedict .... Lieutenant Templeton 'Face' Peck
Dwight Schultz .... Captain H.M. 'Howling Mad' Murdock
Mr. T .... Sergeant Bosco 'B.A.' Baracus
rest of cast listed alphabetically
Melinda Culea .... Amy Amanda 'Triple A' Allen (1983)
Tim Dunigan .... Lieutenant Templeton 'Face' Peck (1983 pilot only)
Jack Ging .... General Harlan 'Bull' Fulbright (1985-1986)
Marla Heasley .... Tawnia Baker (1983-1985)
Lance LeGault .... Colonel Roderick Decker (1983-1986)
Judy Ledford .... Carla (1986)
William Lucking .... Colonel Lynch (1983-1984)
Robert Vaughn .... General Hunt Stockwell (1986-1987)
Eddie Velez .... Frankie 'Dishpan' Santana (1986-1987)
98 episodes
The A-Team was a tremendously popular hour-long television
series that aired from 1983-1987. It was the story of 4 Vietnam veterans:
Hannibal Smith, B.A. Baracus, Face (Templeton Peck, and Howlin Mad Murdock.
They were wanted by the federal government for crimes they didn't commit. And
if you could find maybe you could've hired the A-team. This placed in the top
ten even with reruns. It aired originally on Tuesdays. It blasted Happy Days,
which ran opposite the A-team on ABC, in the ratings.
The show ran for five seasons and created 94 episodes. In
the fifth season, the team went to Friday nights. The fifth season lacked the
same amount of mass destruction and fans just didn't dig the changes the show
had made.
George Peppard who played the team' s leader leader had been
actor for years. He sadly passed on a few years ago.
Howlin Mad Murdock , played by Dwight Schultz was the team's
pilot and comedy relief. He had a slight mental problem on the show. He always
seemed to get on B.A's nerves with his invisible pets and other identities.
Dwight Schultz went on to play on Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek
Voyager, an episode of Touched by an Angel, a cool episode of the New
Outer Limits and other guest appearances.
Face, (Templeton Peck) played by Dirk Benedict was the
team's conman. Dirk had played on another cool show before the A-team called
Battlestar Galactica. Something that was humorously hinted at on the show's
opening with an cylon
walking by Peck. (see animate gif)
In the opening credits, Dirk Benedict reacts
to a passing metallic "Cylon warrior". Cylons were the nemesis in
Benedict's earlier series, "Battlestar Galactica".
Premiered on NBC-TV immediately after the 1983 Super Bowl.
The series ended December 30, 1986-after 98 episodes total,
12 episodes into the 5th season.
here was some talk about an A-Team reunion, a TV movie
where the A-Team was given a full pardon, but after George Peppard died,
the idea was dropped.
The "crime they didn't commit" which led to The
A-Team being sent to a military court was stealing gold bullion from the
"Bank of Hanoi" during the Vietnam War.
The Spanish (Spain) version of the series has two significant changes with
character nicknames. "Face" is called '"Fenix" and "B.A." Baracus is known
as "M.A."
Most of the episodes were filmed five weeks before they aired.
Exterior shots of the "hospital" that the team goes to
in order to spring Murdock is the pre-1994 earthquake main building (200)
at the Sepulveda Veterans' Hospital in North Hills, San Fernando Valley.
The new, post-earthquake building is used to film Grey's Anatomy.
Almost every single episode involved a car-stunt, where
a car had to jump dramatically in the air and perform a crash landing. In
addition, the people driving these vehicles invariably were shown getting
out afterward, unscathed.
The gold that was worn by Mr. T during filming varied in
weight, usually between 35 and 40 pounds.
During the entire series, only five people died
on-screen. They include Gen. 'Bull' Fulbright (Jack Ging), who got shot in
the back by a hostile during an operation working together with the
A-Team. The deaths of at least three more characters were left ambiguous.
The remaining cast members have not made it a secret
that Mr. T and George Peppard did not get along very well on the set.
