Is it true the women in THE A TEAM were fired because the lead actor wanted an All Male cast?

Submitted by Lili_Danube t3_zy2wmm in television

The A Team is known for being focused on a group of four men but many forget that in the first season, and especially the pilot, they had a female member, Amy Allen played by Melinda Culea, and she was a prominent character on the show, until she got fired, and was replaced by Tawnia Baker played by Maria Heasley. She didn't even last a season.

Both actresses, especially Culea, alleged that George Peppard didn't want a woman to be on the team and that's why they got the boot.

Obviously the all male dynamic is what made the show but I have to say that Amy was a positive member and I liked her. She didn't need to leave, she could have been a recurring character who was like the April to the Teenage Turtles.

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1

knightni73 t1_j23nlth wrote

The premise of the show was members of a platoon who served in Viet Nam together, were accused of committing criminal activities. So, they could add characters to the show, but because they were together in Viet Nam in the same platoon, they would have to be men.

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anasui1 t1_j242a9b wrote

didn’t know about that, but it wouldn't surprise me if true

8

Roook36 t1_j24ck96 wrote

I had to look back in my podcast and YouTube history because I know I'd heard this discussed. Secret Galaxy talks about it at around the 9:14 mark. Supposedly a lot of it came from Peppard who didn't want a woman on the show

https://youtu.be/l-CsopsdkXs

38

mg_ridgeview t1_j24ksc1 wrote

I think this was pure and simple 1980s sexism, sadly. There was no reason the A-Team couldn't have had some females in their group to keep it from being a sausage fest. I think it was incredibly unfair to hire those actresses and then drop them like a sack of potatoes because of one (or more) chauvinistic people on the show.

−22

AgentElman t1_j24l56t wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,149,701)

If you think that's bad - release a movie without men in the main cast and see the uproar that results. Ghostbusters, Ocean's 8, etc.

Suddenly not having representation matters when it is men not being included.

13

datarulesme t1_j24lclz wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,149,701)

All i was saying was that it would be possible for women to be in the show, because of this fact. Your original statement accounted for getting rid of the women in the show because women weren't in the Vietnam war; they were so that's not a logical reason anymore... they could've connected her to the platoon via some historically accurate role played by women in the war ? Just a conversation pls don't go off

−4

Tradman86 t1_j24od8b wrote

Somewhat.

Peppard didn't want Amy around, but Benedict said he was fine with her. She probably could have been able to stick around, but when the actress pushed to be more involved in the gunfights, none of the other cast supported her (b/c women shouldn't be fighting or something, idk). So she wasn't so much fired as just got fed up and left. I don't blame her, but just want to be clear, she wasn't fired, she quit.

On the other hand, Culea was definitely fired b/c of Peppard, but they at least gave her fair warning and wrote her out smoothly.

32

TrophyDad_72 t1_j24t9mz wrote

My thoughts are the same for the criticism of a non diverse Friends cast - it was a product of its time and it worked. Both were hits. So there. Not everything needs to make a statement sometimes just being entertained is enough.

6

sweetpeapickle t1_j24zmks wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,149,701)

You do understand they are human beings as well? It's not being "woke" just because these are characters. They're showing up more, because they were not used like they should have been in the past. Being regulated to the slave, the maid, non-existent sexual preference, etc means being underused because they were deemed lower by some people.

17

Mr_MacGrubber t1_j254a0r wrote

Replying to datarulesme (#1,148,863)

They weren’t serving in combat roles. Unless the “crimes” the A Team committed were falsifying supply or medical records, it doesn’t fit that a woman would’ve served with them in Vietnam.

41

Yourbubblestink t1_j256rq9 wrote

Replying to nmirandag_hn (#1,149,179)

I mean I care about you, so I want to give you this feedback lol when you use the term woke you identify yourself as an teump/maga/densantis drone.

That leaves the rest of us watching somebody who appears to be stupid, referring to somebody else as woke. The whole thing is laughable.

19

North_South_Side t1_j258nux wrote

Replying to TrophyDad_72 (#1,151,625)

Friends wasn't heavily criticized for having a core cast of white people. It's that they lived in NYC and almost everyone who ever appeared on the show was white—with a few exceptions.

NYC is not all that white.

33

cthulu0 t1_j25kcsr wrote

As an A-team connoisseur, she really wasn't exactly part of the team. She was more like an outside consultant, acquaintance, bringer-of-business to them, person-to-be rescued etc.

As far as I can tell, Tawnia was hired for the sex appeal, while Culea would later play and androgynous flat-chested alien and Rikers' love interest in that one fucking weird Star Trek:TNG episode.

That being said, I agree that I sort of missed her on the show.

50

OneGoodRib t1_j25m4zc wrote

Replying to Delicious-Tachyons (#1,155,802)

Why the downvotes? Is it NOT the fault of the casting director and the tv executives when a show has a lot of white people? Whose fault is it when a show only casts white people, then? Is it Jennifer Aniston's fault?

−1

StephenHunterUK t1_j25r7a5 wrote

Replying to the_great_ashby (#1,157,732)

Not counting OSS operatives (a role which could involve combat and certainly a high risk of death), generally not for the US. They tended to do stuff like secretarial work, communications, nursing and other stuff that would not put them into direct contact with the enemy. Unless the enemy showed up at the base. There were eight servicewomen killed in action.

A lot more for both Vietnams, but the records aren't great: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Vietnam_War

Things didn't really start changing until the 1990s, with female fighter pilots in particular.

5

Lili_Danube OP t1_j25sxlr wrote

Replying to cthulu0 (#1,157,145)

The thing is, Culea's Amy was a good character. She wasn't too big to overshadow the boys but was a nice counterpoint to them. It does seem like she wanted to do more and that became an issue butI do feel the show missed out by letting her go. She reminded me of Stephanie Zimbalist from Remington Steele.

27

metametapraxis t1_j25w6ff wrote

Replying to AgentElman (#1,150,058)

I think most of the backlash against those movies (particularly Ghostbusters) was that they were absolutely terrible movies.

GB, for instance, didn't fail because of sexism -- it failed because of absolutely horrible writing and performances.

−2

kazh t1_j25y983 wrote

Replying to TrophyDad_72 (#1,151,625)

Friends worked because it had to work. That formula was all there was to watch when the tv was on unless you wanted to hang around for obscure hours to catch Living Single or other stuff.

−1

Kjh007 t1_j26t7am wrote

Are we canceling A team now because of gender inequality?

−4

Silver-Hat175 t1_j2cdghv wrote

Thank you for reminding me that Ms Culea was my first childhood tv crush!

1