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The Equalizer
1985 - 1989 7.2 (59 votes) 4 Seasons
Genres
Action & Adventure Crime Drama
Networks
CBS
Created By
Richard Lindheim
Michael Sloan

The Equalizer

If the rules are against you he'll change them. If the odds are against you he'll even them.

Overview

Robert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself as "The Equalizer." It is a service for victims of the system who have exhausted all possible means of seeking justice and have nowhere to go. McCall promises to even out the odds for them.

Key Crew

Producer: Marc Laub

Top Cast

Edward Woodward
Edward Woodward

Robert McCall

Seasons

Season 1 poster
Season 1 (1985)

No overview available.

22 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Pilot: The Equalizer
1985-09-18

A former government agent offers his services to people facing problems too big for them to handle, such as a woman being stalked by a psychopath and a man who learns of a blackmail scheme involving government officials.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 2: China Rain
1985-09-25

McCall comes to the aid of a housekeeper when kidnappers grab her son by mistake.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 3: The Defector
1985-10-02

McCall helps a double agent defect and a young boy stand up to bullies.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 4: The Lock Box
1985-10-09

McCall helps a man whose daughter has been abducted by a pimp who services covert government operations.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 5: Lady Cop
1985-10-16

A crooked cop is willing to murder to ensure that his new partner won't blow the whistle on his operations.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 6: The Confirmation Day
1985-10-23

McCall helps a former showgirl convinced someone is stalking her and a boy whose father helped steal antiques now wanted by two separate parties.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 7: The Children's Song
1985-10-30

Father and son protect a girl from would-be rapists intent on killing the only witness to a murder.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 8: The Distant Fire
1985-11-06

A hit man wants help to prevent another killer from murdering a woman both McCall and the hitman once loved.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 9: Mama's Boy
1985-11-13

A career woman wants McCall's aid in ending her son's fascination with a charismatic drug dealer.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 10: Bump and Run
1985-11-20

Muggers seek revenge on a student who injured one of them while escaping, and a vigilante killer pins McCall's ad to his victims.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 11: Desperately
1985-12-04

A lonely, neglected wife gets more than she wanted when she considers a fling and ends up witnessing a murder.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 12: Reign of Terror
1985-12-11

The new doctor at a local clinic refuses to give gang members drugs as `rent' for using their turf.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 13: Back Home
1985-12-18

A banker is harassing tenants of a potentially valuable property and planning to murder his wife.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 14: Out of the Past
1986-01-15

An ex-con is harassing the man whose testimony put him away-the man now married to McCall's former wife.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 15: Dead Drop
1986-01-22

McCall assembles some old friends to protect a man marked for murder for no apparent reason.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 16: Wash Up
1986-01-29

A window washer witnesses the murder of his pro-union partner by their anti-union boss, who has his own witnesses to back his self-defense claim.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 17: Torn
1986-02-05

McCall tries to divide his time between defending a woman from her abusive husband and settling with an old enemy.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 18: Unnatural Causes
1986-02-12

McCall's on the trail of a serial killer, leaving him little time for an actress fallen into the wrong crowd.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 19: Breakpoint
1986-02-19

McCall is among those taken hostage by terrorists seeking a Middle Eastern philanthropist.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 20: No Conscience
1986-03-05

A womanizer is abducted and threatened with death if he doesn't give his captors what they want-but he can't figure out what.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 21: Unpunished Crimes
1986-04-01

McCall is hired by an inventor whose designs were stolen by a huge corporation headed by a ruthless executive.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 22: Pretenders
1986-04-08

An aspiring reporter, desperate for a scoop that will get her notice and a promotion, becomes convinced that something big is happening right in the next apartment.

Runtime: 48 min
Season 2 poster
Season 2 (1986)

No overview available.

22 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Prelude
1986-10-08

Men working for a dictator McCall helped put into power kidnap an American journalist.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 2: Nocturne
1986-10-15

A blind music critic asks for help when she hears the voice of the man who raped her years before.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 3: A Community of Civilized Men
1986-10-22

McCall comes to the aid of a woman who's being squeezed to pay off her late husband's debts.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 4: Joyride
1986-10-29

Two boys drive off in a hearse; not knowing it contains a coffin full of crack.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 5: Shades of Darkness
1986-11-05

McCall helps a National Guardsman who faces a murder charge and threats from the real killer.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 6: Nightscape
1986-11-12

A rape victim asks McCall to stop her husband from tracking down her attackers.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 7: Counterfire
1986-11-19

The odds are against McCall when he's framed for the murder of a blind man.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 8: The Line
1986-11-26

The mother of a youth killed while being harassed by an overzealous citizen's patrol appeals to McCall for help.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 9: Tip On a Sure Thing
1986-12-03

