Demystifying The A-Team Formula: Essay, Research Paper
Demystifying The A-Team Formula:
an Examination of Character Personalities
and Old Genres
& # 8220 ; In 1972, a cleft ranger unit was sent to prison by a military tribunal for a offense they didn & # 8217 ; t commit.
These work forces quickly escaped from a maximal security stockade to the Los Angeles resistance.
Today, still wanted by the authorities, they survive as sol diers of luck. If you have a job, if no
one else can assist, and if you can happen them, possibly you can engage the A-Team. & # 8221 ;
Most everyone who has been watching telecasting since the 1980 & # 8217 ; s can acknowledge this debut as the
beginning of every A-Team episode. A good smattering of these people likely can even sing the subject
vocal, which sounds as if it could be piped f rom the halls of West Point. The popularity of the show
when it foremost aired & # 8220 ; about single-handedly brought NBC out of its 3rd topographic point slack in the evaluations and
was one of the web & # 8217 ; s biggest successes ever. & # 8221 ; 1
Yet, what secret expression did Stephen J. Cannell ( Executive Producer and the adult male who started the show
traveling ) pat into to acquire the audience to seize with teeth? Why was everyone so turned on to, and tuned in to The
A-team in its first few seasons? Were the Am erican audience that thrilled hearing B.A. Baracus ( Mr. T )
state & # 8220 ; Shut up sap! & # 8221 ; ; were they that interested in seeing if Hannibal & # 8217 ; s ( George Peppard ) program ever
comes together, or was it truly the force that sold the show?
Compared to NBC & # 8217 ; s new experimental shows like Hill Street Blues, and St. Elsewhere, whose advanced
usage of pragmatism sparked the Third Golden Age of Television and choice Television as we know it ; The A-team
( TAT ) is merely another lampoon of the action/adventure genre. Or is it? The truth is The A-Team & # 8217 ; s
popularity was so superb because it provided something for everyone. TAT created a new genre by
blending old 1s. I intend to demystify the expression that was sole T O TAT created by researching the
character personalities and old genres that the show employed.
At the clip of the premiere of The A-Team, telecasting was traveling through a major transmutation.
Networks were combating for evaluations in a invariably diminishing market. Advanced plans such as CBS & # 8217 ; s
Cagney & A ; Lacey were aiming the wo rk-force adult female audience by making a adult female bull show. This
show broke the stereotyped barriers of adult females on the force set by Aaron Spelling & # 8217 ; s Charlies Angels.
In a clip where the innovation of niche selling for web telecasting was going common pattern
and mass audience entreaty plans were going a rareness, The A-Team was born. However, as
stereotypes go, The A-Team is immersed in them. The show & # 8217 ; s four chief characters provide a personal
profile of about every category of adult male in America. To understand each character on the The A-Team, one
must understand the two degrees of each character & # 8217 ; s profile. The first degree is the basic cha racter itself,
how that character fits into the narrative. The 2nd degree is deeper than the first. This degree tells us what the
character bases for, what is the character & # 8217 ; s deeper individuality.
Colonel John & # 8220 ; Hannibal & # 8221 ; Smith ( George Peppard ) was the apparent leader of The A-Team. On the first
degree Hannibal is the tactician of the group. He formulates the stopgap programs that could direct the squad
into doing an armoured truck into a tan K ( & # 8221 ; Incident At Crystal Lake & # 8221 ; ) . Hannibal is besides known for his
camouflages. & # 8220 ; A favourite camouflage of Hannibal & # 8217 ; s is Mr. Lee, owner of the Chinese Laundry Shop, an alter
self-importance that reflects the undefinable nature of the squad even on a racial level. & # 8221 ; 2
On the 2nd degree Hannibal is the stereotyped Caucasic leader: aged, white haired, and cunning. In
a sense he represents corporate America, whiffing on cigars and explicating schemes on how to acquire rich.
Merely in Smith & # 8217 ; s instance he puffs on cigar s and formulates schemes on how to acquire the bad cat. This is
Hollywood labeling at its best.
