Thundarr...I was actually gonna say, the only time anyone ever got shot on the A-Team was when one of their own got injured by gunshot...but thought that was besides the point...but aye, i did not recall that ep with the Colonel getting shot dead, so y'know, that is *one* instance.
I have only seen s1 and 2 in recent times.
I'm sure Hank shoots the creature Venger turns into at the end of 'The girl who dreamed tomorrow' directly with his energy bow, and he shoots the zombie creatures (c'mon, they count as alive) directly as well, in that ep 'prison without walls'. So, maybe there are a couple more you missed, I dunno.
edit: He also shoots the wizard who is transformed into that 'Man-thing' type creature.
but, as i was saying, the rating board would have also included the violence perputated by the villans and creatures in the show . . . so you have Venger shooting deadly energy bolts all the time, blowing stuff up, he almost killed Uni one time when he hit her . . . and you have Orcs whipping those dwarf slaves in the mines . . . and y'know various acts of violence done by the villans throughout the series when we see them fighting and causing havok.
I wasn't saying you were wrong, I did say to you this morning, that possibly they were being stupid and overprotective, but I am also saying, there was violence in the show that you are not taking into account.
so, yeah, lot of non-lethal violence, like A-Team etc, but i guess that was par for the course back then with tv guidelines, so you have to weigh the non-lethal violence into that statement.
Personally, I consider any non-sentient undead, such as zombies or the skeletons in
The Dragon's Graveyard, as nonliving opponents. Thus, by the "laws of TV violence" at the time, direct violence against them is allowed (like the robots in
Thundarr,
He-Man, and
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
As for Hank shooting Venger, it had been established throughout the show that Venger is virtually invulnerable himself. He often catches the magical bolts out of thin air, or deflects them with a wave of his hand. And the creature he had turned himself into at the end of
The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow was similarly immune to the weapon, if not more so.
And as for the "Swamp-Thing" type creature that Venger had turned the gnome wizard into, every time Hank shot it with his Energy Bow, it got stronger. That puts it into the "can't hurt it" category.
Venger's attacks against The Young Ones could certainly be considered violent, as could Tiamat's, and some of the random monsters they encounter in various episodes (the hydra in
The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow, the sea creature in
The Garden Of Zinn, and the demon queen in
The Child Of The Star Gazer, come particularly to mind).
As for the attacks of the orcs, bullywugs, lizardmen, etc? What attacks? They never get close enough
to attack. Hank, Bobby, and Diana pretty much take them out before they get within weapons range. Those that do get within weapons range try and attack Sheila and Eric, one of which they can't see, the other they can't touch (Eric's Griffon Shield puts him in the "invulnerable opponent" category, making physical attacks against him allowed). And even if they are within weapons range, they always try and grab The Young Ones with their hands rather than attacking with their weapons.
And the orcs never actually whip any of Venger's slaves. They in fact crack the whips above the slaves heads. While it suggests that the slaves have been whipped before, they don't actually show anyone getting flogged.
I suppose I could concede that the NCOTV was looking at the violence of the villains as well as that of the heroes, but labeling it "the most violent show on television" I think is a little extreme. Especially since, as I stated before, there were far more violent programs on TV at the time.
