The State of the A-Team

Ain't It Cool News recently reported (via an article in Variety) that John Singleton has left the long-in-development A-Team project. I really can't say whether this is good or bad. News about the project has been fleeting, but it did get me thinking about the potential for the A-Team franchise and the challenges of adapting television shows for the big screen.

Generally TV-adapts have a hard time balancing the two tasks of paying homage to the original series and updating the storyline for a contemporary audiences. For every skillfully executed project, there's a litany of forgettable ones - stuff like the Avengers, the Mod Squad, Starsky and Hutch, to name few. This recent news about the A-Team project has me thinking it will fare no better than this group.

So how do you avoid this? If I had my way, I would take the following steps.

1. Resist the urge to camp it up. Take a serious approach and set the show in a world that an audience recognizes as authentic.

2. The humor ought to be character driven. The cast is one of the show's major strengths. You do not need to stick the crew in silly circumstances to elicit humor.

3. Tell the story that audiences haven't seen before. The one that is established in the show's memorable opening (below)

Go with the origin story... the escape from the maximum security prison. Hold off on the missions and operating via the Los Angeles underground. And I'll say it. You even leave out the iconic van in the first installment.

This movie will come with a great deal of expectations, as a result of the formulaic approach to the show. I just hope the studio sees the value of the A-Team as a franchise. You could reload it sequel after sequel, so long as you don't bury it with a mediocre adaptation.

But as Dennis Miller would often quip, "Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."