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On the Jazz - Vol 01 Issue 01
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The totally unofficial A-Team electronic mail newsletter
Submission address: onthejazz
Administrivia: Nicole Pellegrini
pellegri, nicpell
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DATE: October 9, 1994
ISSUE: 1
VOLUME: 1
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Greetings everyone!
Well, it's finally here, the first issue. I think we've got a pretty
good number of people here to start some decent discussions.
There weren't a whole lot of posts this week, so excuse me if I
babble on a bit to get things going. Thought I'd start out by posting
my top 10 favorite episodes list. I tried to narrow it down to 5 but
I couldn't :-)
Sort of in order...
10. "Till Death Do Us Part" - I'm a bird I'm a plane I'm a choo-choo
train. With Murdock in a wedding dress how can this one not make
the top 10!
9. "Pros and Cons" I have just 2 words to say: TRR-ASH BAGS!
8. "The Sound of Thunder" Great plot, I thought, good "serious" show,
the one where they head back to Vietnam on the pretense of finding
the person that can clear them.
7. "There Goes the Neighborhood" Hannibal as neigherhood watch
captain? Oh no... One of my all-time favorite scenes is in this one:
BA silencing his alarm clock with a gun :-)
6. "The Maltese Cow" - moo.
5. "Recipe for Heavy Bread" - never mess with the Golf Ball Liberation
Front!
4. "Black Day at Bad Rock" They didn't get much funnier than this one.
3. "West Coast Turnaround" I prefer the title Operation Watermelon.
Love what they do to Amy's car...can I get mine remodeled like that?
2. "The Beast From the Belly of the Boeing" 1st season classic where
everything that could possibly go wrong with Hannibal's plan does.
The only thing that annoys me is that in syndication they cut out
one of my favorite Murdock bits, when his psychiatrist tells him he
been found sane ("Don't give away my room yet, Doc?")
1. The fifth (last) season opener. Ok, that's cheating cause that's really 3
episodes, but a great plot! In fact I thought all of the 5th season
shows
were great.
Well that's it from me for now...I've made a few comments after some
of the posts too when I had something to add. BTW, I have a copy of the
complete episode list on-line which I can include in future digests if people
want it. Any votes yeah or nay?
until later,
nicole
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Quote of the Week:
"Ready to fold, spindle, and mutilate, Seargant?"
-- Hannibal to B.A. in "Pure-Dee
Poison"
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Date: 94-10-04 17:45:30 EDT
From: C643686
Subj: Dwight Schultz
To: Onthejazz
Does anyone out there have a detailed bio on Dwight Schultz? I have one on
Dirk
Benedict and will post it later when I get enough time.
-Tony
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ed. comments...
>Does anyone out there have a detailed bio on Dwight Schultz?
I wish I did! The only thing I know about him was that he mainly was a
theater actor before the A-Team. And he was (still is?) married to an
actress
named Wendy Fulton, who was in the episode "Bounty." I think she was in a
show
called "Supertrain" or something like that, way back when.
As far as things he's appeared in other than the A-Team, here's all the
stuff
I know of:
Theatrical movies:
Date?? "Alone in the Dark" I've never seen it but I am dying to. Why? He
plays
a psychiatrist in a mental ward!! Talk about role reversal. All I know
about
this one is that it's a horror flick where he gets terrorized by some escpaed
patients. It was on video a few years back but now I think it's out of
print.
Anyone have/seen a copy?
1989 (?) "Fat Man and Little Boy" He played scientist Robert Oppenheimer in
a movie about the scientists working on the Atomic bomb project. Good
movie,
I thought.
1992 "The Temp" He had a really small part as an executive for this company
where a chick is going around killing everybody. He gets it about halfway
through.
TV Movies:
1993 "Victim of Love: The Shannen Mohr Story" He plays a guy who kills his
wife to get the insurance money. Based on an Unsolved Mysteries true story,
it's better than the average tv crime-movie-of-the-week (mostly because of
his typically good performance). Does anyone have this on video?
I know there's at least 2 others he was in but I don't know the titles. One
was
a Perry Mason movie, the other was way back from when The A-Team was still
on the air.
