The Equalizer
Blood & Wine (1)
TV Flash files “Blood & Wine (1)” as a desk essential hour — The Equalizer (1985–1989) on CBS, season 3, episode 1, aired 1987-09-23, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E01: listed hour 45 of 88 in the The Equalizer guide, first listed hour of season 3. It aired 1987-09-23 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Re-Entry” (S02E22). Next is “Blood & Wine (2)” (S03E02).
Essential hour: “Blood & Wine (1)”. Blood & Wine (1) is a two-part vintage title: quieter than the van-jumping competition, fury still controlled.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A woman who discovered her daughter's husband has a gun but couldn't find it when she tries to tell her daughter about calls McCall. McCall initially refuses to help until he sees the man following them. Later McCall thinks he's a terrorist, the Feds are looking for so he calls the agent in charge. He learns that they are being aided by a man who knows the terrorist who is now a priest whom McCall also knows and hates so he doesn't want to do anything with him.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Blood & Wine (1) sit in the The Equalizer guide?
S03E01 is listed hour 45 of 88 — first listed hour of season 3, season 3 episode 1.
When did The Equalizer S03E01 air?
Blood & Wine (1) aired 1987-09-23 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:…