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Recently I have been watching an old CBS television series called The Equalizer. This classic mid-80s detective series features Edward Woodward (best known as the star of The Wicker Man, as well as a series of great English television series and films) as former CIA/MI6/FBI/Secret Agent (it is never quite clear as to the specific organization he worked for, but it was definitely covert) Robert McCall who lends a helping hand against the darker forces at work in New York City. What makes this show unique amongst the many 80s detective series, are the very dark storylines (often ending in the death of whichever "villain" McCall was after), and the large amount of future great television actors (just a partial list of notable cast members, Laurence Fishburne, Oliver Platt, Patricia Richardson, William H. Macy, Ed O’Neil, Steve Buscemi, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Moriarty, Chris Cooper, Michael Rooker, Charles S. Dutton, Ving Rhames, Tony Shalhoub, and Stanley Tucci (and this is only a sample of the many many guest stars that have appeared on the show - nearly every episode features a fairly prominent guest star that either was big or made it big later)). Added to that is the great theme song from Stewart Copeland (one fo the members of The Police).
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