Arguments were fed by the fact that Mr. T became the star of the show,
despite Peppard's being an established movie actor'. Things got even worse
when Peppard learned that Mr. T was paid more than he was.
Video for Mr. T
Tartikoff pitched the series to Cannell as a cross
between The Dirty Dozen, Mission Impossible, Seven Samurai (and its
western remake The Magnificent Seven), Mad Max and Hill Street Blues, with
"Mr. T driving the car."
Initially, The A-Team was not expected to become a hit, although Stephen
J. Cannell purports that "[George Peppard] said it would be a huge hit
before we ever turned on a camera." In fact, the show became a huge hit
and the first regular episode, which aired after the 1983 Super Bowl
(XVII) on January 30, 1983, reached 26.4% of the television watching
audience, placing fourth in the top 10 rated shows, according to the
Nielsen Ratings.
The A-Team revolves around the four members of a
former commando outfit and current group of mercenaries. Their leader is
Col. John "Hannibal" Smith (George Peppard), whose plans tend to be
unorthodox but effective. Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Dirk Benedict —
Tim Dunigan appeared as Templeton Peck in the pilot) is a smooth-talking
con-man who serves as the team's appropriator of vehicles and other useful
items. The team's pilot is Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, (Dwight
Schultz), who has been declared insane and resides in a mental institution
for the show's first four seasons. Finally, there is the team's strong man
and mechanic, Sgt. Bosco B.A. ("Bad Attitude") Baracus (Mr. T).
For its first season and the first half of the second season, the team was
assisted by reporter Amy Amanda "Triple A" Allen (Melinda Culea). She was
ultimately replaced by fellow reporter Tawnia Baker (Marla Heasley) for
the rest of the second season. The character of Tia (Tia Carrere), a
Vietnam war orphan now living in the United States, was meant to join the
Team in the fifth season, but she was replaced by Frankie Santana (Eddie
Velez), who served as the team's special effects expert. Eddie Velez was
added to the opening credits of the fifth season after that season's
second episode.
During their adventures, the A-Team was constantly met by opposition from
the military police. In the show's first season they were led by Colonel
Lynch (William Lucking), but he was replaced for the second, third and
earlier fourth season by Colonel Roderick Decker (Lance LeGault) and his
aide Captain Crane (Carl Franklin). Lynch returned for one episode in the
show's third season ("Showdown!") but was not seen afterwards again.
Decker was also shortly replaced by a Colonel Briggs (Charles Napier) in
the third season for one episode ("Fire!") due to Lance LeGault being
unavailable for the episode, but returned shortly after. For the latter of
the show's fourth season, the team was hunted by General Harlan "Bull"
Fullbright (Jack Ging), who would later hire the A-Team to find Tia in the
season four finale, during which Fullbright was killed.
The fifth season introduced General Hunt Stockwell (Robert Vaughn) who,
while serving as the team's primary antagonist, was also the team's boss
and joined them on several missions. He was often assisted by Carla
(Judith Ledford, sometimes credited as Judy Ledford).
Casting
According to Mr. T's own account in Bring Back...
The A-Team in 2006, the role was written for him from the beginning. This
is corroborated by Stephen J. Cannell's own account of the initial concept
proposed by NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff.
James Coburn, who co-starred in The Magnificent Seven, was considered for
the role of Hannibal in The A-Team, while George Peppard (Hannibal) was
the original consideration for the role of Vin (played by Steve McQueen
instead) in The Magnificent Seven.
Plot synopsis
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 burned 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. They were sent to Fort Bragg, from which they escaped
before they could actually stand trial.
The first four seasons
The show's early seasons did not have overarching plots, although
occasionally there would be two-part episodes. The episodes are linked to
a specific season by their primary antagonist, a recurring assistant
character and its particular use of guest stars (the first season was
relatively low on guest stars while the show's fourth season often
featured well-known stars such as Boy George and Hulk Hogan).
