The Checklist: Street Justice (S1 Ep10) “Self Defense”

The first attempt at making Carl Weathers a television star came with 1986’s Fortune Dane. Fortune Dane was a mid-season replacement on ABC, but had the misfortune of going up against NBC’s strong Saturday night line up that included 227 and The Golden Girls and was cancelled after only six episodes.

But it was a different story years later, when Weathers would be paired with actor/martial artist Bryan Genesse (Cold Harvest and Traitor’s Heart) for the syndicated series, Street Justice. The series premiered on September 29, 1991 and would run for two seasons… which equates to more than 7 times the number of episodes Fortune Dane got.

Street Justice must have been doing something right and there’s one way to find out for sure and that’s by putting a randomly selected episode to The Checklist test…

#1. Does the show have a quality open?

The open of of Street Justice had a very Equalizer like feel to it with a damsel in distress being pursued by some bad guys, but then we get a shot of our two heroes Adam Beaudreaux (Carl Weathers) and Grady Jameson (Bryan Genesse) standing at a street corner, the camera pans up and we see they are standing like bad asses at the corner of Street and Justice… I absolutely love that.

Then we get a typical TV open crediting the series regulars, the aforementioned Weathers and Genesse and Charlene Fernetz, who plays Malloy, a friend of Adam who also co-owns a bar with him. These shots are interspersed with action highlights from the show that includes Adam kicking ass and jumping on to the back of a moving subway train and Grady wielding a pair of nunchaku and doing some impressive kicks. 1/1

#2. Does the show’s premise have legs?

Adam Beaudreaux is a cop who first met Grady Jameson when Grady was just a young boy living with his missionary parents in Vietnam. Adam was there serving his country in the Vietnam War. One day Grady found a wounded Adam in the jungle and basically rescued him.

But Adam was unable to return the favor when he learned that Grady’s parents were killed and Grady went off the grid. The two would be reunited years later, oddly enough by the man who killed Grady’s parents… when the two team up to take him down. And with that a friendship is rekindled and a partnership is formed, with Grady stepping in to take care of business when the law limits what Adam can do.

This is definitely a premise with legs and I am actually feeling a little angry that there were only two seasons now. 2/2

#3. Is this a very special episode?

Another thing Street Justice seemed to have in common with The Equalizer was incorporating some serious subject matter into the show. In “Self Defense” the theme is domestic violence… Malloy’s friend Lisa Blake is in an abusive marriage and is absolutely terrified of her math professor husband, Doug Blake. When Lisa cancels plans to go see a movie with Malloy… Malloy notices that something isn’t quite right so she calls on her friends Adam and Grady to assist. 3/3

#4. Do we get to see Grady in martial arts action?

You can’t have Grady beating up guys with nunchucks and doing all sorts of kicks in the open and then not feature any martial arts action in the actual show can you? The answer for “Self Defense” is no.

Lisa Blake becomes a reluctant student at Grady’s dojo where he teaches her some martial arts moves… which is an excuse for a well placed montage.

Then after Adam’s attempt to intimidate Doug Blake the way he intimidates his wife backfires , Grady has to step in. You see Doug shows up at the police station with bruises on his face, claiming Adam pistol whipped him… which is bullshit since Adam never touched him. So Grady tracks down Doug’s friends and finds out who really hit Doug in order to setup Adam and that includes some of those impressive kicks and throwing Doug’s buddy into a fountain! 4/4

#5. Does the show have a light hearted ending?

After an episode filled with heavy subject matter and a big climax with Adam and Grady showing up to save the day in what ends up being Doug and Lisa’s final fight… the show ends with the trio of Adam, Grady and Malloy busting each other’s balls at the bar and roll credits. 5/5

• Final Score = 5/5 (100%) I mentioned earlier how I was kind of angry that Street Justice only ran for two seasons, I am even angrier that it has taken me this long to check out the show… especially considering how big of a Carl Weathers fans I am. And after watching this episode and the two part pilot, I find my admiration for Bryan Genesse’s work growing. Buying the series on DVD was a sound investment and I look forward to watching more of the exploits of Adam Beaudreaux and Grady Jameson (my second favorite TV Grady of all-time.. Whitman Mayo is at the #1 spot)… so don’t be surprised if another episode of Street Justice gets put to The Checklist test in the months to come.