History Series / TheATeam

* '''Lieutenant Templeton "Faceman" Peck''' -- played by Creator/DirkBenedict, he is the "charmer" of the team.

* WhatKeptYou: Face and Murdock are often captured or kidnapped, but pretty much always rescue themselves before the rest of the team arrives.

* AlliterativeName: B.A.'s full name is '''B'''osco '''B'''aracus.

* BadBoss: General Stockwell. Aside from getting the team charged with first degree murder and sentenced to execution so that he could recruit them, he also has no problems withholding vital information from them when it suits his purposes, and treats them (and his other operatives) as if they're expendable. Notably, when he recruits them, the best he's willing to say to them is that "not all" of the missions he gives will be {{Impossible|Mission}} {{Suicide Mission}}s with a less than 1% chance of survival.
* BadGuysPlayPool: Quite commonly in episodes set in the rural South, we'll be introduced to the villains of the week at the local drinking establishment, playing pool.

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: A few of the episodes got removed from syndication, or edited, because they contained guest appearances and licensed material that the show's owners later lost (or never had) the rights to. Netflix and Hulu also blocked certain episodes in certain countries, during the time when the show was on their services. A notable example is "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E13WheelOfFortune Wheel of Fortune]]" in which Murdock appears on [[Series/WheelOfFortune the titular game show]] and wins a pickup truck, which appears again in a few other episodes before being destroyed in "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheATeamS4E22TheLittleTownWithAnAccent The Little Town with an Accent]]", and the episode where he won it getting removed creates a minor plot hole. Other cuts include characters (usually Murdock) singing along to popular songs, particularly Murdock singing "[[Music/TheRollingStones Jumpin' Jack Flash]]" while he takes off in the plane in the pilot episode, which got edited out after the first airing and doesn't even appear in the DVD version of the episode.

* CompositeCharacter: Frankie Santana from season 5 combines aspects of all the other team members. He's a bit of a loose screw like Murdock, a mechanic like B.A., and a Casanova like Face, though not to the same extent as any of them. This is part of why he wasn't a very popular character.

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: In "[[Recap/TheATeamS2E13TheMalteseCow The Maltese Cow]]", Murdock spends the episode doing a bad [[Series/TheSingingDetective Philip Marlow]] impression, in character as Mack Murdock, rambling nonsensically about the titular bovine. Halfway through the episode, the team encounters a mobster who happens to be carrying the week's MacGuffin - a statuette of a cow-like monster, containing microfilm. Even Murdock is surprised, and later admits that it was terrifying to see the thing he'd made up actually appear for real.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Season 5 starts with the team being captured and put on trial, with the charge escalating from robbery and desertion, up to first degree murder, and then being [[FakingTheDead apparently executed]] by firing squad. It then puts them under the control of ManipulativeBastard General Stockwell, who sends them on far more morally gray missions than those they usually chose to take on as fugitives. It also has multiple {{Character Death}}s, and [[spoiler:the dramatic discovery of who Face's father is, right before that man also dies]].
* DenserAndWackier: In contrast to season 5, season 4 was this. The camp was ratcheted up, even for a show that was already pretty campy. The very first episode has Hannibal impersonating a villain with a ridiculous spray tan, an even more ridiculous fake Italian accent, and his mouth constantly open as if he's trying to catch flies. The rest of the season follows suit, with zany characters like DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent Betty Richter/Sarah Teasdale ([[MultipleChoicePast even the team never really finds out who she is]]) from "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E11TheDoctorIsOut The Doctor Is Out"]], plans to save the day that sound like they came from ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny'', and SpecialGuest appearances from Wrestling/HulkHogan, Music/RickJames, and even [[Music/CultureClub Boy George]].

* DistressedDude:
** Face gets captured, beaten, and tied up with some frequency, though that doesn't necessarily mean he won't have freed himself by the time the rest of the team arrives.
** General Stockwell ends up as this once, being captured by villains in "[[Recap/TheATeamS5E6TheSayUNCLEAffair The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair]]".
* TheDitz: Gas station attendant Kelvin in "The Little Town with an Accent" is implied to have mild mental retardation. He has NoSocialSkills that cause him to have a lot of trouble dealing with others, and at one point is asked to carry some tires into the garage and has to be told to carry them one at a time instead of all at once. He means well, though, and ultimately does become a fairly competent mechanic after some tutoring from B.A.

* EveryCarIsAPinto: Cars seem to flip over and explode at the drop of a hat. But we always see the goons crawling away, safe and sound.