TV Guest Appearances:
Star Trek: The Next Generation: He appeared like 5 or so times as Lt.
Reginald Barclay. Two of the episodes were called "Hollow Persuits"
and "The Nth Degree," I don't know the titles of the others as I haven't
managed to see them yet.
Anyway, that's all I know. Any additional info, please send it in!
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Date: 94-10-04 21:05:26 EDT
From: sutcliff
Subj: Review of the A Team Series
To: Onthejazz
This review comes from Harry and Wally's Favorite TV shows. The authors
are Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik. The book reviews television
series from A to Z. This review is directly quoted.....
THE A-TEAM (***) 60 MIN (96EPISODES & 2 HOUR PILOT COLOR; 1983-1987 NBC)
ADVENTURE with Mr. T as B. A. Baracus, George Peppard as Col. "Hannibal"
Smith, Dwight Schultz as Capt. "howling mad" Murdock, Dirck Benedict as
Lt. "face" Peckman, Melinda Culea as Amy Allen, Eddie Velez as Frankie
Sanchez, and Robert Vaughn as Gen. Hunt Stockwell
A perfect vechicle for Mr. T. And one that he is so obviously pleased
with that in real life he incorporates an allusion to his series
character on the license plate of his flashy red Rolls-Royce
convertable. It reads: "MR.TBA"-with "BA" referring to his A-Team name,
B. A. Baracus.
Mr. T has good reason to be pleased. This could have been just another
routine action series, propped up by a familiar hollywood veteran (George
Peppard), some good character players (Benedict and Schultz), and Mr. T
himself-fresh from his role as the fighting-mad challenger in the hit
theatrical film Rocky III.
Instead, at its best, The A-Team offers something just a little bit
different: a send-up of its own adventure genre, complete with a quirky
mix of offbeat stories and personalities. This light approach is pretty
well executed by Stephen J. Cannell's production company, whose roots
reach back to other genre series done with such a touch, including BLACK
SHEEP SQUADRON, THE ROCKFORD FILES, and THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. In
particular, The A-Team plays as a dead-on send-up of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.
To veteran TV watchers, the always-in-control, planned-to-the-last-detail
routine of the Impossible missions force on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE has
always been an especially ripe target for parody, and much of the A-Team
seems structured with an almost delibrate disdain for their perfect
execution. Both groups might triumphantly drive off in a mysterious van
at the end of each story, but there are two completely different worlds
at work.
For starters, the members of the A-Team are wanted by the government, not
employed by it. They had been part of a crack commando squad in Vietnam
in the 1970s that was falsely accused and convicted of treason in the
last days of the war. but they promplty escaped from their maximum
security prison and headed back to the states. There, in between bouts
with pursuing army officers and MPs, they operate as modern-day soldiers
of fortune.
As such, the A-Team charges for its services, rather than drawing from
some blank-check government account. But, like all good fictional
adventure heroes, the A-Team members waive their $100,000 fee often
enough to make you wonder just how they ever balanced their books.
Perhaps the most distinctive difference between the two teams is that the
elaborate schemes of the A-Team more often than not carry a sense of
backyard improvisation.
Team leader hannibal Smith might begin an assignment with a plan, but
usually has to adapt it to unexpected twists. in fact, his trademark
line ("I love it when a plan comes together!") often carries more than a
touch of irony. In some episodes the mission can't even begin until
"Howling Mad" Murdock (a crack pilot who also happens to be clinically
crazy) is sprung from the local psych ward; or until B. A. Baracus is
tricked into taking a knockout drug so he can be loaded onto a waiting
plane (he has a fear of flying); or until the smooth-talking Lt. Peck can
con someone out of the cash or materials necessary for their transportation.
Even the hardware reflects this humorous spirit. While the Impossible
Mission forces always seems to have the latest top-secret electronic
hardware straight from the CIA's weapons warehouse, the A-Team usually
has to make do with whatever is at hand (rolls of toilet paper, for
instance).
And, in the ultimate caricature of TV adventure series conventions,
despite all the guns and explosions in story after story, nobody really
gets hurt. a car might careen, tumble, and crash, landing upside
down....but the occupants will always be in one piece with just enough
strength to pull themselves from the wreckage and run away before it
explodes.
