Fans of The A-Team phoned in votes to decide the fate of this substantial episode

This drama-filled episode from season five had a pair of endings scripted. It was up to fans to decide which one was shown.

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Generally speaking, plots to any given episode of The A-Team are pretty straight-forward. 

Someone is usually being harassed, threatened or stalked in some sort of way. Through Hannibal's various disguises, he vets the potential client, sets up a meeting, and the Team agrees to the job. Whether the mission takes place out of the country or in the home-base of Los Angeles, the squad has to prepare for just about anything. We say anything, but we mean gunfights, chases and explosions. 

Though that premise represents just about every episode of The A-Team, a handful goes beyond just the action-packed stereotype. The season five episode "Family Reunion" is a prime example. 

It's Thanksgiving when General Hunt Stockwell, played by Robert Vaughn, strolls in on the Team's holiday preparations. Stockwell was contacted by a former political advisor who offered to trade a diary, which could damage the reputation of some big names in Washington D.C., for a reunion with his daughter. This criminal will hand over his little black book on one condition: The A-Team has to be the group to retrieve it.

This former political advisor and long-time criminal by the name of A.J. Bancroft hasn't seen his daughter in 20 years and is keeping a big secret: He's terminally ill. Bancroft is filled with regret about not seeing his daughter more throughout his life, but that's not the only regret he has. 

Bancroft reveals to Murdock he has a son, one he hasn't seen since he was a boy. That son is said to be Templeton Faceman Peck. A series of intense, back-and-forth exchanges occur between Murdock and the ailing man on whether or not to tell Face this revelation. Because this is a new person to the Team, Murdock has his suspicions on if Bancroft is telling the truth.

To find out, Murdock calls Stockwell and demands he does a DNA test to confirm or deny the match, using Bancroft's little black book as a tool for blackmail. After Bancroft's death, Murdock informs Peck the former political figure was his father. Peck is furious with Murdock, and even throws him to the ground in one of the most heated interactions between Team members throughout the entire series. 

There was still a twist to it all. This occurred as Murdock was awaiting confirmation of the DNA test from Stockwell. This is where the viewers come in.

According to a 1986 article from the Lexington Herald-Leader, viewers "will be able to choose one of two possible conclusions to the episode by calling special 900 prefix numbers... The winning ending will be telecast."

At the end of the episode, Stockwell phones Murdock with the DNA results. This part was going to be in the episode no matter what the fans' final vote was. 

"What the Team doesn't know, and what viewers will have a chance to decide, is whether A.J. Bancroft, the wanted criminal, is really the long-lost father of Templeton Faceman Peck," the article stated. 

Murdock learns the results of the DNA test and tells Face. Can you recall what those results were, and what the fans voted for? Was Bancroft really Templeton Faceman Peck's father?

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21 Comments

Unvmyvdub 22 months ago
I haven't seen the show since I was a kid and I enjoy it just as much now! I try to not miss a single episode. Amazing through all the gun fire and explosions that no one ever gets hurt.
Coldnorth 22 months ago
I’m a big fan of ATeam and I barely remember this episode. In fact I’m not sure if I do remember the whole episode. I even have dvd set. I will have to watch it..,
Coldnorth Coldnorth 22 months ago
I rarely watch the 5th season. I didn’t think that’s how it would end. I have all the seasons on dvd and rarely if ever I watch season 5. I liked Hannibal in charge. Not Robert Vaughn. Now if was played by Mr kuyarian I can’t spell his first name. I probably would have watched. He was eye candy. He still is handsome on NCIS
Cougar90 22 months ago
If I remember right, Murdock found Bancroft with two photographs, one was of his daughter and one was of Peck. It was then he told Murdock the story.
wanderer2575 22 months ago
Am I missing something here? It's like a big secret and they don't want to tell us... but right there in the article it says "Murdock informs Peck the former political figure was his father. Peck is furious with Murdock, and even throws him to the ground..."
JHP 22 months ago
and I bet they all had flip phones too:)
Pacificsun 22 months ago
MeTV Staff Writers, this is a very cool story! Love the backstories whenever available, including how those print articles are referenced.

Wish you would've done a Story on Season 5, Episode 6 though. Are there any print articles chatting about 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 backstory??

I could possibly dredge one up, but wouldn't be as good as your Stories are!! Especially with the images.

