Review: "The Equalizer" Then & Now

In the late 1980s one of the more curious drama shows of the decade popped up on network TV: The Equalizer.

Set in modern-day NYC, it was a show about a mysterious person with a secretive past -- it is understood that he worked for the CIA or MI6, simply referred to as "the agency" or "the company", some kind of spooky blackbag-jobbing government outfit -- who is now trying to redeem himself by using his vaguely criminal skills to help out ordinary people who find themselves in difficult situations. It was basically a serial with lots of stand-alone episodes, one-and-done storylines, following this flawed hero helping flawed people find justice that would otherwise be denied to them by a corrupt system.

He was, basically, a classy, super-smart, and well-spoken vigilante.

The original Equalizer ran from 1985-1989 and starred a British actor named Edward Woodward whose career was mostly in theater. This show was one of his only American projects and it made him, for a while, an unlikely star. It was one of the only shows made in NYC during this time, a sort of precursor to the decades-long run of Law & Order shows -- fictional crimes being solved by great actors on the real-life streets of NYC. During its short run, a huge array of actors with big careers ahead of them appeared on the show: Macauley Culkin, Kevin Spacey, Steve Buscemi, JT Walsh, one of the Beastie Boys, William H. Macy, Stanley Tucci, Cynthia Nixon, Tony Shalhoub, Ving Rhames, Chris Cooper, Oliver Platt, Christine Baranski, and many more. The Equalizer was never a huge show, it was one of those quiet sleeper hits that ran for a few years before vanishing completely. But then ...

... it had a second act. In 2014 a movie version of The Equalizer starring Denzel Washington came out and was a big hit. A 2018 sequel was also a big hit. And now ... 

... The Equalizer is back on TV! Back to returning justice on the streets of modern-day NYC only this time, instead of being an old British guy, The Equalizer is ... drumroll ... Queen Latifah! Who doesn't love her?

So this moderately popular NYC show that went off the air in 1989 became a big hit movie 25 years later and now a new show. And went from being an old English white dude to a funky American black lady. How weird is that? How great is that? Only in NYC.