** Even better, the song she's listening to on the radio is Music/{{Blondie}}'s "One Way Or Another." ("One way or another, I'm gonna find ya! I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha!")

* HonestJohnsDealership: One of these pops up in season 2's "[[Recap/TheATeamS2E19ChoppingSpree Chopping Spree]]"; the owner runs a literal used car dealership. As part of the operation, Face goes there to work as one of the villain's salesmen. Suffice it to say, he does very very well. In fact, he tells Hannibal that he's had to actively work to slow down lest his coworkers think his sales are all plants.

* IGaveMyWord: General Stockwell lives by this, though he's also [[ExactWords very careful about controlling when he makes a promise, and when he only implies one]].

* ImaginaryFriend: Murdock has a few, most notably his invisible dog, Billy, who is mentioned in several different episodes.
* InHarmsWay: They call it "being on the jazz." While the entire team enjoy their capers to an extent, Hannibal in particular qualifies. He loves living on the edge and pushing his luck, never complains about things getting hard (though he does get upset when clients try to stiff him), and of course [[{{Catchphrase}} he loves it when a plan comes together]].

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Murdock spends the show's final episode wearing a t-shirt that says "FINI", Latin for "THE END". At the end of the penultimate episode, he wears a shirt that says "Almost FINI".
* LeonineContract: How Stockwell gets the team to work for him in season 5. He gets the charges against them upgraded from the relatively minor robbery and desertion which would have earned them 20 years in prison, to first degree murder and treason which would earn them a guaranteed death sentence. He then allows them to escape on the condition that they perform a specified number of missions for him, after which they will all receive full presidential pardons.

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot:Many, many episodes follow this format. The team will be brought in to deal with what appears to be some petty criminals, or perhaps a shady businessman trying to bully his rivals into closing up shop. However, when they dig deeper they'll find that enemy is only hired muscle for some much bigger villain with much grander plans, usually involving drug-dealing, terrorism, or land development.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The villain of the pilot episode is named Malavida Valdez. Malavida is literally translated as "bad life" and is essentially the hispanic version of "Thug Life." The same actor later played another villain with a name to run from in the two-parter episode "The Bend in the River", El Cajon aka The Coffin.

** B.A. was the unusual protagonist example who'd let the mook get in a good punch or two before smiling, then knocking them out, defenestrating them, etc. Turned around on him twice, once in the pilot and again in the season 2 episode "[[Recap/TheATeamS2E20HarderThanItLooks Harder Than It Looks]]" when he meets people who can take ''his'' punches without flinching.

* RatedMForManly: As described by Creator/DirkBenedict himself in an interview on the TV show ''Series/BringBack''.
--> ''"It was a guy's show. It was male driven. It was written by guys. It was directed by guys. It was acted by guys. It's about what guys do. We talked the way guys talked. We were the boss. We were the God. We smoked when we wanted. We shot guns when we wanted. We kissed the girls and made them cry... when we wanted. It was the last truly masculine show."''
* ReassignedToAntarctica: This was Decker's fate, according to the episode "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E9MindGames Mind Games]]". Some of General Fullbright's first lines are to say that Decker is "sitting on his rusty-dusty in Bangor, Maine."

* RedScare: Averted for the first four seasons, with the closest the show came to getting into politics of the day being "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E14TheATeamIsComingTheATeamIsComing The A-Team is Coming, the A-Team is Coming!]]", which featured a KGB operative... as one of the ''good guys'', trying to stop a rogue Russian general from starting World War III. Season 5 played it absolutely straight, though, with the Soviets being the villains of episodes far more often than not. Justified, though, as that season had the team recruited by retired General Stockwell specifically to take on missions against the Soviet Union which the US government couldn't take on for diplomatic reasons.

* ShowWithinAShow: Given that Hannibal's day job is acting, there are naturally a few of these for him to be a part of. The most commonly mentioned is ''Aquamaniac'', a series of low-budget horror movies starring an expy of the Gill Man from ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon''.