As such, only a few significant developments are made during this time,
which include the blood transfer between Murdock and B.A. in the first
season episode "Bad Day at Black Rock", the replacement of recurring
character Amy Allen with Tawnia Baker and the replacements of the
recurring antagonists of the Military Police. The final episode of the
fourth season does present two unique occurrences; the antagonist (Gen.
Fullbright in this case) works with the Team and also features the second
on-screen death (also Gen. Fullbright). This episode, together with the
first three of the fifth season deal extensively with the team's Vietnam
history.
The fifth season
As the television ratings of The A-Team fell dramatically during the
fourth season the format was changed for 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. General
Hunt Stockwell propositions them to work for him, whereupon he will
arrange for their pardons upon successful completion of several suicide
missions. In order to do so, however, the A-Team must first escape from
their captivity. With the help of new character, Frankie "Dishpan Man"
Santana, the team fake their deaths before the firing squad.
The new status quo of the A-Team no longer working for themselves remained
for the duration of the fifth season, and both Frankie Santana and Hunt
Stockwell were added to the credits. The missions the team had to perform
in season five were somewhat reminiscent of Mission: Impossible, and based
more around political espionage than besting local thugs, also usually
take place in foreign countries. 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 a
skipped episode was first broadcast during reruns), 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 is implied that they would continue
doing what they were doing as the A-Team.
Opening sequence
Each episode of the first four seasons 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, and if you can find them,
maybe you can hire... The A-Team. ”
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, and the first three stories carry a 1982
copyright). For the second to 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
A-Team's circumstances changed to instead be working for General Stockwell.
The theme tune was changed to match. In the first four seasons, George
Peppard and Mr. T are credited in the opening sequence with their
respective characters ("Starring George Peppard as John 'Hannibal' Smith"
and "And Mr. T as B.A. Baracus"). For the show's fifth season, however,
this was changed to apply to all cast members (including new arrivals
Eddie Velez and Robert Vaughn) except Dirk Benedict. The reasoning behind
this change, and the exclusion of Benedict, is unknown.
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,
and 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 and fourth season opening credits, in a clip
taken from the second season episode "Steel", Face (Dirk Benedict) reacts
to an actor dressed in a metallic Cylon Centurion costume at Universal
City Studios. Benedict had starred years earlier in the science fiction
television series, Battlestar Galactica. His character, Starbuck, fought
against Cylons.
In the fifth season opening credits, there is a brief shot of what may
appear to be Airwolf, but was actually an unmodified black Bell 222 with a
red nose, most likely the helicopter featured in the Airwolf Episode
Airwolf 2. The footage is 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".
Television ratings
During the show's first season, The A-Team managed to pull in 17% to 20%
of the American households on average. The first regular episode
("Children of Jamestown"), reached 26.4% of the television watching
audience, placing fourth in the top 10 rated shows, according to the
Nielsen Ratings. By March, The A-Team, now on its regular Tuesday
timeslot, dropped to the eight spot, but rated a 20.5%.Although the start
of April 1983 saw a small drop for the show to 18.0%, it quickly recovered
the following week, to 21.6%, which accounts for approximately 18 million
homes. During the sweeps week in May of that year, The A-Team dropped
again but remained steady at 18.5%, and rose to 18.8% during the second
week of May sweeps. It was the highest ratings NBC had pulled in in five
years.The A-Team continued to rank in the top 10 highest rated shows for
the remainder of its first season and reruns.
The premiere of The A-Team's second season reached 20.9% on the Nielsen
Rating scale. It continued to soar that season, reaching third place in
the twenty highest rated programs, behind Dallas and Simon & Simon, in
January (mid-season).The season finale, titled "Curtain Call", put The
A-Team in fourth place with a rating of 19.5%, whereas the episode
preceding it, "Semi-Friendly Persuasion", rated 21.6%. In June, the series
took the top spot with a rating of 19.3%.
