Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1993 | Page 86

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Popular Culture Review

In the 1986-1987 season, the series' creators decided to add some
new elements in an effort to rekindle viewer interest.^® The A-Team
is captured by the government and put on trial; they manage to escape
detention only to find themselves recaptured by a mysterious super
spook, Hunt Stockwell (played by the redoubtable Robert Vaughn).
Stockwell's proposal is simple: the A-Team serves its country by
operating undercover in a few hazardous situations, and all charges
will be dropped. The team gains a Hispanic member, Frankie
Santana (played by Eddie Velez), who works for Stockwell and is an
explosives expjert. Unfortunately, the final season relies on a number
of {patriotic cliches to rack up audience numbers—the Stars and Stripes
are proudly displayed in the opening credits, and several of the
episodes involve Communist adversaries and/or international
terrorists. Reassuringly, these devices only hastened the show's
decline, with NBC cancelling "The A-Team" just as the arms-forhostages scandal was ui^folding.
If "The A-Team" is seen as an emblem of popular culture in the
age of Reagan, then that culture was just possibly more contradictory
and multifaceted than many critics have allowed. While the show
exhibits a discemable bias towards physical conflict and adolescent
humor, it also displays a ready wit and a patriotic but nevertheless
critical attitude towards many of the key symbols and institutions of
the American imperium. Distinctions should be drawn between
different seasons: many of the earlier episodes are quite lively,
while some of the final shows are admittedly rather stale. That the
series works at all is largely a function of the droll characterizations
and dense interrelationships of the four main protagonists. Hannibal
refuses to take himself too seriously. Face is a caricature of himself,
Murdock offers a subversive role model for young viewers, and B.A.
enjoys a certain dignity. Perhaps, as certain critics have argued, the
success of shows like "The A-Team" merely illustrates the subtlety of
the Reaganite ideological project: mild parody in the service of the
revanchist state. But a close reading of the "text" would suggest that
popular culture in the 1980s was a somewhat more complex and
dynamic phenomena than many observers might care to admit.
Several critics have taken exception to Mr. T s muscle-bound
persona. While the implicit paternalism of Hannibal's and B.A.'s
relationship is of course grating, I am also sympathetic to the