I won't spoil the episode for the viewers!
LoveMETV22 Pacificsun 22 months ago
" MeTV Staff Writers, this is a very cool story! Love the backstories whenever available, including how those print articles are referenced.
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Yes....for this particular article it would have been interesting to see the accompanying news clip. I know the phrase they are referencing " According to a 1986 article from the Lexington Herald-Leader", is from that newspaper on the day the episode first aired. However the only thing you can see with an archive search is a few sentences. For this particular story they could have included an image (similar to what they do in some of their quizzes, like retro images of items from decades ago, you get the idea). It's just an image, and it would have been interesting to see it. I don't personally want to subscribe to a newspaper archive service to see an occasional image.
Pacificsun Pacificsun 22 months ago
[image=https://weigel-comments.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/tHadv-1675240565-Promo A Team Background.jpeg]
Andybandit 22 months ago
That must have been cool to vote for the ending of the episode of the A-Team. Now a days you can vote online. I love watching the A-Team.
Mblack Andybandit 22 months ago
But I recall other shows that had viewer voting, though I can't remember what. So kind ofa gimmick, and obviously they had the phone system to do it.
Pacificsun Mblack 22 months ago
Yeah, it was a pretty novel thing to do back in the day. There was actually no interaction with TV then. Viewers and fans must've felt really empowered to be included in their consideration.

Not to burst anyone's bubble though, my hunch is, they already figured out which ending to play. And just wanted the feedback. Those episodes need quite of bit of lead time to go through post production and other details. I'm not sure they could just switch up the endings that easily. I wonder if MASH (another very novel series) tried doing it. The best they could do regarding last minute production, was withholding the last page of the script where Henry Blake never made it home. Were they afraid some of them would've refused to participate, or were they all 100% on board. We'll never know.
FSUWriter Pacificsun 22 months ago
To elaborate a bit on the A-Team's "Family Reunion", two endings were written and both were shot. Production-wise, it was the same location and everything played the same until Murdock hung up with Stockwell. That was where the two endings diverged. The phone calls did decide which ending to use. NBC wanted to try this as a marketing thing so they paid for any overage. However... since the episode aired first on the east coast, then followed the time zones across the country, it was really the east coast calls that made the decision since there couldn't be two different versions across the country. After the fact, though, the majority of all the calls did vote for the ending that was presented.
Pacificsun FSUWriter 22 months ago
😉 Thank you!
I really appreciate you speaking to this event! Very cool you were part of the event at that time, and can recount how it really played out. Haven't yet rerun the DVR'd episode so far, but am now looking forward to enjoying it even more!


How so are you a writer, FSU? Just curious, as I can identify!! 😉

I love the A-Team especially Season 5 for obvious reasons.
FSUWriter Pacificsun 22 months ago
Thanks. Yes, I am a writer (graduated from Florida State University, hence the FSU). I only jumped in to clarify because, well, "Family Reunion" is one of my scripts. 🤠
Bapa1 22 months ago
and in Battlestar Galactica, his long-lost father was played by Fred Astaire.
cperrynaples 22 months ago
Did they say 1968? The A Team wasn't on then and 900 numbers didn't exist! They must have meant 1986, when many shysters made money with that pay-per-call scam!
Pacificsun cperrynaples 22 months ago
They've corrected it.

"There was still a twist to it all. This occurred as Murdock was awaiting confirmation of the DNA test from Stockwell. This is where the viewers come in. According to a 1986 article from the Lexington Herald-Leader, viewers 'will be able to choose one of two possible conclusions to the episode [Family Reunion] by calling special 900 prefix numbers... The winning ending will be telecast.''"

The Fifth season of A-Team is known to be not as popular as the original Four seasons. However the Story referenced was very complicated, and helps to have this explanation. I sort of remember the outcome, but because it didn't make any sense, need to watch the Episode again. Those who do remember, should wait though for 2/3/23 (Ep. 8 Family Reunion).

For the few MFU original fans [still alive] too bad a Story wasn't written about S5 Ep 6. I'd never seen it before, and was shocked.

Since MeTV has run it now for two cycles, and it's the beginning of February, am guessing this is Good-Bye for the A-Team too. One hint comes under the Shows tab when the "Remind Me" button goes away. It hasn't yet, but did for the PM: Movies.
LoveMETV22 Pacificsun 22 months ago
Since MeTV has run it now for two cycles, and it's the beginning of February.
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Was waiting for the Schedule link for two weeks from today 2/13/23. Looks like it is starting back @ episode 1. . So hopefully another cycle @ least.
Pacificsun LoveMETV22 22 months ago
Yay, thank you for looking ahead.

Don't forget the great episodes this week!

... to be continued 😉
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