What is the best way to nutshell feelgood 1980s shoot-em-up The A-Team? Imagine a gang of fashion-forward dudes cruising around the US in a snazzy black van giving a leg up to those ill-equipped to help themselves. It was a paramilitary Queer Eye, basically, and a buzzy global hit from its 1983 debut onwards. Everyone loved the gung-ho panto of bloodless action and goofy catchphrases, a place where no Jeep remained unflipped and no fool would ever find themselves unpitied.
The A-Team was a primetime cartoon that just happened to be rendered in live action, featuring a cast that could pretty much be identified from their silhouettes: George Peppard’s cigar-wielding generalissimo “Hannibal” Smith; Dirk Benedict’s smooth-haired, slick-tongued grifter Templeton “Faceman” Peck, Dwight Schultz’s baseball-capped booby-hatch escapee “Howling Mad” Murdock and Mr T’s mohawked bruiser “BA” Baracus. All those wacky aliases and codenames hinted at the superhero appeal of the show, a stunt-filled study of duality and fluid perceptions.
Heralded each week by a ritualistic, rat-a-tat monologue, the A-Team repurposed their special forces training to overpower local gangsters or bulldoze evil bikers while easily outfoxing their various military pursuers. The media portrayed them as mercenaries and criminals, but the reality was something far more heroic. For a nation still working through the deep psychic wounds of the Vietnam war, these honourable shock troops were a balm.
But it was a concept that arrived so fully formed there was sadly little scope for the series to grow. The fourth season introduced a parade of celebrities playing themselves, including funk renegade Rick James and gurning grappler Hulk Hogan (twice). Such glitzy cameos are usually a reliable indicator that a show has lost its way but after making stars of its core cast, it seemed weirdly plausible that bling king BA might be rubbing shoulders with some actual celebs. Some fans point to a season four cameo by Boy George as the low point but he slots in to the ensemble surprisingly well, winning over a redneck crowd who initially really want to hurt him thanks to a tight rendition of God Thank You Woman while his new buddies thwart a payroll heist.
Things really went haywire during the fifth and final season in 1986. A superfluous new operative – special effects whizz Frankie “Dishpan” Santana (Eddie Velez) – joined up just as the team was shanghaied by a sulphuric government spook played by Robert Vaughn. By the second episode, Hannibal, Face and BA were back in uniform and facing a court martial that dug into the deadly backstory of that fabled crime they did not commit. These stiff tribunal scenes were absolute fun-killers, not least because they provided little scope for BA to bodge together a non-lethal cabbage cannon like the good old days. The final verdict handed down was death by firing squad. While The A-Team would stagger on for another 10 episodes, perhaps that bellicose judging panel had the right idea.
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