The A-Team is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983 to March 8, 1987, about a fictitious United States Army Special Forces team who were imprisoned by a court martial for a crime they did not commit, but escaped to Los Angeles.

The A-Team was created by writers and producers Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo at the behest of Brandon Tartikoff, NBC Entertainment's president.

Cannell was fired from ABC in the early 1980s, after failing to produce a hit show for the network, and was hired by NBC; his first project was The A-Team.

Tartikoff pitched the series to Cannell as a combination of The Dirty Dozen, Mission: Impossible, The Magnificent Seven, Mad Max, and Hill Street Blues, with "Mr. T driving the car".

[6] The show is prominent in popular culture for its cartoonish violence (with few injuries even with heavy weapons), formulaic episodes, the team's ingenuity in improvising weaponry and vehicles out of seemingly random parts, and its distinctive theme song.

[citation needed] The term "A-Team" is a nickname coined for the Operational Detachments Alpha (ODA) of the U.S. Special Forces during the Vietnam War.

The A-Team has a standard plot structure of independent episodes with few references to past events, and few overarching stories except the characters' continuing motivation to clear their names.

[12] Reporter Adrian Lee called the plots "stunningly simple" in a 2006 article for The Express (UK newspaper), citing such recurring elements "as BA's fear of flying, and outlandish finales when the team fashioned weapons from household items".

[13] The show became emblematic of "fit-for-TV warfare" due to its depiction of ferocious combat scenes with lethal weapons, where the participants are never killed and rarely seriously injured, with the notable exception of General Fulbright.

In the episode "Bad Time on the Border", Lieutenant Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith called them "ex-Green Berets".

They succeeded, but on their return to base four days after the end of the war, they discovered that Morrison had been killed by the enemy and his headquarters burned down, destroying the proof that the A-Team were acting under orders.

The team's pilot is Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Dwight Schultz), who has been declared insane and lives in a Veterans' Affairs mental institution for the first four seasons.

In the fourth season, The A-Team experienced a dramatic fall in ratings, as it started to lose its position while television viewership increased.

Most reviews focused on acting and the formulaic nature of the episodes, most prominently the absence of actual killing in a show about Vietnam War veterans.

In Indonesia, The A-Team also gained success as a big hit since the television network RCTI aired the show in December 1989 until 1994.

The gradual assimilation of Vietnam into acceptable popular mythology, which began solemnly with The Deer Hunter, has reached its culmination with The A-Team: No longer a memory to be hurriedly brushed aside, but heroes of a network adventure show.

According to co-creator Stephen J. Cannell, this part of the show became a running joke for the writing staff and they would at times test the limits of believability on purpose.

"[35] Television reviewer Ric Meyers joked that the A-Team used "antineutron bullets—they destroy property for miles around, but never harm a human being".

[2] John J. O'Connor of The New York Times wrote in a 1986 article that "...a substantial number of viewers, if the ratings in recent months are to be believed, are clearly fed up with mindless violence of the car-chasing, fist-slugging variety".

[39] The huge success of the series yielded a vast array of merchandise, including toys, video games, and snacks released worldwide.

It includes jigsaw puzzles, View-Master reels, an electric race car track, and a TYCO produced train set.

Baracus minifigure and constructible van, which unlocks additional A-Team themed content in the video game Lego Dimensions, including all four team members as playable characters.

The theme from seasons two through four (including the opening narration and sound effects), was also released on TVT's Television's Greatest Hits: 70s and 80s.

[41] Though no original music other than the theme has been released, in 1984 EMI issued an album of re-recorded material from the series conducted by Daniel Caine, reissued by Silva Screen on compact disc in 1999, SILVAD 3509.

[44] In 1989, El Equipo A (Spanish for The A-Team) was developed and published by Zafiro Software Division as a side scrolling shooter for the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS, and MSX.

Players control the A-team as they battle enemies with melee hand-to-hand or ranged weapon combat and can switch between each member during levels.

[47] In early episodes, the team used Colt AR-15 SP1 semi-automatic rifles (with automatic sound effects, simulating the M16), while in later seasons they used the Ruger Mini-14, and on rare occasions, the selective fire AC-556K variant of the Mini-14.

For five seasons, the wrongly accused foursome used rifles, handguns, submachine guns and shotguns to bring justice for the little guy while trying to stay out of jail.

[citation needed] Justin Lee Collins presented the challenge, securing interviews and appearances from Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz, Marla Heasley, Jack Ging, series co-creator Stephen Cannell, and Mr. T. Collins eventually united Benedict, Schultz, Heasley, Ging and Cannell, along with William Lucking, Lance LeGault, and George Peppard's son, Christian.

In September 2015, Fox announced the development of a reboot A-Team series with Chris Morgan as executive producer with Cannell's daughter, Tawnia McKiernan, and Albert Kim writing.