The show was occasionally criticized for being sexist. These critiques were based on the notion that most female roles on the show were either a lead-in to the episode's plot, the recipient of Face's affections, or both. The only two regular female members of the cast, Melinda Culea (season 1 and the first half of season 2) and Marla Heasley (the latter half of season 2) did not have a very long tenure with the show.
Both Culea and Heasley had been brought in by the network and producers to stem these critiques, hoping that a female would properly balance the otherwise all-male cast. Culea was fired during the second season because of creative differences between her and the show's writers; she wanted more lines, more action scenes as well as unconfirmed rumours that Peppard said that the series did'nt need a female role. Heasley was then brought in to replace Culea as a similar assisting character, but with a more fragile and seductive quality to her which maybe added more weight to critiques comments that the show was indeed Sexist.
As Marla Heasley recounts in "Bring Back... The A-Team" (18th May 2006), although sexism was not prevalent on the set per se, there was a sense that a girl was not necessary on the show, and she was even approached by George Peppard about it:
"He was really serious. He said: "When you're finished with your make-up, I would like to talk to you. Please come to my trailer." I said: "Okay." So I went to his trailer and he said "have a seat", I said "okay", and then he said: "I just want you to know that we don't want you on the show," he said "We don't want you on the show. None of the guys want you here. The only reason you're here is because the network and the producers want you. For some reason they think they need a girl".
The interview continues with Marla Heasley noting that on her last day of work Peppard took her aside again, saying:
"I'm sorry that this is your last day, but remember what I said the very first day, that we didn't want a girl, has nothing to do with you. You were very professional, but no reason to have a girl".
In an interview with the Sunday Mail (AUS), George Peppard, portraying Hannibal Smith on the show, admitted that he thought that "whenever the studio slips an actress on to the team, she becomes a distraction. She always slows down the action. She's someone who's only there for the glamor shots. Everything stops for the sexy smiles - and I can't see why that's necessary on The A-Team."
In "Bring Back... The A-Team", Dirk Benedict remarked that, indeed, that show was very male driven: "It was a guy's show. It was male driven. It was written by guys. It was directed by guys. It was acted by guys. It's about what guys do. We talked the way guys talked. We were the boss. We were the God. We smoked when we wanted. We shot guns when we wanted. We kissed the girls and made them cry... when we wanted. It was the last truly masculine show".
In two similar interviews in 2007, on the Dutch talk shows Jensen! and RTL Boulevard (both broadcast on May 11, 2007), Benedict remarked again that the A-Team was a guy show, and if it were remade today, it'd would be a lot more feminine, and a more adequate naming would have been be "The Gay-Team".
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