Mr. T

Mr. T plays B.A. Baracus on The A-Team, peak 1980s action cheese with immortal casting. George Peppard’s Hannibal, Dirk Benedict’s Faceman, Dwight Schultz’s Murdock: wrongfully accused commandos, scrap-built tanks, bloodless mayhem. Mr. T is a cultural weather event in the van — gold, a glare, a catchphrase the decade could not quit. I love it when a plan comes together.

Mr. T makes B.A. Baracus a person you can schedule on The A-Team (NBC, 1983–1987). I love it when a plan comes together. Mute B.A. Baracus and The A-Team photographs as a thinner object; that is Mr. T's whole argument. That is the 1980s job on NBC: the 1983–1987 run, B.A. Baracus, Mr. T still in the furniture.

Mr. T gets an honest start at s01e01: Mexican Slayride: Part 1 assembles the plan: Peppard, Mr. T, Benedict, Schultz — wrongfully accused commandos as Friday-night cheese with immortal casting. Mr. T's turn still photographs at s01e02. Mexican Slayride: Part 2 is the two-parter's second hour: I love it when a plan comes together, already a ritual, not a line. Mr. T keeps B.A. Baracus in the house style at s02e11. Steel is a mid-run title that is also the brand: scrap-built hardware, bloodless mayhem, formula as popcorn craft.

Formulaic in the best popcorn tense. Mr. T sells the muscle as a brand and a joke. On TV Flash he is 1980s catalog voltage — the Baracus who made a plan feel like a cartoon with trucks, and the reason the hour still photographs as a weather event instead of a memo about cheese.