The A-Team was successful because it ''scratched an itch'' according to George Peppard
The A-Team proved that explosions could take an episode from "meh" to "Holy smokes, this is awesome."
That's what sets the '80s series apart from earlier action-adventure shows. George Peppard, Mr. T, Dwight Schultz, and Dirk Benedict became the most famous faces on television. With their characters Hannibal, B.A. Baracus, Howling Mad, and Faceman, they became the A-Team: four men on the run, saving lives while trying to prove their innocence.
"What we are playing is a fantasy. That's the key to it," Peppard told the Associated Press in 1983. "The audience knows that we're out for fun. No matter how dreaded the circumstances, they don't have to anticipate anything else but entertainment." The actor added that while none of the members are out looking for trouble, if trouble finds them, it's a date.
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"I would say none of the A-Team is looking for a confrontation, but if they find one, they are not at all displeased. There is something very gratifying (for an audience) about a group of really bad people menacing some poor innocent victim by pulling out a .38, and then our response is to pull out two AR-15 rifles, an M-60 machine gun, and grenades. We're scratching an itch there."
Whether you agree with the star or not, there's no arguing about The A-Team's impact on other shows' ratings at the time, so it clearly filled a void among television viewers.