A bookie that doesn't like the odds on a race kidnaps the son of the jockey and demands the father throw the race.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 10: The Cup
1986-12-10

Father Kostmayer hears the confession of a Polish agitator moments before he's gunned down.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 11: Heartstrings
1986-12-17

A woman asks McCall for help recovering her kidnapped newborn son.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 12: High Performance
1987-01-07

A construction worker becomes both witness and target when she sees a murder and is spotted by the killer.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 13: Beyond Control
1987-01-14

Control becomes McCall's client when a KGB agent who infiltrated a think tank is murdered.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 14: Carnal Persuasion
1987-01-21

A wife appeals to the judge sentencing her husband and is offered her husband's freedom for sexual favors.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 15: Memories of Manon (1)
1987-02-04

Control's goddaughter is threatened with the death of her father, a Canadian agent, unless she can reveal his informant. Then with little time left, McCall tells Kostmayer of his personal reasons for wanting to save Yvette and her father.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 16: Memories of Manon (2)
1987-02-11

Control's goddaughter is threatened with the death of her father, a Canadian agent, unless she can reveal his informant. Then with little time left, McCall tells Kostmayer of his personal reasons for wanting to save Yvette and her father.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 17: Solo
1987-02-18

McCall gets involved romantically and professionally with a woman wanted in Pennsylvania for killing a cop.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 18: A Place To Stay
1987-02-25

A young girl runs away from her quarreling parents and into the hands of a child pornographer.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 19: Coal Black Soul
1987-05-06

McCall is torn between a lovely psychiatrist and a man who calls and says he can't stop himself from murdering women.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 20: First Light
1987-05-13

While McCall is testifying in Washington, Scott tries his hand and looks for thugs harassing a local merchant.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 21: Hand and Glove
1987-05-20

Nightmares become a reality for an invalid woman when a threatening figures from her dreams appears in her room.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 22: Re-Entry
1987-05-27

McCall helps a young boy whose father was tricked into committing a crime.

Runtime: 48 min
Season 3 poster
Season 3 (1987)

No overview available.

22 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Blood & Wine (1)
1987-09-23

McCall and a former terrorist, now a monk, are both searching for the monk's former partner, a terrorist who uses plastic surgery after each assignment to keep ahead of his enemies.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 2: Blood & Wine (2)
1987-09-23

McCall and a former terrorist, now a monk, are both searching for the monk's former partner, a terrorist who uses plastic surgery after each assignment to keep ahead of his enemies.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 3: Suspicion of Innocence
1987-09-30

McCall regrets persuading a young retarded friend of his into going to the police after he witnesses a murder; he's arrested for the crime.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 4: In the Money
1987-10-07

The trading on Wall Street gets a little rough; McCall and Mickey pull a half-drowned woman from the river after she gets in the way of some ruthless manipulators.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 5: Encounter in a Closed Room
1987-10-14

McCall tries to help a European defector free her parents from the KGB, who have kidnaped them to exert pressure on her to persuade another defector to return to their homeland.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 6: Mission: McCall (1)
1987-10-28

Scott discovers that his father has been kidnapped by someone, and following his father's instructions, contacts an old Company colleague, Richard Dyson, who sets things in motion to find out who has McCall and to get him back.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 7: Mission: McCall (2)
1987-11-04

Scott discovers that his father has been kidnapped by someone, and following his father's instructions, contacts an old Company colleague, Richard Dyson, who sets things in motion to find out who has McCall and to get him back.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 8: Shadow Play
1987-11-11

McCall helps a fellow Intelligence officer stay alive despite someone's efforts to keep him from talking to a Congressional committee.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 9: Inner View
1987-11-18

A psychic can't convince the police that she has `seen' the next attack of a serial killer, so she turns to McCall for help in preventing it.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 10: The Rehearsal
1987-12-02

McCall and Kostmayer are caught with an acting company rehearsing a new work when a psychopath boobytraps the theater exits with bombs.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 11: Christmas Presence
1987-12-16

McCall asks Harley to help him handle a request for help from a six-year-old AIDS victim who is living with his grandmother and facing increasingly violent harassment from the frightened and angry neighbors.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 12: A Dance on the Dark Side
1988-01-13

A police station switchboard operator overhears a detective discussing the murder of his former partner and goes to McCall for help when she receives threats to keep her quiet.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 13: The Child Broker
1988-01-20

A young woman asks McCall to help her boyfriend break away from the control of a junior Fagin.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 14: Video Games
1988-01-27

A reporter's wife asks McCall to find her husband, who has disappeared while working undercover on a call-girl operation involving blackmail and the death of his daughter.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 15: Something Green
1988-02-10

The ex-wife of a European diplomat asks McCall to help her retrieve her son from his father before he can leave the country with the boy and $10 million in mob money.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 16: The Mystery of Manon (1)
1988-02-17