Lieutenant Templeton & # 8220 ; Faceman & # 8221 ; Peck ( Dirk Benedict ) is a adult male of a 1000 faces. & # 8220 ; He is the squad & # 8217 ; s
resident con- and ladies-man who normally ends up garnering information for the squad due to his innate
charm. & # 8221 ; 3
Face & # 8217 ; s 2nd degree of character individuality shows that he is the stereotyped rich fraternity cat. The
episode, & # 8220 ; The Lone Church in Town & # 8221 ; , even linked him to the Sigma Chi fraternity. His character was the
precursor to the Thirty Something netwo rk reasonably boy yuppie. He drove a nice corvette, he was most
comfy around the Beverly Hills country, and he whined a batch. It besides seems as if Aaron Spelling could
hold stolen the & # 8220 ; Face & # 8221 ; character profile for & # 8220 ; Steve & # 8221 ; on Beverly Hills 90210.
Captain H.M. Murdock ( Dwight Schultz ) is the brainsick pilot for The A-Team. He has a bi-polar upset
which makes him see and hear things that aren & # 8217 ; t truly at that place, like his unseeable Canis familiaris & # 8216 ; Billy & # 8217 ; . After Vietnam,
Murdock was admitted into the Vetera n & # 8217 ; s Affair Hospital in Westwood, California. Whenever The
A-Team needed a pilot they would interrupt him out.
Murdock represents the common adult male. He is the mundane worker, destined to supply service whenever
beckoned by Hannibal, merely as the mundane ditch digger is called to supply service for the corporate
elite. Murdock was nicknamed & # 8220 ; Howling Mad & # 8221 ; , and w hy shouldn & # 8217 ; t he be? Stereotypically, don & # 8217 ; t the
socially elite, the corporate shareholders try to take themselves from the common people? Of class,
in their eyes the common mans are unprocessed, dirty, and unpleasant. In the elitist eyes, the lone clip
plebeians are needed is to execute manual labour. Therefore, the lone clip Murdock is needed is to wing
TAT someplace.
B.A. Baracus ( Mr. T ) is the squad & # 8217 ; s mechanic and strongman. There is ever a point in the show where
TAT has to construct a appliance or device out of trim parts merely lying about. This is where B.A. & # 8217 ; s
expertness would come in. He could do a T ank out of any old auto or truck. B.A. is besides know for his
& # 8220 ; bad attitude & # 8221 ; . He is suppose to hold one of the worst behavior records in the Army because of his
inclinations for pluging officers. TAT uses his temperament to their advantage whenever they get into a
hassle with the bad cats.
On a higher degree, Hollywood is utilizing B.A. & # 8217 ; s character to stand for the stereotypes of minorities. Department of energies
B.A. merely hold a bad attitude, or does it come from something deeper? B.A. is the stereotyped angry and
feared black adult male. Due to all the new poli tically right and sensitive alterations that web telecasting has
undergone, Mr. T & # 8217 ; s character can merely last in syndication in today & # 8217 ; s telecasting.
On the show B.A. and Murdock do non ever acquire along. Why didn & # 8217 ; t Hollywood decide to do Face
and Murdock non acquire along? The obvious decision that can be drawn is that Hollywood is stating
African Americans and Whites don & # 8217 ; t ever blend excessively good. Thes e elusive character degrees helps add to the
show. The A-Team is non merely a narrative about at large soldiers of luck, but it is a narrative on modern-day
American stereotypes.
Having examined the stereotypes that proliferated TAT, and explored their roots in American society, I
can now travel into the cross genres that The A-Team employed to do the show so successful.
The first and first genre that is most notably used by The A-Team is the lampoon of the
action/adventure genre. & # 8220 ; In peculiar, The A-Team dramas as a dead-on send-up of
Mission: IMPOSSIBLE. & # 8221 ; 4 Both groups execute their programs with a certain haughtiness of flawlessness, and at
the terminal of both shows each squad can sit away in their several vehicles victoriously. However, there are
some noteworthy differences. While the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE squad & # 8217 ; s luxuriant programs are precise and we ll
thought out, & # 8220 ; The A-Team & # 8217 ; s schemes more frequently than non transport a sense of backyard improvisation. & # 8221 ; 5
Every episode had at least one gunplay or one fist battle. Mission: IMPOSSIBLE had the latest secret
arms, whereas The A-Team chiefly used the & # 8220 ; Ruger AC556 which is a to the full automatic rifle. & # 8221 ; 6, and
whatever other stuff they could forage up. During a typical gunplay on the show there would be
to the full automatic rifles firing from all waies, and sometimes even detonations and projectile launchers that
were built out of bamboo shoots were used ( & # 8221 ; The Doctor Is Out & # 8221 ; ) . However, & # 8220 ; as fa R as existent,
on-screen deceases, there was merely one, in & # 8216 ; The Sound of Thunder, & # 8217 ; when General Fulbright was shot and
killed. & # 8221 ; 7
This is non to state that during the 94 episodes of The A-Team non one of the members got hurt.
