The Equalizer

1 9 8 5 - 1 9 8 9 (USA)
88 x 60 minute episodes

Robert McCall was The Equalizer. He had worked for a CIA-like organization simply called "The Company" and now applied his skills and training to help people who had nowhere else to turn. McCall had grown disillusioned by all the double-dealings he had seen over the years. Now retired, he wanted to use his skills to help people who found themselves facing hopeless situations.

Operating his one-man business from a plush Manhattan apartment, he found his clients through advertisements he would place in the Classifieds section of local newspapers asking people in dire straits to contact The Equalizer. 

Seeking to do good - to make up for the dirty-doings in his earlier career - he often took little or no payment for his services.  He was both the detective and the bodyguard and was sometimes helped by his former Agency boss, known only as Control. Also aiding him in his endeavors were: Mickey, who did much of McCall's legwork; Scott, his impulsive young son, and various members of the New York Police Department.  

In late 1987, Pete O'Phelan, a former friend from his Agency days, and now the owner of the little restaurant McCall was seen at on a regular basis, was added to the cast. The CBS show was unusual in that the hero was aged over 50 and had a reputation as a killer.