I think that as long as you take those moments with the knowledge that the shows intent is to be over the top, it's okay. In fact those moments make sense then. It's like when you watch "Crank." If attaching jumper cables to his nipples, or a defibrillator to his chest and saying "juice me" wasn't over the top I don't know what is.J.J. Walters wrote:Channel surfing the other night and I stumbled upon an A-Team rerun! It was Season One's "The Out-of-Towners". The A-Team goes to New York City to help some shopowners fight back against some ruthless extortionists. Yaphet Kotto, Albert Popwell and Robert Tessier were the bad guys. That's quite a trio! There was much brawling and gun shots. Murdock drove a trash truck through a wall and dumped trash in Kotto's crib! What 80's fun! It was very strange to watch it on TV again after all these years!
Having said that, the show (for me) doesn't hold up nearly as well as some other 80s shows. There were quite a few painfully bad/awkward moments and some eyebrow-raising dialog. Still, fun!
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Yeah, part of the fun is just watching the opening credits to see how many character actors will appear. There's a lot of Magnum (or rather, Universal) alumni that crops up quite often.J.J. Walters wrote:Yaphet Kotto, Albert Popwell and Robert Tessier were the bad guys. That's quite a trio!
I initially planned to just cherry-pick a few episodes, but have now made my way through the first four seasons. It gets progressively sillier, and really only works because of the charm each actor brought to their role.
The aforementioned episode where a major character died onscreen is probably the closest it ever came to the kind of seriousness or quality writing Magnum routinely enjoyed. (Most of the time it was closer to the vibe of Budapestan birdmen and Carol Channing cameos! ) But as zebra said, if you can get past the living comic book tone, it's not a bad way to revisit that lighter side of 1980s primetime.
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Hi Shermy! Great to see you again!
Yeah, it sure was fun to see George Peppard, Dwight Shultz, Mr. T, and Dirk Benedict again! Those guys really made those characters fun to watch.
It's funny, I had just seen Dirk Benedict in a family movie (Alaska) with the family just a couple days before I stumbled upon this A-Team episode! Hadn't seen Dirk since, well, the 80s, and then I see him twice in the same week!
Yeah, it sure was fun to see George Peppard, Dwight Shultz, Mr. T, and Dirk Benedict again! Those guys really made those characters fun to watch.
It's funny, I had just seen Dirk Benedict in a family movie (Alaska) with the family just a couple days before I stumbled upon this A-Team episode! Hadn't seen Dirk since, well, the 80s, and then I see him twice in the same week!
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does any bad guy actually die in the movie? That show wore on me real fast, but I gave it a run due to Dirk Benedict of Starbuck fame. Peppard was brilliant. The banter was best, action poor. Every episode was predictable like CHiPs.............in A-Team it was a plan, some drama, then BA throws someone through the air, nobody gets hurt in any gun battle. Of course in CHiPS it was the weekly 20 car pile up where cars vaulted each other as if ramps were attached to hoods and bumpers.
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A few days ago I finished my journey through the whole 5-seasons series.
First time I watch since it was broadcasted.
The series is surely not reality-based (probably in the Guinness World Records for the highest number of gunshots and explosions with no casualties) and almost each episode has a pretty much predictable plot pattern, nonetheless I found it highly entertaining.
Maybe my second '80s favourite series after Magnum.
I found myself LOL many times, mostly during the recurring Murdock/B.A. bickerings.
With the addition of Hannibal and Face they are a cool bunch of guys.
The greatest mistake in the series? The removal of Amy Amanda Allen character, lasted for about one and a half season.
Melinda Culea was not only a good looking girl, she played Amy brilliantly and the character was a plus in terms of more articulated plots. Too bad!
They tried to replace Amy with Tawnia Baker, played by Marla Heasley (already in 2.04 episode as another character) but she lasted only for nine episodes.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_A-Team#Sexism)
The show has the same formula during the first four seasons but significant changes are made in Season 5:
the Team is no more constantly on the run, they are "hired" by Hunt Stockwell (Robert Vaughn), a retired General now apparently some-governative-secret-agency big shot. Stockwell promises pardon to the Team in exchange of a number of missions to be accomplished.
A new member joins the Team, Frankie Santana (Eddie Velez), a sp-fx expert.
Despite the fact that Season 5 is the worst one (imho), its 3-parts first episode is one of the best of the entire show.
All in all, a very entertaining series.
I love it when a plan comes together!
First time I watch since it was broadcasted.
The series is surely not reality-based (probably in the Guinness World Records for the highest number of gunshots and explosions with no casualties) and almost each episode has a pretty much predictable plot pattern, nonetheless I found it highly entertaining.
Maybe my second '80s favourite series after Magnum.
I found myself LOL many times, mostly during the recurring Murdock/B.A. bickerings.
With the addition of Hannibal and Face they are a cool bunch of guys.
The greatest mistake in the series? The removal of Amy Amanda Allen character, lasted for about one and a half season.
Melinda Culea was not only a good looking girl, she played Amy brilliantly and the character was a plus in terms of more articulated plots. Too bad!
They tried to replace Amy with Tawnia Baker, played by Marla Heasley (already in 2.04 episode as another character) but she lasted only for nine episodes.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_A-Team#Sexism)
The show has the same formula during the first four seasons but significant changes are made in Season 5:
the Team is no more constantly on the run, they are "hired" by Hunt Stockwell (Robert Vaughn), a retired General now apparently some-governative-secret-agency big shot. Stockwell promises pardon to the Team in exchange of a number of missions to be accomplished.
A new member joins the Team, Frankie Santana (Eddie Velez), a sp-fx expert.
Despite the fact that Season 5 is the worst one (imho), its 3-parts first episode is one of the best of the entire show.
All in all, a very entertaining series.
I love it when a plan comes together!
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Re:
I know it has been years since anyone posted in this thread but COZI is currently re-running the A-Team and I have watched several episodes and agree with Seaver41. The show is pretty much mindless action and no one ever gets hurt despite all the explosives and automatic weapons. To think CNN actually compared MPI to A-Team in its show The Eighties is an insult to MPI. I believe CNN grouped MPI, Hart to Hart, Remington Steele, the A-Team and MPI all together as light-hearted. Yes, there were several light-hearted episodes in MPI but the show had a serious theme, a lot more serious than the rest of them. A-Team is getting so predictable that I am searching for anything else to watch in that time slot. I honestly believe that Charlies Angels was a better show! There are also re-running that show a couple of times a week.Seaver41 wrote:does any bad guy actually die in the movie? That show wore on me real fast, but I gave it a run due to Dirk Benedict of Starbuck fame. Peppard was brilliant. The banter was best, action poor. Every episode was predictable like CHiPs.............in A-Team it was a plan, some drama, then BA throws someone through the air, nobody gets hurt in any gun battle. Of course in CHiPS it was the weekly 20 car pile up where cars vaulted each other as if ramps were attached to hoods and bumpers.