Un giustiziere a New York

Amid designer-superficiality like "Miami Vice" and myriad juvenile Glen Larson productions, "The Equalizer" came as a breath of fresh air when first broadcast in 1985. After many years in the wilderness, American studios recognised the intelligence of their audience and produced a well-scripted, well-acted action drama with character, depth and real bite.

The central premise was of a British military officer named Robert McCall who had served the latter half of his career with an American intelligence agency nickednamed "The Company" (although it approximated the real-life CIA) but had grown disillusioned with its methods. The series starts with McCall having resigned and decided to use his espionage, intelligence-gathering and combat skills on a lone crusade to champion the victims of crime, apparently as some form of atonement for his shady past.

But McCall could never fully escape The Company. Occasionally he needed some of its resources to help him tackle the job at hand. While his ex-superior, known only as "Control" (played by Robert Lansing), was sympathetic to McCall's reasons for quitting, he was never fully prepared to let him go, both because of his skills and the sensitive secrets he carried with him. Indeed many episodes saw McCall being drawn back into Company operations. The two men remained friends but their relationship was on a constant knife-edge (and often led to some of the series' best "stand off" dialogue moments).

The first two seasons wrought a tremendous variety in interesting story lines, had good dialogue and the performances of Edward Woodward, his regular co-stars and the often-abrasive interplay between their characters lifted the show further.

Location shooting in New York was used highly effectively and Stewart Copeland's startling, unique musical style lent the show a sparky, effervescent, slightly off-beat air.

The staging of action scenes was reasonable, though would never match the sensational jousts witnessed in Brit series such as The Sweeney and The Professionals. In fairness, though, The Equalizer trod a more realistic path in this respect.

The series' sole fault, during the first three seasons, was that the scripts became rather formulaic. With a few notable exceptions, the plots tended to revolve around a well-established, predictable pattern: McCall would receive a call from some distressed individual being terrorised; they would meet to discuss the problem at hand; McCall would then use his dubious contacts to dig up some dirt on the aggressor, who McCall would then threaten and, ultimately, end up having to kill - though all imbued with a liberal dose of pathos, of course!

The production schedule on the series was frenetic and with most scenes requiring the involvement of Woodward, it maybe shouldn't have been a surprise that he, a heavy smoker, suffered a heart attack during filming on the third season in 1987. Actor Richard Jordan was brought in to lighten McCall's load for several episodes. While a perfectly understandable move, in many viewers' minds it appeared that Jordan was taking over.

By the time of the fourth season Woodward had returned full-time and Jordan was phased out. But a necessary reduction in the strenuous exercise regime Woodward had previously followed meant he was far from the dynamic powerhouse he had once been. The show took on a new direction and embraced socially-sensitive themes. (In one episode a small boy is dying of AIDS and being harassed by frightened, ignorant neighbours.) Although audience rating were not as strong as before, they remained high...

Unfortunately CBS was apparently suffering from internal power struggles and some of its senior staff wanted to launch new series at the expense of existing ones. "The Equalizer" was axed after completing its usual 22-episode production. Neither Woodward nor a huge campaign of public support could convince CBS to change its mind.

The situation for the UK was actually worse. For reasons that have never been clear, proper peak-time screenings (on the ITV network) of the final season stalled after a few episodes. Naturally many Brits assumed the show had been cancelled mid-season. The remaining eventually aired via regional syndication in late-night "graveyard" slots with no publicity. In fact some ITV regions opted out completely, the affected editions being buried amongst repeat runs in the 1990s. It was an astonishing attitide to adopt as the show had actually been even more successful in the UK than its home country! Once can only suppose that denial of a complete network run was due to CBS.

The series had to wait for many years until it was made available on videocassette and even then only nine episodes from the first season were issued. Yet - probably to CBS' embarrassment - repeat runs continued to demonstrate the show's enduring appeal. In early 2008 the first season was issued on DVD in the US and UK. But even then problems continued. The American set has a welcome addition of an audio commentary by the series' creator Michael Sloan but the episodes suffer from several mysterious substitutions of incidental music. The picture quality on the UK set is notably "scratchy" and has been overly compressed for digitisation.

However with efforts under way to launch a movie version in 2009, there is clearly still an audience for this show... and deservedly so.

A very strong series during its initial run and in the occasional burst of reruns that can be found occasionally.

Edward Woodward is a superb actor, and was a sharp contrast to most other private detectives of the day (and indeed, even today). The 80's might as well have been called the "Era of the P.I." with so many series centered around them (Magnum P.I., Simon and Simon, Riptide, even Miami Vice and the other police shows). But Robert McCall was an entirely different kind of detective. He was a seemingly mild mannered Englishman, who dressed sharply and drove a cool Jaguar. He rarely engaged in any kind of physical struggles, yet was probably the most menacing of any television P.I. While the others were jumping onto the hoods of cars and duking it out with the bad guys, McCall's quiet presence and absolute lack of any fear whatsoever was thrilling. The fact that a middle aged man who looks more like a University professor than a detective could look so menacing and literally HARDCORE speaks volumes about Woodward's acting capability.

Probably the best theme music ever written, as well.

The Equalizer-like so many shows from the 80's-is pure class.

It had a very dark premise. Robert McCall was a guy who helped people whose lives were in danger and had no one to turn to. Woodward was very serious and menacing as Robert McCall. McCall may not have been a young man and may not have been capable of jumping onto the top of a van or chasing after the bad guys on foot but he was dangerous. His voice was menacing and he put the fear into every bad guy he ever met. Once he took on an assignment (sometimes for no pay)he would not stop until he finished the job. Many of the bad guys were killed by McCall.

The best thing about this show was the premise. In the 1980's we had a lot of altruistic heroes (such as The A-Team and Michael Knight)who always helped the needy and always put the bad guy away-no matter how much above the law the bad guys thought they were. McCall was always there for people who needed him. That was the great thing about this show. Nowadays on TV, characters are out for themselves and will betray people on a whim, even the good guys. The likes of McCall were not like that-they were caring. No-body could kill them, scare them off or pay them off. They were true heroes.

A former CIA spy (Edward Woodward) is now a private investigator that helps out clients with problems that are beyond the normal authorities in "The Equalizer", one of the better series of its type during the late-1980s. The show went on for five seasons on CBS and did fairly well in the ratings department. There is definitely a hard and dark edge to this series which has been somewhat forgotten over the years but still packs a punch with its adult themes and story lines. Woodward dominated here while others (son William Zabka in particular) came and went in a revolving door of regulars and guest stars. A heart attack suffered by Woodward in real life during the middle of the run looked like it might kill the concept for good, but "The Equalizer" quietly went on without a hitch until it was finally canceled by the network in 1989. 4 stars out of 5.

Discovered The Equalizer on A&E. It had heart and I thoroughly enjoyed the interplay of the characters. I especially enjoyed the character of Jimmy played by Mark Margolis. You got glimpses into his life and wanted to know more. I wish someone would pick up the series again now that A&E has dropped it.