The A-Team: Season Three

I bought this the day it came out and watched a couple of episodes without incident and then began watching "The Bend In The River" when the problems started. At 1 hour 10 minutes and 43 seconds into the episode right when Hannibal says "sure" the dvd just stopped and went to the main menu. The rest of the episode was missing...it just stopped so I tried it out on two other dvd players I have here and then figured I got a bad copy and went up to the store to exchange it. Well, once I got it home the second one did the same exact thing, so I exchanged it a third time. The third copy actually plays through the episode but freezes for about 5 seconds in the exact same place that the others were messed up. I haven't even gotten to the other 5 DVD's but my assumption from reading the reviews here is that they are going to have problems too.

I can't understand how they release these seasons of the A-Team so painfully slow at Universal and can let something with this many errors reach the stores. In the 10 months since the release of Season 2 could they not have had some type of quality control make sure that the Season 3 DVD's actually played?

This release has absolutely no bonus features unlike the Columbia House collectors edition ones, which have some outtakes and other things. And I have to wonder with this release just like the other two seasons why can they not put chapters in where the commercial breaks are instead of having to fast forward to get back to the spot I left off? Just like Season 2 these are double sided DVD's which scratch very easily and make all kinds of noises in the DVD player, I would have liked 6 single sided DVD's much better. And one last problem is that when you put the DVD you absolutely have to watch the Universal Studios introduction for about 10 seconds because you cannot skip it and access the menu.

There are two good things I can say about this release the first being that it's the A-Team, which is the best television show of all time and this is probably my favorite season. The second good thing is that a coupon is enclosed for $5 off of Season 4 when it gets released. To have released this Season with this many errors and problems on the DVD's is an insult to A-Team fans everywhere who have waited 20+ years to buy this on DVD. Universal needs to recall all of them and issue working copies.

Update: I have just gotten off the phone with Universal and they have said that they will replace the DVD for me and others who are having problems. You can call them at 972-293-5903 or email ushe.consumerrelations@worldmarkinc.com and put A-Team Season 3 replacement in the subject line. I have added a star to my review since they're customer service was friendly and returned my call promptly, but I have still subtracted a star for each trip I have made to the store.

Back in my younger days, I probably would've filled an entire wall of my house with VHS tapes of my favourite childhood TV shows - Knight Rider, Airwolf and, of course, the A-Team. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I can now store the first four seasons in a small corner of my shelf.

Looking at the series through adult eyes, it's absolutely amazing to see just how well this show has stood the test of time. When I was young, I enjoyed the totally implausible but well-mounted action scenes. As an older and wiser man, I enjoy it for the charisma of its four main stars. They all have a sense of fun, camraderie and joie de vivre about life in general that you just don't find in shows nowadays.

It's amazing to see just how popular these shows still are. Like everyone else, I sometimes wish they'd bring shows like this back. Characters like Michael Knight, Stringfellow Hawke, and Hannibal Smith and co. provided some truly great role models that most of todays modern TV shows sorely lack. I wouldn't have grown up to be the man I am today without them.

I'm probably one of the biggest fan of the A-Team ever since I was a little kid and would watch the show each day when reruns were on TV. When I started noticing that DVD's were going to be released from various shows, my first thought was that "Oh I can finally get this on DVD!". Well I have picked up the first three seasons so far and although I'm thrilled to have each of the episodes, I'm dissappointed on another level for a number of reasons. Most of the sets out there are filled with bonus features and rare footage..however we get none of that with any of the box sets that have come out so far and I doubt we will. It's not like this show was on for a few months and got cancelled...it ran nearly 100 episodes on NBC! Wouldn't you think there would be something that would enthuse us fans?!? I have some other gripes about it...but I guess I shouldn't be complaining that much. At least it's out on DVD compared to some other shows that have failed to make it to release yet.