In the pilot episode of the NBC television series The A-Team, which airs on this day in 1983, the go-getting newspaper reporter Amy Allen (Melinda Culea) seeks the help of a mysterious group of Vietnam-veterans-turned-soldiers-for-hire to find her missing colleague in Mexico. An elite commando unit in Vietnam, the so-called A-Team was wrongly imprisoned by the Army. They escaped and began working as mercenaries, doing whatever needed to be done for their various clients while consistently eluding the fanatic Army officers sent to catch them. The A-Team went on to become a huge hit and make a star of the-then little known actor Mr. T.

Produced by Stephen Cannell and first envisioned by Brandon Tartikoff, NBC’s president, as a volatile combination between films such as The Dirty Dozen, The Magnificent Seven and The Road Warrior and TV programs such as Hill Street Blues, The A-Team became a bona fide phenomenon during its five-year run. Despite its late entry to the 1982-83 ratings season, The A-Team was on its way to a No. 1 ranking by season’s end. It also topped a list of the most violent shows on TV, compiled that year by the National Coalition on Television Violence.

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"Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far from the Stars"

The only reason I bring this up is at the time,... I LOVED this show! The later seasons suffered under its own weight but the first couple were just 80's cheese done right.

I pity the fool that didn't like this show!

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"Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far from the Stars"

Mr T's wikipedia article is quite surprising reading.

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My PC spec

Yeah, this was a really fun show at the time.

And the show theme turns up all the time it seems like.


Good stuff.

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"All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct." -- Carl Sagan

I even used it for a promo for the podcast!

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"Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far from the Stars"

"Yes, a very surprising read. I especially liked the following:
"He gave up virtually all his gold, one of his identifying marks, after helping with the cleanup after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He said, 'As a Christian, when I saw other people lose their lives and lose their land and property...I felt that it would be a sin before God for me to continue wearing my gold. I felt it would be insensitive and disrespectful to the people who lost everything, so I stopped wearing my gold.'"

I never believed that show...all those guns fired and not one bad guy dies, I wonder how many viet cong they killed in 'Nam. The only amusing part of the show was knocking B.A. out so they could put him on a plane.

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war is some crazy sh** -alexander the great