The Equalizers

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 22: Always a Lady Aired on CBS: May 4, 1988 Directed by: Marc Laub Story by : Scott Shepherd; Teleplay by : Peter McCabe Featuring: Anne Twomey, Joseph Mascolo, Lewis Van Bergen, Susan Gibney, and (possible stunt cast) Rita Jenrette The Equalizer show packs a lot into their season finale: Agency intrigue, flashbacks, past romances, a casino with a back room for the m...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 21: Target of Choice Aired on CBS: April 6, 1988 Directed by: Mark Sobel Written by : Kevin Droney Featuring: Michael Parks, Verna Bloom, John Bedford Lloyd, Kevin Geer, Lenny Venito, Denise Faye, Cecily Adams The penulimate episode of season 3 sees the return of actor's actor Michael Parks as Paul Gray whose family (teenage son and wife suffering from MS) is in dang...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 20: Regrets Only Aired on CBS: March 30, 1988 Directed by: James A. Contner Written by : Robert Crais Featuring: J. Smith-Cameron (Gerri from Succession!), Philip Kraus, Polly "Kiss My Grits" Holliday, Debra Jo Rupp (That 70s Show), Tony Longo We've seen plenty of damsel in distress plotlines, but this one starts at crazy and builds to "What is even going on?" A woma...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 19: Last Call Aired on CBS: March 23, 1988 Directed by: Michael O'Herlihy Written by : Robert Crais Featuring: Joe Maruzzo, Michael Cerveris, James Rebhorn, David Schramm, Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick (Vitamin C), Peter Sellars, Tony Azito Two hooligans take over Pete's, the Irish pub that Robert McCall bought earlier this season. Among the hostages are Mickey and Pete (n...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 18: No Place Like Home Aired on CBS: March 16, 1988 Directed by: Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre!) Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: Michael Rooker, Kelly Curtis, Michael Lerner, Richard Bright, Leo Burmester, Ed Lauter The Equalizer helps out a down-on-their-luck family who needs welfare assistance in the time of Reaganomics. This one surely had people chat...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 17: The Mystery of Manon: Part 2 Aired on CBS: February 24, 1988 Directed by: Bradford May Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Anne Heywood, Lawrence Dane, Melissa Sue Anderson, William Zabka Part two of the final of four Equalizer two-parters. Everyone knows EQ is Yvette's real father, there's a lot of emotional regrouping after that. Then the bad dude that threw M...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 16: The Mystery of Manon: Part 1 Aired on CBS: February 17, 1988 Directed by: Bradford May Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Melissa Sue Anderson, Anthony Zerbe, William Zabka Theoretically the Equalizer audiences in the late 1980s were demanding a) more Mary Ingalls b) of all the areas in EQ's mysterious past we could explore, let's explore more of his past roman...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 15: Something Green Aired on CBS: February 10, 1988 Directed by: Luis Soto Written by : Kevin Droney Featuring: Macaulay Culkin! Almost three years before Home Alone, a seven year old Macaulay Culkin appeared in The Equalizer, his second credit. That in itself is worth the price of admission to watch this episode for free on nbc.com. You can tell he was bound for gre...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 14: Video Games Aired on CBS: January 27, 1988 Directed by: James A. Contner Written by : Peter McCabe Featuring: Vanessa Angel (Kingpin), Daniel Davis (The Nanny), Andreas Katsulas, John Bedford Lloyd, Annabelle Gurwitch This one is the most "Equalizer After Dark" episode so far. From the title, you'd think it was about some sort of criminal enterprise centered arou...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 13: The Child Broker Aired on CBS: January 20, 1988 Directed by: Mark Sobel Written by : Mick Curran Featuring: Sam Rockwell, Frank Whaley, Jerry O'Connell, Anthony LaPaglia, Max Casella, Christopher Collet, Thomas G. Waites, Lycia Naff If absolutely nothing else, just check out that cast list. There's a new gang leader on the dire streets of NYC and he's turning on...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 12: A Dance on the Dark Side Aired on CBS: January 13, 1988 Directed by: Jonathan Perry Written by : David Lightstone Featuring: Amanda Plummer, David Andrews, George DiCenzo, Brooke Smith ("she puts the lotion in the basket") The first episode of 1988 and... it's not off to a good start. There's an undercover cop who gets in too deep and Amanda Plummer, the police s...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 11: Christmas Presence Aired on CBS: December 16, 1987 Directed by: Michael O'Herlihy Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Jacqueline Brookes, Corey Carrier, Don McManus, Dean Norris (!) Possibly the most very special episode in the entire run of the show, the Equalizer (aka Mr. Manhattan) and Harley Gage have to protect a boy who has AIDS from some very concerned da...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 10: The Rehearsal Aired on CBS: December 2, 1987 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: Chris Cooper! Jennifer Van Dyck, George Morfogen, Ned Eisenberg, Sharon Chatten The Equalizer show takes the Broadway musical Phantom of the Opera (which debuted the year before) and makes it its own. No, none of the singing, nor any emotional complexity n...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 9: Inner View Aired on CBS: November 18, 1987 Directed by: Marc Laub Written by : Jim Trombetta Featuring: Katherine Cortez, Terrence Mann, Toni Kalem, Starletta DuPois, Paul Hipp, Ron Vawter, Timmy Cappello We're calling it now, this episode is an instant classic, if anything because it has its own theme song: Shadow Man. A clairvoyant woman helps EQ and Harley Gage...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 8: Shadow Play Aired on CBS: November 11, 1987 Directed by: Russ Mayberry Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: J.T. Walsh, Richard Jordan, Gerry Bamman, Tomas Milian, Paul Calderon To paraphrase the IMDB episode description: "There's a very dense plot concerning a Congressional hearing about a Mafia-funded shadow army overthrowing dictators. And very separately in a...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 7: Mission: McCall: Part 2 Aired on CBS: November 4, 1987 Directed by: Alan Metzger Story by : Ed Waters & Coleman Luck Teleplay by : Ed Waters & Scott Shepherd & Robert Eisele Featuring: Robert Mitchum, Richard Jordan, William Zabka, Boris Lee Krutonog The second in the two parter that answers the question: What will become of Robert McCall in the world...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 6: Mission: McCall: Part 1 Aired on CBS: October 28, 1987 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Ed Waters & Scott Shepherd Featuring: Robert Mitchum, Richard Jordan, Frances Fisher, William Zabka, Frankie Faison We knew it was coming. During the filming of season three, Edward Woodward suffered a heart attack and the show The Equalizer carried on. What we didn't...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 5: Encounters in a Closed Room Aired on CBS: October 14, 1987 Directed by: Jim Johnston Written by : Ann Lewis Hamilton & Scott Shepherd Featuring: Michael Moriarty, Maureen Mueller, Jamey Sheridan We're still in a limbo between the epic first three episodes of season three and when the show has to radically adjust to Edward Woodward's mild heart attack and he ha...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 4: In The Money Aired on CBS: October 7, 1987 Directed by: Aaron Lipstadt Written by : Ed Waters & Scott Shepherd Featuring: John Heard (the dad in Home Alone), Dennis Boukiaris (Better Call Saul), Patricia Richardson, Ashley Crow, Oliver Platt (first credit!), Dennis Steinberg Yes this episode feels a little like a snap back to reality after the epic two parter...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 3: Suspicion of Innocence Aired on CBS: September 30, 1987 Directed by: Russ Mayberry Written by : Robert Eisele Featuring: Vincent D'Onofrio, Ann Wedgeworth, John Randolph, Mark Margolis, a little James Eckhouse So. There's a lot of words to throw around - problematic, of its time, doesn't age well. A few things are for sure. This is a very special episode. The Equa...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 2: Blood & Wine: Part 2 Aired on CBS: September 23, 1987 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Telly Savalas, William Atherton, Moira Sinise Yowza. Once again, they are starting out strong for season three - a two parter airing on the same night, grabbing America by their lapels and saying "We're back and we're not messing around." And it...