& # 8220 ; Face, Murdock, and B.A. all got changeable and lived. Not to be left out, Hannibal has suffered several broken
bones. & # 8221 ; 8 This is far from the existent doctrine that is portrayed on today & # 8217 ; s shows like NYPD Blue, yet still The
A-team did make full a batch of the show with action and escapade. And it worked. This show managed to draw
Top Ten overall evaluations for its first three old ages on air. The audi ence bought the fact that in every episode
The A-Team was traveling to acquire hired, trail down the bad cats, construct some pathetic appliance from
trim parts, acquire into a few battles, and no 1 would stop up dead. This was the basic expression that Mr. Ca
nnell used in every show. What an first-class lampoon.
If one looks further into the genres that The A-Team explored, one could besides happen elusive mentions to the
sketch genre, particularly the Warner Brother & # 8217 ; s sketchs: The Bugs Bunny Show which was foremost aired on
web telecasting in the 19 60
on ABC ; it was subsequently brought to CBS as The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner
Hour in 1968. Many of the jokes and personalities that Bugs and his buddies put on can be seen in the
episodes of The A-Team.
One can even see a direct relationship between several of the sketch characters and the four chief
characters on the show. Hannibal can be related to Bugs himself. Both are cunning, and quick-witted,
both manage to get away the slugs from their huntsmans, and both have unwritten arrested developments. Bugs ever has to
be eating a carrot in every episode, and Hannibal ever has to smoke his cigar.
Another Hannibal analogue can be drawn with Wile E. Coyote. While the prairie wolf ever has a program to
catch the Road Runner, Hannibal ever has a program to catch the bad cats. Of class, the difference here
is that Wile & # 8217 ; s programs ever blow up in his face, a neodymium Hannibal & # 8217 ; s programs ever blow up the bad cats. Even
still, everytime the prairie wolf & # 8217 ; s programs go amiss he falls off a drop or gets an anvil dropped on his caput. Every
clip Hannibal has a program, it normally involves a big gunplay where no one gets killed. There is even an
episode where the bad cats crash a chopper into the side of a drop and manage to get away unhurt
( & # 8221 ; The Battle of Bel-Air & # 8221 ; ) .
Face & # 8217 ; s suave character can be linked to Pepe Le Pew. Face ever knows how to win the adult females over.
He knows the right things to state and make. He is a adult female pursuer. In the sketch Pepe Le Pew ever
hunts for female rotter, but he ever ends up chasin g a female cat that got paint spilled on her back
in the signifier of a rotter band. The difference between these two characters is Face manages to win over
the cute ladies, while Pepe is destined to wallow in his ain malodor of pick-up lines.
When one thinks of Murdock, loony is normally the first word that arises. B.A. even coined the phrases
& # 8220 ; Howling Mad & # 8221 ; and & # 8220 ; Crazy Man & # 8221 ; to depict Murdock. Murdock has this unseeable Canis familiaris & # 8220 ; billy & # 8221 ; that he
negotiations to. A parallel event on The Bugs Bunny/Roa vitamin D Runner Hour is the episode & # 8220 ; The Slap-Hoppy
Mouse & # 8221 ; with Sylvester, Sylvester Jr. , and Hippety Hopper ( the mouse looking kangaroo ) . In this episode
Sylvester errors Hippety Hopper for a elephantine mouse. Merely Sylvester sees Hippety Hopper, and no 1
else believes that there is a elephantine mouse, non even his boy.
Murdock & # 8217 ; s character besides has close ties with Daffy Duck. Murdock suffers from a bi-polar upset
which brings on his many signifiers of passion. In the sketch Daffy normally goes through many signifiers of
passion. Daffy is ever seeking to acquire the upper manus on B ugs, and goes to insane lengths to seek and make so.
