[Trailer] The A-Team

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Not that I wanted/needed blood and gore, but just that it broke my suspension of disbelief to see all those bullets and explosions have no real effect.

You didn't watch much action TV in the late 70s and early 80s, I take it?

That was pretty standard.

 

[Gog]

You didn't watch much action TV in the late 70s and early 80s, I take it?

That was pretty standard.

People would get kicked down a couple flights of stairs and end up with a band-aid on their forhead in the very next scene.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Or they'd practically be in the middle of an explosion (or even blown out of a vehicle by one) and look less shook up than if they bumped their head on a low doorway.

Practically every show that was in syndication when I was a kid was like this, and even a few of the prime time ones.

 

[Bullgrit]

It's it's own genre - you either like it or you don't. Criticising it for being it's own genre is no criticisim: the best you can say is that the genre, as a movie/TV trope, is not your thing.

I'm curious. What is this genre called?

You didn't watch much action TV in the late 70s and early 80s, I take it?

As much as any other kid born in '67.

I'm sorry I didn't like something y'all did. I'm sorry that my reason for not liking it doesn't met your approval. I'm sorry you think my not liking it means it is objectively bad and you are dumb. I didn't mean to insult.

I did like The Six Million Dollar Man. So I'm not totally evil.

Bullgrit

 

[Pbartender]

I'm curious. What is this genre called?

I'd personally view it as sort of the bastard son (or perhaps the red-headed step-child?) of Pulp Action-Adventure. While there's a difference in execution due to the popular culture at the respective times they were written, they both share many of the same tropes.

In fact, when this thread first appeared one of my initial thoughts was, "Hey! Spirit of the Century would work pretty well for a A-Team type of game."

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

As much as any other kid born in '67.

I'm sorry I didn't like something y'all did. I'm sorry that my reason for not liking it doesn't met your approval. I'm sorry you think my not liking it means it is objectively bad and you are dumb. I didn't mean to insult.

Wasn't my point, and I wasn't insulted. Didn't mean to call you out, per se. There are plenty of good reasons to not like the A-Team. I just didn't think that particular objection was A-Team specific. It was sort of decade-specific. Possibly generation-specific.

If those were the only reasons you didn't like the A-Team, there were probably 50 or 60 shows between 1960 and 1990 that would fail to pass muster for the same reasons.

 

[coyote6]

You didn't watch much action TV in the late 70s and early 80s, I take it?

That was pretty standard.

I watched lots of action TV in the '80s, and my memory is that most shows had a much higher bullets-hitting to bullets-fired ratio than the A-Team.

People got shot on Magnum, P.I., Simon & Simon, & the like (even on V, the show where railings and chain link exerted a mysterious attractive force on guns and blasters, extras got shot), and other shows (e.g., the Six Million Dollar Man) didn't have nearly as much gunfire as the A-Team. My friends and I noticed it and mocked the A-Team for it back when it was on. I'm not sure the characters ever said that they were specifically trying not to hit people when they fired.

Heck, they even hung a lampshade on the whole thing in the episode where they were somewhere in the middle of nowhere filming a movie when trouble broke out; the team had no real weapons, and so had to use squibs & other effects from the movie production to pretend to shoot and blow things up. The final product was more-or-less indistinguishable from a regular episode of the A-Team -- except the protagonists all knew it was fake.

(That was one of my favorite A-Team bits, along with Face doing the double-take as the Cylon walks by on the studio lot.)

 

[Felon]

Or they'd practically be in the middle of an explosion (or even blown out of a vehicle by one) and look less shook up than if they bumped their head on a low doorway.

Practically every show that was in syndication when I was a kid was like this, and even a few of the prime time ones.

Not to mention escaping from a speeding vehicle by just leaping out the door pell-nell. Or catching one by bellyflopping onto the hood.

 

[Morrus]

I'm curious. What is this genre called?

"The A-Team". Thus "it's own genre".

I'm sorry I didn't like something y'all did. I'm sorry that my reason for not liking it doesn't met your approval. I'm sorry you think my not liking it means it is objectively bad and you are dumb. I didn't mean to insult.

Let's cut out the passive-aggressive comments, eh? That's not appropriate on EN World. We can all disagree without getting upset at each other.

 

[Bullgrit]

It's fine you not enjoying the concept - some of us do, some of us don't. I find it highly enjoyably personally.

Good for you.

"Suspension of disbelief" is not something to be associated with the A-Team; you're not supposed to believe it, merely to be entertained by it.

I wasn't entertained by it. Whether you think my reason for not being entertained (the show's failure to support my suspension of disbelief) is valid or not is irrelevant.

It's it's own genre - you either like it or you don't. Criticising it for being it's own genre is no criticisim:

I didn't criticize it for being its own genre. Actually, I didn't criticize it at all.

the best you can say is that the genre, as a movie/TV trope, is not your thing.

Well, I said "The A-Team" is not my thing. Whether "The A-Team" is the name of an individual TV show or the name of a genre, "I didn't care for 'The A-Team'" still works as a valid statement.

We can all disagree without getting upset at each other.

This isn't red font, so I'm thinking it's not meant to be a moderator warning. My response: There was no need for disagreement at all. I didn't say the show was bad, I just said I didn't care for it. You essentially told me my lack of care was wrong and for an invalid reason.

Bullgrit