The Equalizer Season 3 Episode 1: Blood & Wine: Part 1 Aired on CBS: September 23, 1987 Directed by: Alan Metzger Written by : Coleman Luck Featuring: Telly Savalas, William Atherton, Moira Sinise We are back! And The Equalizer is back for an all new season, number three, and they didn't just go big for their season premiere, they went for an all out television event. All stops have been pulle...

It happened first when the Eagles reunited and it's happening again: Hell freezing over. And in our case it's not because dumptruck full of money pulled up to our front door (ahem, Don Henley). No in our noble case it's a quest for truth, for perspective, and to not be Equalizer snobs. Of course we're talking about watching the 2021 reboot of The Equalizer starring Queen Latifah, now in its third...

We did it before and we're doing it again. While some may rest while they're on season break, we take it as an opportunity - to expand our minds to other contributions to the Equalizer universe, to see what traits of Robert McCall have made it into the movie franchise, which traits from the first movie are strengthened, and overall to watch a great fun movie. From 2018 in all its major motion pict...

The Equalizer Season 2 Episode 22: Re-Entry Aired on CBS: May 27, 1987 Directed by: Aaron Lipstadt Story by : Dennis Manuel, Teleplay by : Scott Shepherd Featuring: John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, David Johansen (aka Buster Poindexter), Joe Morton, and Stewart Copeland himself! Season 2 finale! And it's a doozy. The guest list is a veritable Coen brothers movie / Monsters Inc voice cast. Pre-Roseanne...