Editing The A-Team (section)

===Ratings===
During the show's first three seasons, ''The A-Team'' viewership included an average of 20% to 24% of all American television households. The first regular episode ("Children of Jamestown"), reached 26.4% of the television watching audience, placing fourth in the top 10 rated shows, according to the [[Nielsen ratings]].<ref name="83Nielsen" /> By March, ''The A-Team'', now on its regular Tuesday timeslot, dropped to the eighth spot, but rated a 20.5%.<ref>{{cite news |title= N/A |publisher= United Press International |date= March 30, 1983}}</ref> During the [[sweeps]] week in May of that year, ''The A-Team'' dropped again but remained steady at 18.5%,<ref>{{cite news |title=ABC Special On Slips Tops Ratings, But CBS Wins Week |agency= Associated Press |date= May 3, 1983}}</ref> and rose to 18.8% during the second week of May sweeps.<ref>{{cite news |title=ABC Wins Its Second Week in the May Sweeps |agency= Associated Press |date= May 24, 1983}}</ref> These were the highest ratings NBC had achieved in five years.<ref>{{cite news |title=NBC Hits Highest Mark in May Ratings Sweeps in Five Years |agency= Associated Press |date= May 27, 1983}}</ref> During the second season, the ratings continued to soar, reaching fourth place in the twenty-highest rated programs, behind ''[[Dallas (TV series)|Dallas]]'' and ''[[Simon & Simon]]'', in January (mid-season),<ref>{{cite news |first=Jerry |last=Buck |title=CBS Wins Ratings But NBC Out of Cellar First Time This Season |agency= Associated Press |date= January 10, 1984}}</ref> while during the third season, it was beaten out only by two other NBC shows, including ''[[The Cosby Show]]''.

In the fourth season, ''The A-Team'' experienced a dramatic fall in ratings, as it started to lose its position while television viewership increased. As such, the ratings, while stable, were relatively lower. The season premiere ranked a 17.4% (a 26% audience share on that timeslot) on the Nielsen Rating scale,<ref>{{cite news |first= John |last= Carmody |title= The TV Column |newspaper= Washington Post |date= September 26, 1985}}</ref> but ratings quickly declined after that. In October, ''The A-Team'' had fallen to 19th and by Super Bowl Night had fallen further, to 29th on the night where the show had originally scored its first hit three years earlier.<ref>{{cite news |title= List of Nielsen Ratings |agency= Associated Press |date= January 28, 1986}}</ref> For the remainder of its fourth season ''The A-Team'' managed to hang around the 20th spot, far from the top 10 position it had enjoyed during its first three seasons.

After four years on Tuesday, NBC moved ''The A-Team'' to a new [[Friday night death slot|timeslot on Friday]] for what would be its final season. Ratings continued to drop, and ''The A-Team'' later fell out of the top 50.<ref>{{cite news |first= John |last= Carmody |title= The TV Column |newspaper= Washington Post |date= December 13, 1986}}</ref> In November 1986, NBC canceled the series, declining to order the last nine episodes of what would have been a 22-episode season. The final season ranked 61st with a 12.8 average rating.<ref name="1986-87 Ratings">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1991/08/1986-87-ratings-history.html|title=The TV Ratings Guide: 1986–87 Ratings History}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
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! Season !! Time slot (ET) !! Rank !! Rating<ref name="Brooks and Marsh">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&pg=PA1690 |first1=Tim |last1=Brooks |author-link1=Tim Brooks (historian) |first2=Earle |last2=Marsh |year=2007 |edition=9 |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present |pages=1690–1691 |publisher=[[Ballantine Books]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-345-49773-4 |access-date=2024-07-10 }}</ref>
|-
|[[1982–83 United States network television schedule|1982–83]] ||Sunday at 9:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episode 1)</small><br/>Sunday at 10:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episodes 2–3)</small><br/>Tuesday at 8:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episodes 4–14)</small> ||10 ||20.1 <small>(Tied with ''[[Monday Night Football]]'')</small>
|-
|[[1983–84 United States network television schedule|1983–84]] ||Tuesday at 8:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episodes 1–5, 7–23)</small><br/>Tuesday at 9:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episode 6)</small> ||4 ||24.0
|-
|[[1984–85 United States network television schedule|1984–85]] ||Tuesday at 8:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episodes 1–2, 4–25)</small><br/>Tuesday at 9:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episode 3)</small> ||6 ||21.9
|-
|[[1985–86 United States network television schedule|1985–86]] ||Tuesday at 8:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episodes 1, 3–23)</small><br/>Tuesday at 9:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episode 2)</small> ||30 ||16.9
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|[[1986–87 United States network television schedule|1986–87]] ||Friday at 8:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episodes 1–8, 10–11)</small><br/>Tuesday at 9:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episode 9)</small><br/>Tuesday at 8:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episode 12)</small><br/>Sunday at 8:00&nbsp;pm <small>(Episode 13)</small> ||61<ref name="1986-87 Ratings" /> ||12.8<ref name="1986-87 Ratings" />
|}