Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!

This week, we finish up Highway to Heaven.

Episode 5.13 “Merry Christmas from Grandpa”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on August 4th, 1989)

The final episode of Highway to Heaven is a sad one for a number of reasons.

First off, it’s a Christmas episode but, because NBC never really gave the final season a regular spot on the schedule and instead of just aired the final 13 episodes whenever they needed to fill a hole, the finale didn’t air until August.

Secondly, the episode features Mark and Jonathan going “thirty years into the future,” — in this case to 2018.  Mark is stunned to discover that he’s still alive in 2018.  Jonathan tells him that it’s because he finally stopped smoking.  In real life, Victor French died of lung cancer six months after filming this episode.  Again, because of the way NBC handled the final season, French did not live to see the final episode aired.

Finally, the final episode of Highway to Heaven is not one of its strongest episodes.  The strength of Highway to Heaven was that Jonathan and Mark spent their time helping ordinary people.  Even if you didn’t agree with the show’s theology, it was hard not be touched by the earnest sincerity that lay at the heart of the majority of the episodes.  Jonathan and Mark were do-gooders, in the best sense of the term.

That said, there were more than a few episodes that could be a bit preachy and that’s the case with this episode.  As was often the case with Highway to Heaven‘s weaker episodes, this episode was inspired by Landon’s own environmentalism.  On Christmas Eve, Jonathan and Mark visit three men — a businessman, a farmer, and the President (seriously!) — and bring with them visions of the future.  The businessman sees that he has to stop promoting nuclear power.  The farmer sees that he has to stop using insecticides.  And the President watches as all of his future grandchildren and great-grandchildren vanish from existence as a result of him not doing something to protect the environment.

It’s heartfelt, yes.  I don’t doubt Landon’s sincerity.  But I just wish the final episode had been a bit more of a traditional episode.  I wish that it had featured more of heart and the humor and the Landon/French chemistry that marked the show’s best moments.  Of course, again, Landon had no way of knowing that Victor French was going to die.  (Apparently, even though French does look noticeable thinner, he did not learn that he had lung cancer until after he filmed his last episode.)  If the show had been renewed for another season, it’s doubtful it would have worked without the chemistry between Landon and French.

I’ve enjoyed reviewing this show.  Originally, I didn’t think I would.  I expected this show would bring out my cynical side with a vengeance and there were a few episodes that did just that.  For the most part, though, this show won me over.  Watching it, one gets the feeling that Michael Landon truly did want to make the world a better place.  Who can’t be touched by that?

Next week, a new show will premiere here.