The Equalizer
The Lock Box
TV Flash files “The Lock Box” as hour 4 of 88 in the TV Flash guide — The Equalizer (1985–1989) on CBS, season 1, episode 4, aired 1985-10-09, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E04: listed hour 4 of 88 in the The Equalizer guide, hour 4 of 22 in season 1. It aired 1985-10-09 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Defector” (S01E03). Next is “Lady Cop” (S01E05).

Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The Griffith family arrives in NYC on vacation from Duluth and things go wrong right from the start...their luggage is stolen by a gypsy cabbie and the hotel has lost their reservations. Bored and frustrated, Edie, the Griffiths 17 year old daughter wanders out of the hotel at night to do some exploring. She is lured into accepting a ride and finds herself abducted. The police can offer little help and with no one else to turn to they hire McCall to help find their daughter. His search will lead him into the seedy underworld of prostitution and an 'invitation only' ...
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Lock Box sit in the The Equalizer guide?
S01E04 is listed hour 4 of 88 — hour 4 of 22 in season 1, season 1 episode 4.
When did The Equalizer S01E04 air?
The Lock Box aired 1985-10-09 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Are the movies the same show?
They share the title and the concept — a protector for people failed by the system — but they are later film adaptations, not Woodward's continuity. His McCall is the gold standard for many viewers.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Woodward's performance is the franchise — weary competence and controlled fury. Retired intel man Robert McCall takes newspaper-ad justice into his own hands: darker, quieter action drama than the truck-jumping competition. Got a problem? Odds against you? Later films borrowed the title; Woodward owned the soul.
Got a problem? Odds against you? A retired intelligence operative takes newspaper-ad justice into his own hands, and CBS puts gravel in prime time. *The Equalizer* (1985–1989) made Edward Woodward's authority into urban vigilante cool with more moral weight than many 1980s action toys. Keith Szarabajka and Robert Lansing aided missions the system wouldn't touch. Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim: adult revenge fantasy with a British center of gravity. **Woodward owned the soul later films only rented.** Max's…
Filed against
- Edward Woodward as Robert McCall
Edward Woodward's Robert McCall is The Equalizer — weary competence, controlled fury, and newspaper-ad justice darker and quieter than the truck-jumping competition. Got a problem? Odds against you? The performance is the franchise. TV…
- Robert Lansing as Control
Robert Lansing's Control shadowed The Equalizer as intel-world weather — Edward Woodward's weary McCall taking newspaper-ad justice into his own hands, darker and quieter than the truck-jumping competition. TV Flash files Lansing as 1980s…
- Keith Szarabajka as Mickey Kostmayer
Keith Szarabajka's Mickey Kostmayer worked The Equalizer from the wetwork side — 1980s newspaper-ad justice, darker and quieter than the truck-jumping competition, weary competence as a franchise. TV Flash files him as action-drama craft:…