The A-Team debuts on NBC
In the pilot episode of the NBC television series The A-Team which airs on this day in 1983 the go-getting newspaper reporter Amy Allen (Melinda Culea) seeks the help of a mysterious group of Vietnam-veterans-turned-soldiers-for-hire to find her missing colleague in Mexico.An elite commando unit in Vietnam the so-called A-Team was wrongly imprisoned by the Army.They escaped and began working as mercenaries doing whatever needed to be done for their various clients while consistently eluding the fanatic Army officers sent to catch them.
TheA-Team went on to become a huge hit and make a star of the-then little known actor Mr.T.Produced by Stephen Cannell and first envisioned by Brandon Tartikoff NBCs president as a volatile combination between films such as The Dirty Dozen The Magnificent Seven and The Road Warrior and TV programs such as Hill Street Blues The A-Team became a bona fide phenomenon during its five-year run.Despite its late entry to the 1982-83 ratings season The A-Team was on its way to a No.
1 ranking by seasons end.It also topped a list of the most violent shows on TV compiled that year by the National Coalition on Television Violence.George Peppard who memorably starred opposite Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys (1961) played the A-Teams leader John Hannibal Smith he called his A-Team role probably the best part Ive had in my career.The show also featured Dirk Benedict as Templeton Faceman Peck and Dwight Schultz as H.M.
(Howling Mad) Murdock but its breakout star was the mohawked gold-bedecked Mr.T.Born Laurence Tureaud in a tough Chicago neighborhood Mr.
T got into show business after winning a contest as the Worlds Toughest Bouncer.He was spotted by Sylvester Stallone who cast him as a boxer in Rocky III (1982).As the surly A-Team mechanic B.A.
(Bad Attitude) Baracus Mr.T uttered some of the shows most memorable catchphrases including You better watch out sucker and Pity the fool.Campy and outrageously violent The A-Team was particularly popular among children and teenagers and with male audiences.Over the years the shows producers experimented with adding a woman to the mixincluding Culeas Amy Allen Marla Heasley as Tawnia Baker and Tia Carrere (who later starred in Waynes World) as a Vietnam war orphan meant to provide a link to the soldiers pastbut these stints were relatively short-lived and the teams testosterone-heavy vibe remained intact.
By its fourth season the shows popularity was waning due partially to its formulaic nature and partially to the growing trend towards family-friendly comedy that was being driven by the success of The Cosby Show.In the spring of 1986 Cosby-inspired shows such as Whos the Boss and Growing Pains on ABC were beating The A-Team handily in the ratings each week.A-Team producers tried different tricks to win audiences over including one episode centered on the popular game show Wheel of Fortune and various guest appearances by such prominent personalities as the pop star Boy George the professional wrestler Hulk Hogan and the Chicago Bears defensive lineman William Refrigerator Perry.The show hung on into a fifth season but aired only 13 episodes ending unceremoniously in March 1987.
