List of The A-Team Characters - Additional Team Members

Additional Team Members

• Melinda Culea as Journalist/Reporter Amy Amanda "Triple A" Allen (1983)

Amy Allen was an intrepid reporter for the L.A. Courier paper who joined the team in its pilot episode. At the end of the pilot, Hannibal comments on how her initials are "Triple A", but while much of the publicity surrounding the series used this name, it was never really used again in the show itself, with a company set up by the Team in the first season episode "The Out-Of-Towners" called 'Triple-A's' being its only other appearance in the actual series (and even this was only referenced visually, with no acknowledgement to it in the dialogue). The character's boss is Grant Eldridge (Philip Sterling), seen in the first half of the pilot, and in the first season episode "Holiday In The Hills". Amy has a best friend at the Courier, Zach (Ron Palillo), although he is only seen in the pilot and never referred to again. Amy was written out of the show in the middle of the second season, as a result of a conflict between Culea and the production team. After being featured prominently in the pilot story, the character had little impact in many of the following episodes, causing Culea to become increasingly unhappy with the role and wanting more to do, such as taking part in the Team's frequent fights with bad guys. It's also said that the fact that George Peppard didn't like her, feeling that the show didn't need a female lead, also had an effect. There are conflicting reports over whether Culea eventually left of her own accord, or if she was fired as a result of her continual pushing for more to do in the show. The latter is the more commonly accepted reason, and an oft-cited tale is that Culea found out about her firing when she was given a script and found out she was not included in the episode. In replacement Tawnia Baker's first episode, "The Battle of Bel Air", Amy is reportedly "on foreign correspondent duty" in Jakarta.

• Marla Heasley as Journalist/Reporter Tawnia Baker (1984–1985)

Tawnia (misspelled as Tanya on a computer screen in the character's introductory episode "The Battle Of Bel Air") was a relatively short-lived second-season replacement for Amy during late 1983 – early 1984. She was also a reporter who had heard of the team through Amy and helped the A-Team out a few times, although she never fully incorporated herself into the team, as Amy had done (reflected by the fact that she was never added to the opening credits, and was not present in two stories, "Harder Than It Looks" and "Semi-Friendly Persuasion", during her time in the series). The character was dropped in "The Bend In The River", the feature-length second story of the third season, again said to be much to do with Peppard's insistence that the show didn't need a female character, but was given the dignity of being written out properly, as she married explorer Brian Leftcourt (Barry Van Dyke), whom the Team had rescued from river pirates in the Amazon, and went on a round the world all expenses honeymoon. Marla Heasley had appeared in a small role previously in the second season, as Cherise in the episode "Bad Time on the Border".

• Tia Carrere as Tia (1986)

Tia was the half-Vietnamese daughter of latter 4th season antagonist General Fulbright. She was inducted into the team in "The Sound of Thunder", the finale to season 4, after the death of her father and her own wanted status in Vietnam and illegal status in the US. However, Carrere's contractual obligations to General Hospital, made during a period when 5th season renewal for the series was uncertain, led to Tia vanishing from the story with no explanation or further mention.

• Eddie Velez as Frankie "Dishpan Man" Santana (1986–1987)

Frankie Santana was a Puerto Rican special effects expert who helps the A-Team during the final season. He was blackmailed into joining the team by Gen. Stockwell after he and Murdock helped the team escape the firing squad. The character's early script name was Frankie Sanchez, which filtered through to a number of coverage material. The character was also often given the nickname "Dishpan Man" (or simply "Dishpan") in much of the series' coverage, but while he was introduced as this in the fifth season opener, itself called "Dishpan Man", this nickname was very seldom used afterwards in the actual series.