Unfortunately, after about two dozen really good episodes, The A-Team
itself sometimes falls into the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE formula trap,
grinding out generally interchangeable confontations with generic bad
guys. But even then, its lighter tone manages to save the overall
series, with such touches as unusual guest stars (including Mr. T's chort
from the wrestling circuit, Hulk Hogan, and pop singers Boy George and
Rick James) and in-joke media allusions (for example, Dirck Benedict, who
had previously played Starbuck in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, finds himself
face-to-face with a man dressed in an alien Cylon costume).
For its final season, the A-Team swaps some of its FUGITIVE trappings
(pursuit by the army) for formal entry into the espionage game. After
facing a firing squad, they strike a deal to do some impossible missions
for a rogue government agent, played by Robert Vaughn. This also
provides the setup for a delightful tip-of-the-hat tribute to Vaughn's
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. days, a story called "the Say Uncle affair" (with
guest star David McCallum).
_____________________________________________________________________________
The above is the opinion of the authors not mine (just a little
disclaimer just in case it made anyone upset) Well anyway I hope
everyone enjoys the reading.
Date: Tue, Oct 4, 1994 11:43 PM EST
From: dhamiltn
Subj: A-team parodies
To: Onthejazz
There were two shows that I can remember that did parodies of the A-team.
One was on the Benny Hill show, and was called the B-Team.
The other was on Alvin and the Chipmunks, and was called the C-Team.
Dave's watch was stolen, the guys meet up with Mr. T at a restaurant, and
they
concoct an elaborate scheme to get it back.
My favorite A-Team episodes were "The Road to Hope", the one where they go to
Africa, and the one where they go to some South American country, B.A. gets
hypnotized, and Hannibal utters the immortal phrase "gimme clips", which
breaks B.A.'s hypnosis (under the word "eclipse").
Who played Amy, and what was her last name on the show?
-david hamilton
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Ed. Comments...
>There were two shows that I can remember that did parodies of the A-team.
>One was on the Benny Hill show, and was called the B-Team.
I love the Benny Hill show, but I don't remember seeing this one :-( Must've
been funny. Do you remember the plot at all?
I remember Howard Stern doing a radio parody once in his typical bad
taste. It was called the "AIDS - Team" about 4 gay men going around
infecting as many people as possible. Really bad, even for Howard.
There was an issue of Cracked magazine that did a comic crossing the
A-Team with the Love Boat. I still have it somewhere at home, I remember
it being pretty good (Hannibal lighting his cigar with a flame-thrower, etc.)
Anyone have scanning equipment? I might be able to find it and send it off
to get scanned into a couple jpeg or gif files.
>Who played Amy, and what was her last name on the show?
Her full character name was Amy Amanda Allen (hence the nickname "triple
A"), and the actresses name was Melinda Culea. I haven't seen her in much
of anything since the show -- just a few guest appearances here and there.
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Date: Thu, Oct 6, 1994 8:05 AM EST
From: fwu
Subj: Looking for this episode!
To: Onthejazz
Hi, A-team fans! Perhaps someone here will be able to help me. I've
been looking for a copy on tape of the A-team episode guest-starring Boy
George. If anybody has a quality copy and is willing to tape it for me I
will most definitely reimburse you for your time and the shipping!
Fred Wu
fwu
Date: Fri, Oct 7, 1994 10:41 AM EST
From: larocqu
Subj: Howling Mad
To: Onthejazz
Just a couple of days ago I saw Dwight Schultz in a movie called
"Child of Rage". Dwight played a preacher who with his wife had
adopted two kids. The girl was a homicidal maniac who stabbed her
puppy with needles and pushed her brother down the stairs and mashed
his had into the concrete. Only 7 years old! The movie had a happy
ending though...
|----\___ John P. LaRocque (larocqu)
********]|-----|___\__________
********]|_______>___________/ "There are those who believe
|_____ / that life here began out there..."
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Ed. comments...
John, did you see this or on video or on tv...? Ie, can I probably rent it
at my local video store? And was it fairly recent or old?
