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Food
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
342 Posts |
 Posted - 09/21/2010 : 6:59:16 PM
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Over the past months, I watched all The A-team episodes. It was the first time I've watched any of them since it was still on the air, so I was curious to see how it held up.
While the over-the-top cartoonishly goofy action is still fun to watch, I gotta say, the character interaction doesn't please me at age 37 as it did at age 12. Back then, I'd watch the show and wish I could ride with them in the van and pal around with the guys. Today, I don't think I could stand be around any one of them for more than an hour before getting sick of them. Character by character:
Hannibal: Forget Murdock, Hannibal is the craziest guy in the bunch. He loves being a fugitive, he loves combat, he has total confidence in the most implausible plans, and I get the sense that if innocent bystanders were killed during a mission, he probably wouldn't care very much. To Hannibal, the whole "helping people in need" bit seems like a cop-out, an excuse to blow s**t up.
B.A.: This guy is a five-year-old. Bitches nonstop about anything at all (half the time he tells Murdock to shut up, I'm thinking, "YOU shut up, Captain Buttcrust!"); and for a guy who's supposed to be Mr. Badass, he sure gets frightened easily. Flying, small lizards, chimpanzees, a blood transfusion from Murdock.....and maybe even women. Notice in the few episodes where a lady show interest in him, he doesn't get into it like the other three do. Even allowing that maybe Mr. T's faith wouldn't allow for on-screening kissing (I dunno if it does or not, I'm just guessing here), he seems distinctly uncertain.
Murdock: The other half of the time B.A. tells him to shut up, I'm totally with B.A. Watching Dwight Schultz's acting is easily the best thing about the show (accents both serious and goofy, physical comedy, impressions...the guy's excellent!), but when his insanity takes a loud manifestation, Christ it's annoying.
Face: He's the most believable character, that's for certain. He hates being a fugitive, he hates combat, and when Hannibal gathers everyone round for a mission, Face usually needs to be coaxed into it. It's understandable that he lies as much as he does to everybody to scrounge what the team needs; but this guy lies even when he doesn't need to, sometimes at the team's expense. Best example: The episode when the team mistakenly thought Face had been pardoned. He drops the A-Team like a hot potato and promptly starts lying about them to the press in order to make himself look good. And for a Vietnam combat veteran, he's pretty weak-skinned. The episode that starts with B.A. having been shot in the leg and swearing he's gonna make Face PAY for the screw-up that led to the injury, Face spends the whole episode acting like a playground bully's victim-to-be. I was disappointed when B.A. changes his mind at the last instant.
Looking back my favorite and least favorite episodes, I notice that my favorites are the ones where one of them is acting out of character. The episode where B.A. is awake on the plane and is scared to death (Mr. T's acting wasn't very good, but at least the script was letting him try!), the episode where Murdock is rattled into sobriety when he and the damsel-du-jour fall for each other, the episode where Face and Murdock have a falling out over Murdock's ill-timed revelation of something Face could've benefited from knowing earlier. These were good interesting episodes. I don't think Hannibal ever had an out-of-character episode.
**pant, gasp, pant** There. I got that off my chest. I love The A-Team for capturing my imagination back then, but the hallowed halls of memory is the best place for it. Today, it's just not that much fun. If this requires me to turn in my 80s Appreciation Membership Card, so be it. |
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Nlneff
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2010 : 09:50:55 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Food
Over the past months, I watched all The A-team episodes. It was the first time I've watched any of them since it was still on the air, so I was curious to see how it held up.
Its not you, very few of those 80s shows hold up. In fact the only one I can still enjoy without reflecting how easy I was to entertain is Magnum PI, which naturally I really didn't enjoy that much at the time, and now is frankly my favorite show of the decade.
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2010 : 2:01:47 PM
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I'd like to catch a rerun of Simon & Simon sometime to see how that holds up. That was a show very much in the Magnum P.I. in vein.
Other than that, though, it is astonishing how many 80s TV shows I would never both to watch again. Cheers and Star Trek: TNG are the only ones I'm willing to sit still for on a regular basis. |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2010 : 3:21:43 PM
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| Being a kid in the early 80's, I couldn't get enough of stuff like Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider. I cringe whenever I see reruns of those shows today. (Not so much for The Incredible Hulk. It's dated as hell now, but at least it has some good acting and a decent plotline. Too bad the brass at CBS cancelled it before they could wrap things up.) |
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Nlneff
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2010 : 8:38:21 PM
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| All the Simon and Simon seasons are on netflix streaming. |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2010 : 6:48:27 PM
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Actually, when I watch them I'm surprised that they are a bit better in some ways. I look at 80's shows as a lot like B genre films. They follow some fairly strict conventions that allow the viewer to know who is playing what part. Then you have to remember that shows like the A-Team were family hour shows and had some limits to what they could do. I remember that back then there was controversy over whether the show was too violent for the time slot it was in.
But really, the goal of these shows was to entertain and considering how big their ratings were at the time, they did that. I expect many of the "big" shows of the past 10-15 years won't be viewed too favorably in the future either. The problem there though is that most of them will disappear into obscurity since most have miniscule ratings and rely more on shock than story telling.
Plus, the 80's at least represented a break from the 70's trend of social consciousness that makes most of the shows from that period unwatchable.
I summon Bigger Fish! |
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