The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces who work as soldiers of fortune while being on the run from the military for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by writers and producers Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell. The series was developed as a cross between Seven Samurai (and its western remake The Magnificent Seven) and The Dirty Dozen, with "Mr. T driving the car", at the behest of Brandon Tartikoff, NBC's Entertainment president. blank">"Encore: A Real Kick In the 'A'" @ Entertainment Weekly by Neumaier, Joe. Retrieved on August 17, 2007. Original version published in _Entertainment Weekly (USA), Vol. 1, Iss. 522/523, January 21 2000, Pg. 116, (MG). It also had vague elements of Mad Max.

Despite being thought of as mercenaries by the other characters in the show, the A-Team always acted on the side of the good guys and helped the oppressed. The show ran for five seasons on the NBC television network, from January 23, 1983 to December 30, 1986 (with one additional, previously unbroadcast episode shown on March 8, 1987), with a total of 98 episodes.

It remains known in popular culture for its cartoon-like use of over-the-top violence, supposedly formulaic episodes, featuring the ability to form weaponry and vehicles out of old parts, and its distinctive theme tune. It has been parodied on numerous websites such as Newgrounds and also on television shows such as Robot Chicken, Family Guy and Spaced. The show also served as the springboard for the career of Mr. T, who portrayed the character of B. A. Baracus, around which the show was initially conceived. Some of the show's catchphrases such as "I love it when a plan comes together" and "I ain't gettin' on no plane!" have also made their way onto T-shirts and other merchandise.

Although not directly referenced in the series, the name of the show comes from "A-teams", the nickname for Operational Detachments Alpha (ODA). The US Army Special Forces uses the term ODA for their 12-man direct operations teams.

At the end of their stint in Viet Nam, Col. John "Hannibal" Smith and his team were framed for robbing the Bank of Hanoi (which they had done, but under orders), and sent to a US military prison. They escaped and went on the run, pursued first by Col. Lynch and later by Col. Decker. While on the lam, they became heroes for hire, working as good-guy vigilantes around the US or the world. Hannibal was their leader and an expert at disguises. Face was the team's con artist and lady's man. BA (officially "Bad Attitude") was their mechanic, but also took care of mayhem and intimidation. The final member of the Team, "Howling Mad" Murdock, was an expert pilot, and a certified lunatic--they broke him out of a mental hospital whenever they needed him for a mission. Written by Marg Baskin

During th final days of the Vietnam war, three soldiers were ordered to rob the Bank of Hanoi. However, the man who ordered them was killed and noone else can verify their story. They would be tried and found guilty but after that they escape from the facility where they were being held and went underground in Los Angeles. They then established themselves as Soldiers of Fortune known as The A Team. Their leader is Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith who is a master of disguises and has a penchant for danger, who works as an actor, who takes on roles that require him to wear either heavy make up or a costume. B.A.(Bad Attitude) Baracas has a penchant for striking anyone who rubs him the wrong way and is so afraid to fly that they have to drug to get him on a plane and is also a mechanical genius, and Templeton "Face Man" Peck, who is so good looking that he can charm anyone into giving them what they need. Amy Allen, a reporter, who hired them, convinced them to let her join them. Amy would be written out and she be replaced by Tawnia Baker, who would leave at the start of the third season. H.M. (Howling Mad) Murdock flew for them when they were in Vietnam but was not with them when they robbed the bank, who is so shell shocked by the war that he is confined to a V.A. psychiatric hospital, and Face has to come up with all sorts of excuses to get him released so that he could fly for them. Initially, they were being hunted down by Colonel Lynch, whose facility they broke out of, he would later be replaced by Colonel Decker, who is more aggressive. A few years later, Decker would be replaced by General Fullbright. Eventually the team would be caught by a man named Stockwell, who runs a covert spy network, and who promised them a pardon if they join his team and carry out some (dangerous) missions. Frankie Santana, a special effects man who worked with Hannibal in the movies also joined them after helping them. Written by rcs0411@yahoo.com

In 1971 a special forces A Team, John H. "Hannibal" Smith, Bosco Albert Baracus, and Templeton Peck, led a raid into North Vietnam to rob the central Bank of Hanoi, a raid that succeeded but which landed Smith's A Team in trouble when his CO, Colonel Morrison, was killed in a Red shelling. Smith, Baracus, and Peck were court-martialed in 1972 and sentenced to Leavenworth, but en route to prison escaped into the underground of LA. For the next dozen years they survived as soldiers of fortune, aiding those in trouble in the US or overseas, working with their former pilot, Hector M. Murdoch, who has been committed to a VA psycho ward and who must be broken out via confidence games hatched by Templeton Peck, and also dodging the determined pursuit of the Army, first led by the officer who was to escort them to prison, Colonel Lynch, then by the Army's best troubleshooter in Vietnam, Roderick Decker, an officer who got the job done irrespective of methods or cost and whose methods earned enmity from Hannibal Smith. After three years Decker was replaced by Harlan Fulbright, a General whose own lack of success earned him discharge from the Army but which also allowed him to later hire the team to help him find an Amerasian daughter he previously never knew he had. In 1986 a mysterious freelance intelligence operative, former General Hunt Stockwell, struck a deal with the government whereby he in effect kidnapped the A Team for final court martial and had them executed - a ruse for them to carry out covert missions in exchange for eventual pardon. Written by Michael Daly