* StupidGood: In the episode "Semi-Friendly Persuasion", Karl Peerson, the leader of the Society of Man, falls into this. He runs an Amish-esque commune which is [[PerfectPacifistPeople sworn to non-violence]], but his community is threatened by a gang of local thugs who view them as "freaks." Karl fully intends to give in to the bullies and even openly insults the A-Team when his son calls them in, claiming their violent ways make them just as bad as the villains. He then asks them to protect his people while figuratively tying both hands behind their backs and calling them murderers and villains the whole time. Even at the end, when the actual villains have been defeated, he holds to his stance and makes it clear that he intends to leave town anyway, feeling that he can't possibly stay in his new home knowing that it was won by violence.
-->'''Hannibal:''' You can build your meeting house now. You don't need us.\\
'''Karl:''' Here? After this?\\
'''Hannibal:''' Why not? Sykes and his buddies will be in jail for a long time. You're safe, and you earned it.\\
'''Karl:''' Earned it? With all the anger and destruction and injury around us? Not even you can believe we earned it with that... Are you expecting me to thank you?\\
'''Hannibal:''' No...no, even though you're one of the most narrow-minded men I've ever met in your own way, I admire you for one thing, Karl. You don't change your tune when you win. Most people do. Did it ever occur to you where [[ActualPacifist people like you]] would be without people like us?\\
'''Karl:''' [[ShutUpKirk Goodbye, Colonel.]]

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: In "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E9HolidayInTheHills Holiday in the Hills]]", the team escapes from a difficult mission in Guatemala, only for their [[TheAllegedCar crappy plane]] to stall out and crash in the hills of South Carolina. B.A., naturally, was knocked out for this and when he comes to the plane is out of sight and he's told that they had to escape on foot after he was knocked out by a concussion grenade. He insists that they're lying, and that the place they're in doesn't look anything like Guatemala. Murdock quickly chimes in with "Well, it's not South Carolina!"

* {{Tuckerization}}: In season 4, the series borrows last names from a few of its directors for minor characters as well as some of the team's various aliases. "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E1JudgmentDayPartI Judgment Day]]" involves a Judge Mordente, named for director Tony Mordente. In "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E4LeaseWithAnOptionToDie Lease With an Option To Die]]" Face goes undercover as IrishPriest Sean O'Herlihy, named for director Michael O'Herlihy, and in "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E15MembersOnly Members Only]]" Face's alias Ashley Hemmings borrows its name from director David Hemmings.

* VerbalBackspace: This was one of the gags commonly used between Frank Santana and B.A.
--> '''Frankie:''' Frankie Santana don't ride the waves no more! From now on, we fly or we drive!\\
'''B.A.:''' ''(Balling up a fist.)'' Hey, man. If it's a choice between flying or taking a boat, we're gonna take a boat!\\
'''Frankie:''' Well, I'll take that choppy boat ride over some smooth flight any day.

** B.A. was the unusual protagonist example who'd let the mook get in a good punch or two before smiling, then defenestrating them. Inverted twice when B.A. met a giant Asian mook who could take ''his'' punches without flinching.

* PosthumousCharacter: Ray Brenner was a fifth member of the team in Vietnam whom the others remember in a heroic and respectful fashion. In a first season episode they risk capture to attend and take part in his funeral with full military honors. They quickly learn from his widow (guest star Joanna Kerns) that he died trying to free his small hometown from a local outlaw family. They promptly seek revenge and justice for their fallen comrade.

* UngratefulBastard: There are a couple of instances where the A-Team help out someone who didn’t really appreciate it but special mention has to go to Karl Peerson from “Semi-Friendly Persuasion”. He has a strict pacifist view on life but is so narrow minded that it ends up in StupidGood territory, he openly insults the team regardless of how many times they help him and undermines all their efforts by giving in to the thugs in the end.

%%* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: "We ain't in South Carolina" - Murdock to B.A. in "[[Recap/TheATeamS1E9HolidayInTheHills Holiday in the Hills]]".

%%* BadGuysPlayPool: Common in episodes set in the rural Southwest.

* DenserAndWackier: In contrast to season 5, season 4 was this. The camp was ratcheted up, even for a show that was already pretty campy. The very first episode has Hannibal impersonating a villain with a ridiculous spray tan, an even more ridiculous fake Italian accent, and his mouth constantly open as if he's trying to catch flies. The rest of the season follows suit, with zany characters like DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent Betty Richter/Sarah Teasdale (or whoever she was) from "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E11TheDoctorIsOut The Doctor Is Out"]], plans to save the day that sound like they came from ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny'', and SpecialGuest appearances from Wrestling/HulkHogan, Music/RickJames, and even [[Music/CultureClub Boy George]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: Season 5 starts with the team being captured and put on trial, with the charge escalating from robbery and desertion, up to first degree murder, and then apparently executed by firing squad. It then puts them under the control of ManipulativeBastard General Stockwell, who sends them on far more morally gray missions than those they usually chose to take on as fugitives. It also has multiple {{Character Death}}s, and [[spoiler:the dramatic discovery of who Face's father is, right before that man also dies]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: Season 5 starts with the team being captured and put on trial, with the charge escalating from robbery and desertion, up to first degree murder, and the tea, put on trial, and apparently executed by firing squad. It then puts them under the control of ManipulativeBastard General Stockwell, who sends them on far more morally gray missions than those they usually chose to take on as fugitives. It also has multiple {{Character Death}}s, and [[spoiler:the dramatic discovery of who Face's father is, right before that man also dies]].

