The A-Team: Complete Series (1983–87)

The A-Team: The Ultimate Collection (2007)

98 episodes (5 Seasons), approx 47 minutes each, split over 27 DVD discs.

I discovered some years back that being asked "Why do you watch that crap?" makes me less inclined to validate the reasons for my choices, and instead wonder at the agenda of the person who's asking the question. Sometimes it's not a genuine inquiry, but a thinly disguised insult.

With that in mind, my heartfelt sympathies go out to any individual who didn't have weekly episodes of The A-Team to entertain and inspire them as a youth. I'm not being melodramatic. I really do mean it.

Not having Sergeant First Class 'B.A.' Baracus, Colonel John 'Hannibal' Smith, Lieutenant Templeton 'Face' Peck and Captain 'Howling Mad' Murdock to provide escapism and feed the imagination is like having an integral part of a happy childhood denied you. It's like having never played with LEGO, or having never tasted strawberry sherbets.

It's easy to mock the series; at times it seems as if it almost invites such attentions with its glaring oversights in plot and continuity, but I feel that being a fan of The A-Team as a kid was a privilege; one available to every sighted person with access to a working TV - whether it be the rich kid with a silver spoon feeding both ends simultaneously or the ostracised, abused kid with an alcohol or drug-dependent parent (or parents) whom everyone thought was destined to be the same. As fans we were all equal. The series didn't judge us; it was too sincere for that.

- Clockwise from Left: B.A. (Mr. T); Murdock (Dwight Schultz); Face (Dirk Benedict); and Hannibal (George Peppard) -

If you're not aware of the series, the opening narration sums it up perfectly: "Ten years ago 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."

They were mercenaries who helped people who couldn't help themselves - that's provided the victims were deserving of such help. It wasn't about the money; it was about the morals.

Through its stories the show taught viewers of all ages many things, including the notions:

• that with good friends and a little ingenuity we could stand up to life's bullies. It made me want friends that I could feel as comfortable with and rely on as much as the team relied on each other. I don’t know if I ever had them. I like to think that I had.
• that money isn't important to happiness, which was the opposite of what most corporate 80s TV programs wanted us to think, and it repeatedly showed that a selfless good deed is its own reward.
• that Hannibal loves it when a plan comes together.
• that we should remain vigilant and question what's presented as truth.
• that villains will always get up afterwards with nothing more serious than dizziness and a bruised ego. But that part was a lie. In so doing, whether intentional or not, when questioned that same lie taught us that real life wasn't always like television.

- The iconic van, a customised GMC Vandura. A design so easily recognised wasn't the best choice for a team on the run from military police, but try telling B.A. that. -

I won't pretend the failings didn't exist, but they played a role, too. While there's some quality humour, mostly from Murdock's interaction with B.A., sometimes the laughter was unintentional, like when B.A. was required to emote anything other than annoyance and, worse, when you catch sight of a fake mohawk on one of the big guy's stand-ins' heads. But it just added to the fun for me, and in no way detracted from the important teachings that I mentioned above.

The addition of celebrity guests in Season Four was a very, very bad idea. The guest stars, people like Boy George and Hulk Hogan, were hugely successful in their chosen field at the time, but the result was cringe-worthy. In fact, both those examples are arguably two of the worst episodes in the show's history. And for some reason they got Hogan back for seconds!

Before reviving and revamping The 7th and Last into its current state, I'd considered quitting some of the other blogs that I was a part of because the team dynamic under which they were formed had fallen away over time, but I kept going back. It eventually became clear to me why that was: I wanted to give all the people who also get asked "why do you watch that crap?" an incentive to revisit the reasons why they did watch it and to remember what it was that they gained from doing so. If you love something, honour it by screaming it from the rooftops.