Went back to re-watch "The A-Team" series and it was a mistake

There were a lot of iconic and rather silly shows in the 80's as this was a time period where semi-comedic or even full on comedic action shows were a common thing. When I think back about what my favorites in this genre were I think of The A-Team and The Dukes of Hazzard and recently I was tooling around my streaming settings and noticed that The A-Team was an option so I downloaded the entire first season.

src

"Ten years ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem... if no one else can help... and if you can find them... maybe you can hire... The A-Team."

Just the intro is pretty silly. They "promptly escaped" as in it wasn't at all an issue for them to get out of a secure area. These guys are just capable of doing anything and that is basically what the entire show is about.

They would end up in ludicrous situations and they would always have an answer. They would never even come close to failing. you already knew the conclusion of every episode before it even started, the question was simply who was going to be the bad guys in this particular episode.

src

Not only was this show a massive hit as far as ratings were concerned, since it was a family-friendly show kids loved it as well and they did a lot of merchandising with it. If you are old enough you may even remember Mr. T cereal, which was basically repackaged Captain Crunch.

src

So I was really enthusiastic about firing up this show that was such a huge part of my childhood. I knew the theme song in my head even though I haven't heart it in more than 30 years. This was long before the internet people, so you know I watched it a lot to have that song committed permanently to my memory.

src

The show is just so 80's. You could watch en episode and get a really good idea of what the 80's were all about and how they used rather tame sexuality in order to get eyes on the screens. Girls in bikinis were a regular fixture, and having a muscle-bound mean guy on your team was also something everyone admired. The team complemented on another really well.

There were a lot of gunshots in episodes but since they were trying to keep in family friendly, nobody actually ever got shot. There were explosions but we would see bodies flipping but then the camera angle would show that the people who were thrown by the explosion were ok, because that it totally how explosions work.

So now let's get back to the problem and why it "was a mistake" for me to go back and watch this. Things have changed a lot in 40 years. A show's production value is much better today than it was in the 80's and now this show is just corny and improbable more than it is entertaining. Although it didn't occur to me at the time, the acting is also really really awful especially on the part of Mr. T. I don't think anyone ever accused that man of being a fantastic actor, but he is extremely one-dimensional and even when he was in the Rocky film, he was the same character as he is in every episode of The A-Team. I was only able to make it through about an episode and a half before I started to question why it is that I ever enjoyed that show. Millions of other people did as well.

Keep in mind that the opening trailer is some of the better moments in the show lol.

I think that with this show it is yet another one of those things that is better left in your memories than to go back and watch it again and ruin it. Almost every show that I have ever gone back to watch again has had the same result. There is enough new stuff that we don't really need to do this.

in the mid 2010's there was some talk about rebooting this series with Fast and Furious producers running the creative design. I am quite happy that this fizzled out and never happened and instead we got a film which wasn't terrible but also wasn't great either.

If you have fond memories of The A-Team show like I did, do yourself a favor and just leave them there, it is a mistake to go back and hope to re-ignite that flame. I think you'll find that you will instead extinguish it, the same way that I did.

_{if you want to ignore my advice, the original 1980's show is available on Prime and AppleTV+}