Season 1
Leverage is an American television drama series created by John Rogers and Chris Downey and produced by Electric Television which follows a Los Angeles-based team of thieves, computer experts and cons, headed up by former insurance investigator Nate Ford, who use their skills to right corporate and governmental injustices visited on the little person.
The series aired in the USA on TNT from 7 December, 2008 to 25 December, 2012. There are 77 hour-long episodes in five seasons.
Leverage premiered in South Africa on DStv's Sony Entertainment Television (SONY) channel on Thursday 26 March 2009, at 20h30. It later aired on SABC1. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
The first season originally aired on SONY from 26 March to 18 June, 2009, on Thursdays at 20h30. New episodes broadcast weekly.
A rebroadcast of the first season aired on SONY from 1 December, 2009 to 23 February, 2010, on Tuesdays at 20h30. New episodes aired weekly.
Season 1 premiered on SABC1 on Thursday 7 April 2011, at 22h00. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 13 episodes in the first season.
Season 1
Leverage follows a team of thieves, hackers and grifters who act as modern-day Robin Hoods, taking revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize others.
Timothy Hutton plays former insurance investigator Nate Ford, a once-loyal corporate employee who had recovered millions of dollars in stolen goods for his employer.
But when that employer denied his son's insurance claim – claiming it was "experimental" – and allowed the boy to die, he realised he could no longer work for such an entity.
Out of work and descending into alcoholism, Ford is hired by an aeronautics executive to recover airplane designs the executive claims were stolen by a rival company.
Helping him are four highly skilled team members: Parker (Beth Riesgraf), an expert thief; Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), a specialist in Internet and computer fraud; Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), a high-octane “retrieval specialist” who can take out a gang of henchmen without breaking a sweat; and Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), a grifter who could win awards for her acting skills during difficult scams.
At first the newly formed team is hesitant to trust each other after so many years working alone but being double-crossed changes the dynamic, ultimately forcing them to unite. They emerge from the job realising they are far better working together than apart.
Once they discover they can trust each other the group targets their cons toward the richest, the greediest and the most unjust.
Seasons
Season 1 (13 episodes)
Channel: SONY | Premiere: 26 Mar 2009 | Finale: 18 Jun 2009 | Thursdays, 20h30
Channel: SABC1 | Premiere: 7 Apr 2011 | Finale: 13 June 2011 | Thursdays, 22h00
Season 2 (15 episodes)
Channel: SONY | Premiere: 18 Mar 2010 | Finale: 24 Jun 2010 | Thursdays, 20h30
Channel: SABC1 | Premiere: 13 Aug 2012 | Finale: 19 Nov 2012 | Mondays, 22h00
Season 3 (16 episodes)
Channel: SONY | Premiere: 3 Mar 2011 | Finale: 16 Jun 2011 | Thursdays, 20h30
Season 4 (18 episodes)
Channel: SONY | Premiere: 17 May 2012 | Finale: 13 Sep 2012 | Thursdays, 21h25
Season 5 (15 episodes)
Channel: SONY | Premiere: 21 May 2013 | Finale: 27 Aug 2013 | Tuesdays, 20h00