** The entire fifth season episode "[[Recap/TheATeamS5E6TheSayUNCLEAffair The Say UNCLE Affair]] runs on this trope as not only was Creator/RobertVaughn a series regular and Creator/DavidMcCallum playing the villain of the week, but the episode was structured to parody and reference episodes of ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE''.

* DistressedDude: Face gets captured, beaten, and tied up with some frequency, though that doesn't necessarily mean he won't have freed himself by the time the rest of the team arrives.
%%* TheDitz: Gas station attendant Kelvin in "The Little Town with an Accent" is somewhere between this and NoSocialSkills.

* RedScare: Averted for the first four seasons, with the closest the show came to getting into politics of the day being "[[/Recap/TheATeamS4E14TheATeamIsComingTheATeamIsComing The A-Team is Coming, the A-Team is Coming!]]", which featured a KGB operative... as one of the ''good guys'', trying to stop a rogue Russian general from starting World War III. Season 5 played it absolutely straight, though, with the Soviets being the villains of episodes far more often than not. Justified, though, as that season had the team recruited by retired General Stockwell specifically to take on missions against the Soviet Union which the US government couldn't take on for diplomatic reasons.

** One episode has the team knocking out B.A. (again) so they can get on a plane. This time however they're in the middle of a mission, so they can't wait for him to calm down. Hannibal decides that the only way to solve the problem is to let B.A. take his revenge on them after the mission is over, which Face and Murdock are horrified about. B.A. is creepily cheerful throughout the rest of the episode, and the Team dreads what he'll do to them. Finally, when it's all over, B.A. prepares to punish them. He lines them all up and [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech calls them out on their flaws and why they annoy him]]. B.A. also reveals that instead of flying back, he's chartered a boat. As part of their payment, the rest of the team has to help with the upkeep as well as repaint the whole thing. The team decides they would've preferred if he had just beaten them up.

* RedHerring: In the episode "Moving Targets", the A-Team are hired to protect a sheikh's daughter on her way to her wedding, and the show makes a point of making it seem like the sheikh's head of security Jabar is a double agent, leaking security info to the rebels who want to kidnap the princess. [[spoiler:It turns out the inside "man" was Princess Selena herself, since she'd been seduced by the rebel leader, Kalem.]]

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: A few of the episodes got removed from syndication, or edited, because they contained guest appearances and licensed material that the show's owners later lost (or never had) the rights to. Netflix and Hulu also blocked certain episodes in certain countries, during the time when the show was on their services. A notable example is "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E13WheelOfFortune Wheel of Fortune]]" in which Murdock appears on [[Series/WheelOfFortune the titular game show]] and wins a pickup truck, which appears again in a few other episodes before being destroyed in "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheATeamS4E22TheLittleTownWithAnAccent The Little Town with an Accent]]", and the episode where he won it getting removed creates a minor plot hole. Other cuts include characters (usually Murdock) singing along to popular songs, particularly Murdock singing "[[Music/TheRollingStones Jumpin' Jack Flash]]" while he takes off in the plane in the pilot episode, which got edited out and doesn't even appear in the DVD version of the episode.

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: A few of the episodes got removed from syndication, or edited, because they contained guest appearances and licensed material that the show's owners later lost the rights to. Netflix and Hulu also blocked certain episodes in certain countries, during the time when the show was on their services. A notable example is "[[Recap/TheATeamS4E13WheelOfFortune Wheel of Fortune]]" in which Murdock appears on [[Series/WheelOfFortune the titular game show]] and wins a pickup truck, which appears again in a few other episodes before being destroyed in "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheATeamS4E22TheLittleTownWithAnAccent The Little Town with an Accent]]", and the episode where he won it getting removed creates a minor plot hole. Other cuts include characters (usually Murdock) singing along to popular songs, particularly Murdock singing "[[Music/TheRollingStones Jumpin' Jack Flash]]" while he takes off in the plane in the pilot episode, which got edited out and doesn't even appear in the DVD version of the episode.