A Love Letter To The A-Team

We tend to be ashamed of our childhood heroes. I, in particular, idolized a fair number of idiots. However, my admiration for The A-Team remains intact over the years. My childhood would have been much duller without Murdock, Face, B. A., and Hannibal Smith — may he rest in peace. Now, I’ve rewatched the series and understood why it has stood the test of time much better than the poems I wrote to my first girlfriend. Those four madmen were a cornucopia of values: loyalty, justice, kindness, patriotism, freedom, and a fine sense of humor. They also exhibited a very justifiable skepticism about the goodness of the government. It was everything I miss in today’s television and, almost always, in society too. And in politics. Oddly enough, there is much we can still learn from The A-Team. And I don’t mean how to make bazookas out of pipes and lettuce.

The whole series was dreamt up by Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo (Lupo passed away in Florida last February from cardiac arrest). Both poured not only their talent into the show, but also their moral code, something Cannell always attributed to his parents’ strong Christian convictions. The A-Team is more than the sentimental biography of several generations. It is also our moral biography. From it, I learned to keep calm, smile, and light a cigar every time the enemy locks me in a shed and threatens to kill me. Life is better that way. You know: Be happy. It disconcerts the enemy… read more >