Yvette Marcel asks her godfather Control and McCall for help dealing with her irrational father, who is intent on locating Manon, the mother she believed had been killed years before.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 17: The Mystery of Manon (2)
1988-02-24

Yvette Marcel asks her godfather Control and McCall for help dealing with her irrational father, who is intent on locating Manon, the mother she believed had been killed years before.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 18: No Place Like Home
1988-03-16

McCall comes to the aid of a recently dispossessed man and his family who has been moved in a welfare hotel and is facing pressure from the landlord to take part in his welfare scams.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 19: Last Call
1988-03-23

A rapist being hunted by a mob assassin takes hostage Kostmayer, Pete and several customers.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 20: Regrets Only
1988-03-30

A young woman trying to start her life over faces continuing harassment from her upscale, professional husband who won't let her go but who is smart enough to conceal his activities.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 21: Target of Choice
1988-04-06

A man fears for his life and that of his family when the murderer he helped put away is paroled and turns up living in his neighborhood.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 22: Always a Lady
1988-05-04

McCall's former protege at the Agency calls in a panic when she is apparently framed for the theft of a large amount of money from her gangster employer, but he arrives too late to save her life.

Runtime: 48 min
Season 4 poster
Season 4 (1988)

No overview available.

22 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Last Campaign
1988-10-26

The aide to an ambitious candidate for state senator discovers that her boss is blackmailing the incumbent into endorsing his candidacy.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 2: Sea of Fire
1988-11-02

A desperate high school principal calls on McCall for help in combating the gang responsible for the rape of a girl in the school gymnasium.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 3: Riding the Elephant
1988-11-09

McCall helps a Thai boxer and his girl friend extricate themselves from the clutches of a racketeer with old connections to McCall's former employers.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 4: Eighteen With a Bullet
1988-11-16

McCall and Mickey try to help a young rock singer escape from her greedy, immoral manager.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 5: The Day of the Covenant
1988-12-07

Scott learns first hand about the anti-apartheid movement when his girl friend becomes the target of a zealous Afrikaner who believes she's a terrorist.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 6: Splinters
1988-12-14

Mickey Kostmayer is captured when a Company operation fails, and he's turned against McCall using drugs and torture.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 7: The Making of a Martyr
1989-01-11

A gun control advocate whose husband was crippled by a stray bullet seeks McCall's help when she receives threatening phone calls.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 8: The Sins of the Father
1989-01-18

McCall reluctantly agrees to help the wife of a mobster find her kidnapped son, who's a pawn in a game of revenge against his father.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 9: The Visitation
1989-02-01

McCall's reunion with a former lover is interrupted when her medical skills are needed to deal with a deadly virus being carried by a pair of thugs responsible for killing an international arms dealer.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 10: Past Imperfect
1989-02-15

An international crime cartel tries to use a man's estranged son against him when the man refuses to honor their wishes.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 11: Trial By Ordeal
1989-03-01

McCall becomes the defense counsel when a Company tribunal on charges of treason tries Control.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 12: Silent Fury
1989-03-08

McCall tries to help a young woman who is one of the victims of a series of robberies directed against the deaf community.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 13: Lullaby of Darkness
1989-03-30

McCall tries to help a woman and her daughter escape from her abusive husband.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 14: 17 Zebra
1989-04-06

McCall investigates when a mission worker tells him about several winos who have died from heart attacks enroute to the hospital in paramedic ambulances.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 15: Starfire
1989-04-13

McCall tries to help a girl and her friend, a confused man who claims to an extraterrestrial being hunted by killers.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 16: Time Present, Time Past
1989-04-20

Scott is kidnapped along with a former Bulgarian agent McCall helped to defect ten years earlier, and later undergoes his baptism into his father's world when he accompanies a team trying to rescue the man.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 17: Prisoners of Conscience
1989-04-27

McCall's search for a kidnapped Chilean poet gets very intense when he learns the kidnapper killed his father many years ago.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 18: The Caper
1989-05-04

A cleaning woman works at cross-purposes to McCall as she tries to solve a murder she witnessed.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 19: Heart of Justice
1989-05-11

A bitter man tries to get revenge on the men who brutalized his wife but he calls McCall when someone else gets them first.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 20: Race Traitors
1989-06-11

McCall answers a call for help from Kostmayer's old neighborhood, where a racist group is harassing a black family.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 21: Endgame
1989-08-10

McCall helps two sisters whom are the victims of a revenge that has been plotted by a master strategy game player.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 22: Suicide Squad
1989-08-24

McCall comes to the aid of a college student who's lost his athletic scholarship and fears disappointing his parents, and turns to drug dealing as a way to make the big money they expect.

Runtime: 48 min

Videos

The Equalizer, Complete Collection Excerpt

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