The Equalizer (1986) – Counterfire, and The Line

Counterfire is packed with familiar faces, Vincent D’Onofrio, William Hickey, Leonardo Cimino and another appearance by Robert Lansing as Control. Written by Scott Shepherd and Coleman Luck, this episode was first broadcast on 19 November, 1986. McCall (Edward Woodward) finds himself on the back foot when he finds himself on the run, as someone frames…

Amistad (1997) – Steven Spielberg

Spielberg returns to another examination of humanity and history with his 1997 film Amistad. Based on an actual event in 1839, the film explores a revolt of Mende captives aboard the Spanish ship La Amistad. When the captives take over the ship they demand that the surviving crew take them back to Africa, but instead,…

Hill Street Blues (1981) – Your Kind, My Kind, Humankind, and Gatorbait

Anthony Yerkovich alongside series creators Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll pen the teleplay for Your Kind, My Kind, Humankind from a story by Bill Taub. It was first broadcast on 28 February, 1981. Renko (Charles Haid) and Hill (Michael Warren) deal with problems in different ways when the suspect in their shooting is released. Hill…

Hill Street Blues (1981) – Choice Cut, and Up in Arms

Seven episodes in writer Lee David Zlotoff brings us full circle with Choice Cut. First airing on 14 February, 1981, the episode sees Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) dealing with a hostage situation in a supermarket, not entirely dissimilar from what happened in the first episode. In fact, it’s the same hostage takers! They went…

Mission: Impossible (1971) – The Catafalque, and Kitara

Paul Playdon wrote Catafalque, which first aired on 6 February, 1971, and features John Vernon as Ramone Fuego, who gets manipulated by the IMF in an attempt to get sensitive information into the hands of the American government. And while most of the story is really engaging, as Phelps (Peter Graves) and his team set…

Tank (1984) – Marvin J. Chomsky

1984. A few short months before my family would be posted to a new home in the middle of the ocean, I was of an age that I was allowed to go see movies in the theatre with my friends (despite the fact that the theatres were in the city proper and not on the…