Many times Daffy clefts under the force per unit area that he is merely 2nd best to Bugs and goes insane. He
hops around the like a pogo stick shouting, & # 8220 ; Woo-hoo. & # 8221 ;
B.A. & # 8217 ; s tough playing, out of control character can be closely related to the Tasmanian Devil ( Taz ) . In
every episode B.A. is called in to make what he does best, eliminate everything in his manner. The Tasmanian
Devil does merely that. He spins around out of control destructing trees and stones or whatever is in his manner.
Even the idiom between the two is similar. The mixture of oinks and moans from Taz can merely be excessively
similar to the slang of B.A. & # 8217 ; s broken English.
Recall in the episode & # 8220 ; Duck! Rabbit! Duck! & # 8221 ; , which aired on September 22, 1973 on The Bugs
Bunny/Road Runner Hour, Daffy and Bugs were contending over which runing season it was with Elmer
Fudd. Bugs kept flim-flaming Daffy into stating Fudd that it w as duck season and blowing Daffy & # 8217 ; s caput off.
This mischief endured the full episode. Bugs kept flim-flaming Daffy, and Daffy kept acquiring shooting in the
face.
Taking this state of affairs to world, Daffy can non assist being duped. Similarly, who would maintain acquiring tricked
into being drugged before they had to confront their biggest fright? This would be B.A. His fright of winging
ever forces his squad members to steal a 500 carpet into his milk or strike hard him out with a wooden board. This
cartoonish buffoonery added the amusing alleviation that The A-Team is so good known for.
Another genre that The A-Team incorporates into their show is that of the soap opera. A chief narration
of a soap opera normally pits adult male in hunt of adult female or frailty versa. It normally has a steaming sex scene or
at least a good caressing scene. These state of affairss ever have their sarcasm to them. Sometimes the lovers are
rip offing on one another, or they can possible be related. It is a soap opera, and anything can go on.
The A-Team has many episodes that act like a soap opera. They have unusual secret plan turns that chiefly
affect Face. He most represents a soap opera character on the show. He ever is in chase of his following
adult female, even while being chased by the Ba vitamin D cats.
The episode & # 8220 ; The Lone Church In Town & # 8221 ; , was more like a soap opera than an action packed show. In
this episode Face receives a bundle from Ecuador with his fraternity pin, given 15 old ages earlier to
the adult female he loved who disappeared from his life. He convinces the squad that they have a instance in
Ecuador so he can seek for his long lost love. It turns out that his love, Leslie ( Markie Post ) , is now a
nun being held captive by a rag-tag pack in a kind of nun prison cantonment. This narrative which should b vitamin E
found edge in a harlequin novel and non on The A-Team, is about the tests of lost loves assorted in with
the obvious gunplay and conflict scenes.
Another episode that has some elements of a soap opera is the 2nd portion of the two hr episode
& # 8220 ; Judgement Day & # 8221 ; . In this first half of the episode, the squad goes to Italy to deliver a justice & # 8217 ; s girl
from the rabble. The 2nd half of this episode take s topographic point aboard a sail ship. The squad hides out
while gangsters on board attempt to turn up them. In one scene, Face, dressed as a physician, is seeking to steal by
some gangsters. Face runs into the nearest sleeping room, which is being occupied by none other than a B
eautiful blonde adult female. One thing leads to another and Face finds himself on top of her on her bed. Just
before things get truly steaming, the adult female & # 8217 ; s fellow, Bruno, walks in. As you can conceive of by the
name Bruno, he is a instead close autotype to the Incredible Hulk. As ever, Face manages to victimize his
manner out of this state of affairs and injury & # 8217 ; s manner. This scene could hold easy been played on The Bold and the
Beautiful or The Young and the Restless.
Cases like this made The A-Team merriment to watch. One could sit down and watch all 94
episodes and at the start of each episode could inquire, & # 8220 ; What is Cannell traveling to convey me following? & # 8221 ;
The stereotypes and the commixture of genres helped to do The A-Team, one of NBC & # 8217 ; s most successful
shows of the 1980 & # 8217 ; s. Audiences liked TAT because it appealed to a assortment of telecasting involvements. If one
liked action, escapade, comedy, hundred artoons, or soap operas, so one would wish The A-Team. It was such
a success that TAT had guest visual aspects by Boy George, Tia Carrere, Joe Namath, and Hulk Hogan to
name a few.
