Pamela Kosh | Through the Shattered Lens

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.

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing Saved By The Bell, which ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993. The entire show is currently streaming on Prime and Tubi!

It’s time to start the school year! Zack gets ready for his first day …. wait a minute, hasn’t school already started?

Episode 1.16 “King of the Hill”

(Dir by Gary Shimokawa, originally aired on December 9th, 1989)

I’ll never forget the day Slater showed up….

For the longest time, I believed that this was the first episode of Saved By The Bell. I mean, the episode features Zack meeting Slater for the first time, Slater meeting Kelly for the first time, and it introduces all of the regulars. We discover that Zack, somehow, has a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Kelly in his bedroom. That’s weird and kind of disturbing.

However, I have since learned that, while this was indeed the pilot for Saved By The Bell, it wasn’t actually aired until halfway through the first season. That’s why we hear an older sounding Zack say, “I’ll never forget the day Slater showed up….” We’re watching a flashback. But if it’s a flashback, why is Zack talking directly to the audience? I mean, if the audience was there when it happened the first time, why would Zack be telling them about it a second time? For that matter, why — if this is Zack’s first day as a high school freshman — is he already a legendary troublemaker at the school? Mr. Belding remembers him from Good Morning Ms. Bliss but that show was set in Junior High and in Indiana! And before anyone says that they’re two different shows, allow me to point out that the Ms. Bliss episode were later reshown in syndication as Saved By The Bell episodes, complete with Zack introducing them by saying, “Here’s a story that happened in junior high….”

My personal theory about all this? Saved By The Bell was a Peter Engel show and, like most Peter Engel shows, no one cared much about continuity. Ironically, that sloppiness is a huge part of the show’s continuing popularity. People like me are still trying to make some sort of logical sense out of how Ms. Bliss and Saved By The Bell could both exist in the same universe.

As for this pilot …. well, for the most part, it’s not very good. Of the young actors, only Mario Lopez really seems to have any idea as to who his character should be. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who would develop into a very good actor, overacts a bit in the pilot. He, Dustin Diamond, and Lark Voorhees were all still giving the same performances that they gave in Ms. Bliss and they didn’t quite feel right for what would become Saved By The Bell. Really, the only scene that truly works is when Mr. Belding puts on a sweater and attempts to “understand” why Zack is acting out before finally snapping as Zack makes a mess of his office. From the start, Dennis Haskins and Mark-Paul Gosselaar made for a good comedy team.

One final note: This episode aired nearly 37 years ago. Mario Lopez has aged, at most, ten years since then. He has got to have a haunted painting in his attic.