History Series / TheATeam

* {{Novelization}}: There were ''ten'' books published in the 1980s; some (the first book just called ''The A-Team'' (was an adaptation of the pilot (generally shown in syndication in [[Recap/TheATeamS1E1MexicanSlayridePartI two]] [[Recap/TheATeamS1E2MexicanSlayridePartII parts]].), ''[[Recap/TheATeamS2E5WhenYouCominBackRangeRiderPartI When You Comin' Back]], [[Recap/TheATeamS2E6WhenYouCominBackRangeRiderPartII Range Rider?]]'', ''[[Recap/TheATeamS3E2TheBendInTheRiverPartI The Bend In]] [[Recap/TheATeamS3E3TheBendInTheRiverPartII The River]]'') were based on double-length episodes (shown in two parts in syndication), others blended together two basically unrelated episodes (''Small But Deadly Wars'' welded "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E5ASmallAndDeadlyWar A Small And Deadly War]]" and "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E6BlackDayAtBadRock Black Day At Bad Rock]]," ''Old Scores To Settle'' used "[[Recap/TheATeamS2E2RecipeForHeavyBread Recipe For Heavy Bread]]" and "The Only Church In Town," ''Bullets, Bikinis And Bells'' was based on "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E1BulletsAndBikinis Bullets And Bikinis]]" and "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E11TheBellsOfStMarys The Bells Of St. Mary's]]"). Only one book was based on one standard-length episode (''Death Vows'', based on "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E12TillDeathDoUsPart Till Death Do Us Part]]") and only one wasn't based on an episode at all - ''Operation Desert Sun: The Untold Story'', the sixth in the series and the last to be published in both the US and the UK (the rest were UK-only). For those keeping count, the other two were ''Ten Percent of Trouble'' ("[[Recap/TheATeamS2E11Steel Steel]]" and "[[Recap/TheATeamS2E13TheMalteseCow The Maltese Cow]]") and ''Backwoods Menace'' ("[[Recap/TheATeamS3E5Timber Timber!]]" and "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E3ChildrenOfJamestown Children Of Jamestown]]").

* {{Novelization}}: There were ''ten'' books published in the 1980s; some (the first book just called ''The A-Team'' (was an adaptation of the pilot (generally shown in syndication in [[Recap/TheATeamS1E1MexicanSlayridePartI two]] [[Recap/TheATeamS1E2MexicanSlayridePartII parts]].), ''[[Recap/TheATeamS2E5WhenYouCominBackRangeRiderPartI When You Comin' Back]], [[Recap/TheATeamS2E6WhenYouCominBackRangeRiderPartII Range Rider?]]'', ''[[Recap/TheATeamS3E2TheBendInTheRiverPartI The Bend In]] [[Recap/TheATeamS3E3TheBendInTheRiverPartII The River]]'') were based on double-length episodes (shown in two parts in syndication), others blended together two basically unrelated episodes (''Small But Deadly Wars'' welded "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E5ASmallAndDeadlyWar A Small And Deadly War]]" and "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E6BlackDayAtBadRock Black Day At Bad Rock]]," ''Old Scores To Settle'' used "[[Recap/TheATeamS2E2RecipeForHeavyBread Recipe For Heavy Bread]]" and "The Only Church In Town," ''Bullets, Bikinis And Bells'' was based on "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E1BulletsAndBikinis Bullets And Bikinis]]" and "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E11TheBellsOfStMarys The Bells Of St. Mary's]]"). Only one book was based on one standard-length episode (''Death Vows'', based on "Till Death Do Us Part") and only one wasn't based on an episode at all - ''Operation Desert Sun: The Untold Story'', the sixth in the series and the last to be published in both the US and the UK (the rest were UK-only). For those keeping count, the other two were ''Ten Percent of Trouble'' ("Steel" and "The Maltese Cow") and ''Backwoods Menace'' ("[[Recap/TheATeamS3E5Timber Timber!]]" and "Children Of Jamestown").

** Every episode has a scene where the A-Team and their opponents exchange billions of rounds of gunfire. Nobody is ever shot. ''EVER''.

** "Deadly Maneuvers" had a syndicate of crime lords pay Major Douglas Kyle to assemble a DreamTeam of mercenaries to hunt down the A-Team.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Tawnia, who replaced Amy midway through Season 2 and stayed through part of Season 3, filled an identical role of a reporter and TheChick.

* TheChick:
** Amy Amanda "Triple A" Allen, a newspaper reporter who assisted the team in the first season and part of the second. She was eventually [[PutOnABus sent to Jakarta "on assignment"]] when conflicts between Culea and the producers led to her departure (either by firing or her simply getting fed up at having no dialog).
** The role of TheChick was next filled by SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, Tawnia Baker, for the rest of season 2 and early portions of season 3 before she [[PutOnABus got married and moved to LA]], with no new actress brought in to fill the archetype for the rest of the series.
** The new character of Tia was set up at the very end of Season 4 to become this, but due to the actress's contractual obligations, she [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome was never seen or mentioned again]].
** According to both Creator/DirkBenedict and George Peppard, Triple A and her counterpart were there only because of [[{{ExecutiveMeddling}} studio demands]], and the male leads felt that a female on the show slowed the action down too much.
** This trope was actually the reason George Peppard was so insistent on keeping women off the show. In his words:
-->''"Whenever the studio slips an actress on to the team, she becomes a distraction. She always slows down the action. She's someone who's only there for the glamour shots. Everything stops for the sexy smiles – and I can't see why that's necessary on The A-Team."''

