I just finished watching the series for the first time in 20 years, and one thing that stuck out to me was the drastic reduction in screen time for Mr. T during the final season after the court martial. He appeared in every episode, but would only get significant lines and screen time at the beginning and climax of most of them. It seemed Frankie replaced him for the majority of each episode. Was this by his choosing or did Peppard have some hand in this?
shareI never noticed.
RIP Wayne 'Trapper John' Rogers. MASH wasn't the same w/o you. RIP Tony Burton. RIP George Kennedy
This is why I hated when Frankie was added with the A Team, he's not an A Team. I hate it when writers do that. They did that with Knight Rider adding RC in season 4
The A Team were better off on their own, just four of them kicking ass.
Agreed. Notice, both shows were cancelled shortly after the new additions.
RIP Wayne 'Trapper John' Rogers. MASH wasn't the same w/o you. RIP Tony Burton. RIP George Kennedy
Agreed. Notice, both shows were cancelled shortly after the new additions.
And yet, i think Season 4 might be my favorite.
RIP Tony Burton. RIP George Kennedy. RIP Doris Roberts. You were wonderful in ELR.
I've been watching on Netflix and I noticed the same thing. It felt like Mr. T wasn't part of the team anymore. It was basically Face and Murdock with Hannibal and and Frankie thrown into the mix every now and then. Made the ending of the series even sadder for me.
Mr. T quitting the show in the middle of one of the seasons probably had a lot to do with the smaller role. Had the show continued, I think there's a good chance B.A. would've been written out. Probably something along the lines of him being shipped off to Chicago to care for his mom.
I am just finishing season 5 and it was still an entertaininf show. The Bond and Uncle episodes were great. I did notice that Mr. T was there less. Face and Murdock had more scenes together and there were not many scenes where T picked on Murdock. But I guess that is because Murdock was now sane.
shareI think their scenes were shot separately, Peppard's and Mr. T's towards the end.
RIP Tony Burton. RIP George Kennedy. RIP Doris Roberts. You were wonderful in ELR.
While some of season 5 was great, Frankie took over too much of BA and Face's jobs. The magic was in the character interaction and that changed drastically. Murdock was sane, Face was disgruntled, BA was background, Hannibal aged 5 years between seasons 4 & 5, Frankie was unnecessary and I've given this way too much thought.
share