I like watching shows that I used to watch as a kid. It's interesting to see television that I last saw as a child through my adult eyes. I'm a lot more cynical these days, although I try to see entertainment for what it is.
The A-Team: Four Vietnam vets, framed for a crime they didn't commit, help the innocent while on the run from the military. They're apparently "soldiers of fortune," but I seldom saw (if ever) cash exchange hands. I guess normally, a group like this would work for drug dealers looking to snuff out competition. They were never really helping out any profitable causes. Orphanages, poor farmers, people that couldn't possibly kick in enough cash to pay for B.A.'s sweet van, nor it's extensive audio/video surveillance equipment. I wrote something once that was a spoof on seventies and eighties decades crime fighting (called "The Genie," in the COLUMNS section above) and one of the elements that I spoofed was the "unexplained" sources of cash that this era of crime fighting seemed to have.
Mr T. as B.A. Barracus made me laugh as I watched an episode last week while I was sick. I mean, they're on the run from the military. Four guys wanted on a federal warrant and one of them is a 250 pound man with a mohawk and $30,000 worth of jewelry around his neck. If I was, say, Face or Hannibal, I'd drop the foo' or have a group meeting about the topic:
Yeah, um, B.A... we wanted to talk to you about the jewelry around your neck. See, we're wanted all over the country. We're keeping a high profile by solving peoples problems. It's not going to be long before someone notices that you resemble that mohawked black guy with 80 pounds of gold on the wanted poster. Maybe tone it down a bit?
I also loved that B.A was the surveillance expert yet he never noticed when the group was slipping him sleeping pills to get him on an aircraft. How'd he get to Vietnam with a fear of flying? It seemed like a lot of the conversations went like this:
A-Team: B.A., we're going to have to fly.
B.A.: I pity the foo' that tries to make me fly!
A-Team: Okay, that's fine. We'll figure something out. Oh, have this glass of milk.
B.A.: Okay, thanks. I like milk.
[B.A. falls asleep.]
You'd think after the 20th time this happened he'd not accept milk pre -poured for him after a request for him to fly.
Don't get me started on Night Rider.
gooch:out
No comments:
Post a Comment