*"The A-Team" aired 5 seasons (1983-1987) on NBC, mostly on Tuesdays, though it began as a Sunday show and ended as a Friday show.
*While the first "regular" episode aired after Super Bowl XVII (Washington 27, Miami 17), the two-hour pilot premiered a week earlier on January 23, 1983.
*Showdown! is the ninth episode of season 3. It premiered Tuesday, November 20, 1984, at 10:00 P.M. on NBC., likely up against AfterMASH and E/R (CBS) and Foul-Ups, Bleeps, and Blunders and Three's a Crowd (ABC).
*Here is the Broadcasting & Cable article we mention with the explanation of the pitch from Brandon Tartikoff that launched the show. The relevant paragraph Mike quotes on our podcast:
“Brandon's pitch was very strange,” Cannell remembers. “He said, 'Have you seen The Road Warrior with Mel Gibson?' I said yeah, Mad Max. He said, 'Yeah, but the idea, it's not that. Have you seen The Dirty Dozen?' I said, yeah, Lee Marvin. 'Well, it's kinda that, but, like Road Warrior, it's kinda not that.' And he said, 'You know that guy Belker on Hill Street Blues?' I said, yeah, the cop that bites everybody at the booking desk? He said, 'Yeah, he could be in this show. And you remember Mr. T from the Rocky movie?' And I said yeah. And Brandon said, 'Well, he drives the car.' And that was the pitch.”
*The British show Mike references is Bring Back the A-Team (1986), one of a series of specials trying to reunite casts of various movies and TV shows.
*Foul-Ups, Bleeps, & Blunders lasted 1984-1985 on ABC. The show it ripped o--uh, followed, NBC's TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, lasted until 1986 as a weekly series but then survived as a series of specials.
*The fifth season of The A-Team was a massive flop. The big-screen version (2010) was a critical failure and an overall commercial disappointment.
*Boy George appeared in season two's Cowboy George, one of the series' better-known episodes.
*For more on Mr. T, check out our look at Silver Spoons in season 2. Come for T, stay for P--John P. Navin, Jr., that is!
*Mike and I are not mercenaries, but we do take listener requests...for free! If you have a request, if no one else can podcast about it, and if you can find us, maybe you can get BOTNS to talk about your favorite show. Thanks for a great fifth season, everyone!
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