[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_team_season_1.png]]

They would go along to the location of the activity in their CoolCar, which in their case was actually a distinctive-looking custom van -- [[FridgeLogic an odd choice for a group who are supposed to be in hiding]]. There they would do a lot of ATeamFiring, beat up the baddies and often [[MacGyvering MacGyver up]] an armored vehicle over the course of an ATeamMontage.

** An emotional one occurs in the second episode of the series, "Children of Jamestown", as Amy has to confront the harsh reality of travelling with the A-Team: They're in a dangerous business and death is a severe risk for them, and that denying that fact is more dangerous than accepting it. The entire team (except for Murdoch, who's on a side mision at the time) tries to gently console Amy and get her to accept that fact. [[note]]Even Creator/GeorgePeppard![[/note]]

* PeopleInRubberSuits: In-universe, most of Hannibal's acting jobs consist of ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon''-type {{B movie}}s, with him playing the monster in costume.

* HollywoodLaw: At the start of "Pros And Cons", Jase is released from prison by the corrupt Warden, then is officially declared as escaped by the sheriff, who deputizes some of the Warden's customers from the fight club to hunt him down and bring him back. They are later shown recapturing him, prompting Baracas to get the A-Team to do a rescue. A posse deputized by a county sheriff in Florida would have no legal authority in Los Angeles, and having private citizens attempting to chase a fugitive literally across the entire country would invite questions by every law enforcement agency in all the intermediate states as to why they haven't called in the US Marshall Service, and tracking down fugitives is their job.

* ABNegative: B.A. and Murdock share a rare blood type, so if one of them is hurt, the only source for a blood transfusion is the other.

** The team were ordered by their commanding officer Morrison to rob the bank of Hanoi as part of a secret mission, but was then killed in an artillery strike and since the mission wasn't public knowledge the only people who knew the Team weren't just bank robbers were the Team themselves.

* CorruptHick: To judge from this show, every small town in rural America has an evil hick who exerts extra-judicial, feudal-like control over it, or had until the A-Team passed through.

* {{Novelization}}: There were ''ten'' books published in the 1980s; some (the first book (an adaptation [[of the pilot (generally shown in sydication in [[Recap/TheATeamS1E1MexicanSlayridePartI two]] [[Recap/TheATeamS1E2MexicanSlayridePartII parts]].), ''[[Recap/TheATeamS2E5WhenYouCominBackRangeRiderPartI When You Comin' Back]], [[Recap/TheATeamS2E6WhenYouCominBackRangeRiderPartII Range Rider?]]'', ''[[Recap/TheATeamS3E2TheBendInTheRiverPartI The Bend In]] [[Recap/TheATeamS3E3TheBendInTheRiverPartII The River]]'') were based on double-length episodes (shown in two parts in syndication), others blended together two basically unrelated episodes (''Small But Deadly Wars'' welded "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E5ASmallAndDeadlyWar A Small And Deadly War]]" and "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E6BlackDayAtBadRock Black Day At Bad Rock]]," ''Old Scores To Settle'' used "[[Recap/TheATeamS2E2RecipeForHeavyBread Recipe For Heavy Bread]]" and "The Only Church In Town," ''Bullets, Bikinis And Bells'' was based on "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E1BulletsAndBikinis Bullets And Bikinis]]" and "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E11TheBellsOfStMarys The Bells Of St. Mary's]]"). Only one book was based on one standard-length episode (''Death Vows'', based on "Till Death Do Us Part") and only one wasn't based on an episode at all - ''Operation Desert Sun: The Untold Story'', the sixth in the series and the last to be published in both the US and the UK (the rest were UK-only). For those keeping count, the other two were ''Ten Percent of Trouble'' ("Steel" and "The Maltese Cow") and ''Backwoods Menace'' ("[[Recap/TheATeamS3E5Timber Timber!]]" and "Children Of Jamestown").

* '''Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith''' -- played by Creator/GeorgePeppard, he is the leader of the team, a cunning master of disguise.
* '''Lieutenant Templeton "Faceman" Peck''' -- played by Creator/DirkBenedict, he is the "charmer" of the team.
* '''Captain H.M. "Howlin' Mad" Murdock''' -- played by Creator/DwightSchultz, he is the resident pilot, who may or may not be insane.
* '''Sergeant Bosco "B.A." ("Bad Attitude") Baracus''' -- played by Creator/MrT, he is the team's strongman with a famous fear of flying.

* {{Novelization}}: There were ''ten'' books published in the 1980s; some (the first book (an adaptation of the pilot), ''When You Comin' Back, Range Rider?'', ''The Bend In The River'') were based on double-length episodes, others blended together two basically unrelated episodes (''Small But Deadly Wars'' welded "A Small And Deadly War" and "Black Day At Bad Rock," ''Old Scores To Settle'' used "Recipe For Heavy Bread" and "The Only Church In Town," ''Bullets, Bikinis And Bells'' was based on "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E1BulletsAndBikinis Bullets And Bikinis]]" and "[[Recap/TheATeamS3E11TheBellsOfStMarys The Bells Of St. Mary's]]"). Only one book was based on one standard-length episode (''Death Vows'', based on "Till Death Do Us Part") and only one wasn't based on an episode at all - ''Operation Desert Sun: The Untold Story'', the sixth in the series and the last to be published in both the US and the UK (the rest were UK-only). For those keeping count, the other two were ''Ten Percent of Trouble'' ("Steel" and "The Maltese Cow") and ''Backwoods Menace'' ("[[Recap/TheATeamS3E5Timber Timber!]]" and "Children Of Jamestown").

* RuthlessModernPirates: "El Cajón" ("The Coffin") and his pirates in "The Bend in the River" are a group of modern-day pirates operating on TheAmazon.

* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: The A-Team tends to get locked in barns or garages full of machinery and explosive things.