Essentially, Both Melinda (Amy Allen) and Marla (Tawnia Baker) had been brought in by the network and producers to stem comments made by critiques that the show was Sexist, hoping that a female would properly balance the otherwise all-male cast. The stories as to why they where dropped varies quite a bit on this, especially in regards to Melinda. It seems quite definite that she did not get along well with Peppard right from the start "I wasn't to sure about George Peppard at first. Much as you get to know George, he always holds a bit of himself back. He can be very distant. I thought it was my fault at first. Then I realised it wasn't me he's that way with everyone". but there appeared to be no other obvious animosity between her and the rest of the cast members in an article for TV Guide she talked about her fellow cast "I adore him. We've become good friends. He's from Chicago, like me. He's met my parents, and we all get on great". "Dwight and I have become really close. He's not macho at all, and Dirk and I are terrific friends. He's so funny. You just don't expect it. He's hysterical. There's a bit of Cary Grant in him".
At the end of the first few shows Melinda marched in to the writers. "Look", she said to them, "if you can't write the role better you don't need me. You can get any number of young, pretty girls as guest stars for a lot less money than you're paying me. I'm absolutely convinced that Amy should have a stronger part". "But that was as far as we got. The network realized that Mr. T. was really getting a lot of attention. So they started writing scripts around him. Then they started pushing George and the macho bit and then they discovered the kids were really loving the Mad Murdock character so they started writing around him, too".
It seems that Melinda's creative demands as to what she expected from her characther where just to much and eventualy Melinda and her character (Amy Allen) where dropped from the show with her final appearance in the second season episode "The White Ballot" with additional unsupported claims that all four of them ganged up on her and worked on the producers to dump her. The studio claimed that Melinda was never meant to be a full time cast member to begin with.
Marla Heasley was then brought in to replace Culea as a similar assisting character in the second season episode "The Battle of Bel-Air", but with a more fragile and seductive quality to her which maybe added more weight to critiques comments that the show was indeed Sexist.
Marla herslef 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".
Unfortunallty for Marla she got very little screen time in her short run on the show, her character seemed to be disliked by the fans, so she was quickly married away and written out of the show by the 3rd season with her last appearance in the episode "The Bend in the River (Pt. 2)", when the network determined that a female cast member was not necessary.
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