Obviously, The A-Team was non ground interrupting telecasting, but something is to be said about the expression
that the show used. TAT & # 8217 ; s first three seasons were an exceeding theoretical account of how the cross-genre expression
can do a show a success.
The show & # 8217 ; s inevitable death was the fifth season when Cannell tried to revamp the show. The audience
did non O.K. of the alterations or the new characters.
& # 8220 ; Unfortunately, after approximately two twelve truly good episodes, The A-Team itself sometime s falls into the
Mission: IMPOSSIBLE expression trap, crunching out by and large interchangeable confrontations with generic
bad guys. & # 8221 ; 8 Today & # 8217 ; s web telecasting could likely non digest another show like The A-Team. Our
society is excessively used to the fast yesteryear camera motions of ER, and the pragmatism of NYPD Blue. A-team the
film? There has been talk of one, but for now A-Team fans will hold to fall back to watching their
escapades in syndication.
End Notes
1 Pellegrini, N.N. ( & # 8221 ; Sockii & # 8221 ; ) . & # 8220 ; The Basics & # 8221 ; . www.seas.upenn.edu/~pellegri/AFAQ1.html # 6: Nov. 3, 1997.
2 & # 8220 ; Rethinking/Destratigying the A-Team & # 8221 ; . hypertext transfer protocol: //www.warwick.ac.uk/~pypgb/ateam/ateam.htm: Nov. 4,
1997.
3 Piltz, Leah. & # 8220 ; A-Team, & # 8216 ; Face & # 8217 ; & # 8221 ; . hypertext transfer protocol: //www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Marina/2779/face.htm: Nov. 3,
1997.
4. Pellegrini, Nicole. & # 8220 ; On The Jazz & # 8221 ; . Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik.
www.xs4all.nl/~jmm/a-team/otj/otj0101.txt: Nov. 8, 1997.
5. Pellegrini, N.N. ( & # 8221 ; Sockii & # 8221 ; ) . & # 8220 ; The Details & # 8221 ; . www.seas.upenn.edu/~pellegri/AFAQ3.html # 3: Nov. 3,
1997.
6 Pellegrini, N.N. ( & # 8221 ; Sockii & # 8221 ; ) . & # 8220 ; The Details & # 8221 ; . www.seas.upenn.edu/~pellegri/AFAQ3.html # 5: Nov. 3, 1997.
7 Pellegrini, N.N. ( & # 8221 ; Sockii & # 8221 ; ) . & # 8220 ; The Details & # 8221 ; . www.seas.upenn.edu/~pellegri/AFAQ3.html # 6: Nov. 3, 1997.
8 Pellegrini, Nicole. & # 8220 ; On The Jazz & # 8221 ; . Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik.
www.xs4all.nl/~jmm/a-team/otj/otj0101.txt: Nov. 8, 1997.
WORKS CITED
& # 8220 ; Looney Tunes On Television! & # 8221 ; . hypertext transfer protocol: //www.megalink.net/~cooke/looney/tv.html.
Pellegrini, Nicole. & # 8220 ; On The Jazz & # 8221 ; . Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik.
www.xs4all.nl/~jmm/a-team/otj/otj0101.txt.
Pellegrini, N.N. ( & # 8221 ; Sockii & # 8221 ; ) . & # 8220 ; Sockii & # 8217 ; s A-Team Homepage & # 8221 ; . www.seas.upenn.edu/~pellegri/ateam.html.
Piltz, Leah. & # 8220 ; The A-Team Home Page & # 8221 ; . hypertext transfer protocol: //www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Marina/2779/a-
team.htm.
& # 8220 ; Rethinking/Destratigying the A-Team & # 8221 ; . hypertext transfer protocol: //www.warwick.ac.uk/~pypgb/ateam/ateam.htm.
Shadowplay. & # 8220 ; The Unofficial A-Team Home Page & # 8221 ; . hypertext transfer protocol: //WWW.Lvdi.Net/~duke101.
right of first publication 1997 Kristopher Friday
