From 1986: Another entry in the Target/ Star TV tie-in stakes: the first of two novelizations derived from Universal's THE EQUALIZER, starring the late Edward Woodward.
This one adapts the show's standard-length opener and The Children's Song, the seventh episode aired during the first season.
I think this show is, without doubt, one of the best action shows to emerge from the Eighties. And I think it is a tribute to both the studio and CBS that they were willing to rework the DEATH WISH formula for the small screen... and make the star a ready-for-retirement Brit rather than (as the not-too-bad almost-in-name-only movie proved) a dashing young actor in his action-ready prime.
Of course, CBS' audience at this time did skew older (and more rural) so this was appealing the net's core audience. This was probably an older audience, sitting and watching the evening news every day, convinced that America's cities had slipped into urban anarchy... and wishing someone (with a nice wardrobe or sensible cardigans) would do something about it.
In the UK, ITV (once the home of Woodward's CALLEN) was the obvious home for the show. Although their predilection for heavy editing and erratic scheduling hardly treated the show with respect. At one point it was possible to watch several episodes per week thanks to the show enjoying both a prime time network slot AND a berth in the overnight schedules if you lived in the right regions. Nowadays, with wall-to-wall sitcom repeats cluttering the digital schedules, this doesn't sound odd but... at the time... it was unusual.
agreed it was a brilliant show but these days, it doesn't seem to surface much in tv repeat land. Thank goodness for those dvd box sets.
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