The third season premiere of the series rated fifth in the top 10 with a
rating of 19.0% (16.1 million homes), beaten out by four other NBC shows,
including The Cosby Show, which placed first and featured the return of
Bill Cosby to television after eight years.The A-Team remained in the top
10 for the remainder of the season, and for the first time since 1969, NBC
won both sweeps weeks in the May of 1985.
However, the fourth season saw The A-Team experience a dramatic fall, as
it started to lose its position while television viewership increased. As
such, the ratings, while stable, were relatively less. The season premiere
ranked a 17.4% (a 26% audience share on that timeslot) on the Nielsen
Rating scale,[40] but after ratings quickly declined. In October, The
A-Team had fallen to the 19th spot to 15.3%, whereas it had held the 6th
spot for most of its third season.[41] In contrast, The Cosby Show had
more than double the amount of viewers. In the second week of January
1986, The Cosby Show reached a 38.5% rating in its timeslot.[42] In that
same month, The A-Team fell to the 29th spot, on Super Bowl Night, the
night on which the show had originally scored its first hit three years
before.[43] For the remainder of its fourth season The A-Team managed to
hang around the 20th spot, far from original top 10 position it had
enjoyed during its first three seasons.
After four years on Tuesday, NBC decided to move the The A-Team to a new
timeslot on Friday for what would be its final season. Ratings continued
to drop, and after seven episodes, The A-Team fell out of the top 50
altogether with a 13.3 Nielsen Rating. In November 1986, NBC cancelled the
series, declining to order the last nine episodes of what would've been a
22-episode season.
The show's seasonal rankings and audience were as follows:
* Season 1, 1982–1983: #10 – audience 16,743,300
* Season 2, 1983–1984: #4 – audience 20,112,000
* Season 3, 1984–1985: #6 – audience 18 593 100
* Season 4, 1985–1986: #30 – audience 14,517,100
* Season 5, 1986–1987: #53 – audience 9,361,000
Professional wrestlers
The show featured professional wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan, Professor
Toru Tanaka, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, The Dynamite Kid, Bobby "The
Brain" Heenan, Davey Boy Smith, Big John Studd, and Greg "The Hammer"
Valentine. In the episode "Body Slam", which featured Hogan, popular
wrestling interviewer and announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund also appeared.
The GMC van
The black and metallic grey GMC Vandura van used by the A-Team, with its
characteristic red stripe, black and red wheels, 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.
Early examples of the van had a red GMC logo on the front grill, and an
additional GMC logo on the rear left door. However, early in the second
season, these logos were blacked out (although GMC continued to supply
vans and receive a credit on the closing credits of each episode).
It is a common error that the van is said to be all-black, whereas in fact
the section above the red stripe is metallic grey (this error even
followed through on to most toy models of the van). The angle of the rear
spoiler can also be seen to vary on different examples of the van within
the series. Additionally, some versions of the van have a sunroof, whereas
others, typically those used for stunts (and including the one displayed
in the aforementioned Cars of the Stars Motor Museum) do not. This on
occasion led to continuity errors in some episodes, such as in the third
season's 'The Bells of St. Mary's', in a scene where (the double of) Face
jumps from a building onto the roof of the van. There is clearly no
sunroof. However, a few moments later, in an interior (studio) shot, Face
climbs in through the sunroof!
A number of devices were seen in the back of the van in different
episodes, including a mini printing press ('Pros and Cons'), an audio
surveillance recording device ('A Small and Deadly War'), and Hannibal's
disguise kits in various episodes.
Weapons
In early episodes the team used M16 rifles, while in later episodes they
used the Ruger AC-556 rifles, a selective-fire version of the Mini-14.
Hannibal is also seen using an M60 machine gun in some episodes as well as
a Micro-Uzi. Hannibal's sidearm is a nickel plated Smith and Wesson M59
9mm however in the episode "Black Day at Bad Rock" he is seen carrying a
Browning Hi-Power.
