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, Jonathan is considered for a promotion!
Episode 3.18 “A Mother And A Daughter”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 4th, 1987)
Jonathan and Mark are in Hollywood …. again!
Seriously, it’s interesting how many episodes of Highway to Heaven found Jonathan and Mark dealing with movie stars and entertainment executives in Hollywood. Every Hollywood episode basically followed the same plot. Jonathan is all-business while Mark is excited to meet one of his old screen idols. One thing that is a bit odd is that Mark always acts as if he’s never been in Hollywood before, even though almost every season usually featured several Hollywood episodes.
This time, they’ve been assigned to repair the relationship between veteran film star Phoebe Hall (Gloria DeHaven) and her estranged daughter, Gail (Judith Chapman). Gail is writing a tell-all book about Phoebe, one that is set to be published at the same time that Phoebe is receiving a lifetime achievement award at a televised ceremony. Can Jonathan get Gail to forgive her mother by showing Gail a bunch of old home movies? Can Mark show Pheobe how much her career means to her fans? Episodes in which Jonathan dealt with a film star who hadn’t been there for their children always seemed to hit Michael Landon extra hard. His children have said that Landon was a bit of a workaholic and not always the most present of fathers. One gets the feeling that this episode was Landon’s way of dealing with his own regrets.
While Jonathan works, he’s observed by another angel, Henry Clifford (Basil Langston). Henry confides to Mark that Jonathan is being considered for a promotion into Heaven. Mark briefly thinks about purposefully tanking the assignment so that Jonathan will stay on Earth with him. Jonathan explains that they can’t do that and, to the show’s credit, Mark quickly realizes that Jonathan’s correct. (Doing a bad job on purpose would have gone against everything the show had established about Mark’s character.) In the end, Henry says that Jonathan will be staying on Earth for the time being because that’s obviously where Jonathan can do the most good. Jonathan and Mark are happy.
That said, I do find it curious that the show has never really examined how Jonathan feels about the prospect of finally heading “upstairs.” I mean, as Jonathan explains during this episode, he’s dead. He’s been dead for a long time. Wouldn’t he like to relax and enjoy his final reward? Some people really like to work. To be honest, I’d probably be the same way. Give me a choice between going to Heaven and reviewing movies as a ghost …. well, it would be a hard decision for me.
Anyway, this was a sweet episode. Highway to Heaven‘s strength was that it was shamelessly optimistic and earnest and that’s certainly the case here.
Through the Shattered Lens 