Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.24 “The Whole Nine Yards”

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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!

Today, season 4 comes to a close with an episode about two football teams, one struggling and one not. Care to guess which team is going to win the big game?

Episode 4.24 “The Whole Nine Yards”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on April 27th, 1988)

Charlie DuBoise (Dinah Lacey) is a twelve year-old girl who wants to play football. Vince Diller (Beau Starr) is the chauvinistic coach who refuses to allow Charlie to join his team, despite the fact that she can catch and she’s even faster then his son, quarterback Ricky Diller (Chad Allen). Instead, Charlie joins another team, the 0-5 Minnows. Who is the new coach of the Minnows? Mark Gordon, of course!

Ricky has a hard time accepting that a girl beat him in a race and, when Charlie approaches him in a totally 80s arcade, a fight breaks out. Luckily, Jonathan is there to break it up. Ricky apologizes to Charlie while Charlie has a gigantic wad of Kleenex stuck up her nose. The scene goes on for a while and Charlie never removes the Kleenex. It was awkward to watch. Seriously, that’s what nampons are for.

Eventually, Ricky gets sick of Vince and his win-at-all-costs mentality. Ricky talks back to his father and gets kicked off the team. Ricky joins the Minnows and he and Charlie defeat Vince’s team in the big game. Vince comes to realize that the game should be about fun and Ricky and Charlie go to the school dance together.

And so ends season 4 of Highway to Heaven. Shows about girls who want to play football are always weird to me because I’m a girl and I can’t ever think of circumstances in which I would want to play football. But I do think that if Charlie wants to get a head start on getting the concussions that will ruin her adult life, she should certainly be allowed to do so. The main problem with this episode was that Vince was such an ogre and such a terrible father that the show’s happy ending felt false. His son joined another team and destroyed Vince’s undefeated record. The episode ends with Vince saying he’s proud of his son but Vince has been such a monster that his words sound hollow. I’m kind of worried about what’s going to happen when Ricky goes home. Instead of putting together a football game, Jonathan and Mark should have been calling Child Protective Services.

This is my final episode of Highway to Heaven for 2025. Retro Television Reviews will be taking a break for the holidays but this feature will return! On January 8th, 2026, we’ll start our look at the final season of Highway to Heaven.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.23 “Heaven Nose, Mr. Smith”

Posted on November 27, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week …. oh, where to begin?

Episode 4.23 “Heaven Nose, Mr. Smith”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on March 30th, 1988)

This episode was bad.

How bad?

Let me count the ways.

Jonathan is driving the car, for once. He and Mark are going to get some time off. Suddenly, a very shrill alarm goes off. Jonathan says that he has to go up to Heaven to meet with the never-before mentioned Sycopomp, who is in charge of handing out angel assignments. Jonathan vanishes, leaving the car without a driver. Mark nearly crashes before he gets control of the wheel.
How have we gone for four seasons without the alarm going off earlier?
Since when has Jonathan gotten assignments from anyone other than The Boss?
Does Jonathan not realize Mark could have been killed as a result of him suddenly vanishing?
The Sycopomp is played by Bob Hope. Yes, the comedian Bob Hope. Bob Hope was 85 when he appeared in this episode and, not surprisingly, he doesn’t do much. In fact, he does so little that you have to wonder why it was necessary to have the character at all.
The Sycopomp explains that the Boss has computerized Heaven — “Modern technology,” he says, with a shrug. Why would the Boss do that since the Boss is God and God knows everything and can do anything?
The computers have malfunctioned. How could a computer built by God malfunction?
As a result of the computer malfunction, an angel named Max (Bill Macy) has been assigned to help fix the marriage of Stanley (John Pleshette) and Constance (Murphy Cross). The problem is that Max is Stanley’s deceased father and he’s always disliked Constance so, instead of helping Stanley and Constance, he’s instead trying to get Stanley to leave Constance for his childhood girlfriend, Nel (Anna Stuart).
What? Okay, Jonathan got mad and yelled at the Boss a few episodes ago and he was immediately stripped of his powers. Yet somehow, Max is able to do a lot worse without any sort of punishment.
Jonathan and Mark are sent to stop Max. They meet Stanley and Constance. While Constance’s main flaw is that she has a terrible hair style, Stanley is a total wimp who has never finished anything in his life. Stanley is so unlikable that it’s hard not to feel that Constance would be better off without him.
Jonathan and Max both reveal themselves to be angels to Stanley. Yeah, Jonathan has revealed himself to be an angel in the past but it still feels like lazy writing.
From out of nowhere, wimpy, middle-aged Stanley is revealed to be a fast runner.
Jonathan and Max bully Stanley into entering a marathon.
Stanley nearly dies during the marathon but makes it to the end. He comes in last place but Constance doesn’t care. What matters is that he finished something! And it looks like the marriage has been saved but Stanley is so sweaty and out-of-breath that one still expects him to drop dead right there.
Sara (Patti Karr), Max’s wife, is sent down as an angel as well. She doesn’t accomplish anything but she’s sent down nonetheless.
Why would someone as self-centered as Max be made an angel in the first place?
With the assignment completed, everyone leaves. Constance and Stanley are back together! Except, earlier, we were told that Constance and Stanley’s marriage was in trouble because Constance wanted children and Stanley didn’t. That storyline is never resolved. In fact, it’s just kind of dropped.
Other than Jonathan and Mark, there are no likable people in this episode. This episode tires to mix comedy and drama and it just doesn’t work.

This just wasn’t a good episode. The story just feels unfinished.

Next week, season 4 comes to a close!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.22 “A Dolphin Song For Lee, Part 2”

Posted on November 20, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Lee dies.

Episode 4.22 “A Dolphin Song For Lee Part 2”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on March 23rd, 1988)

Remember how, last week, Lee (Bess Meyer) was told that her cancer had gone into remission and she was going to live? Well, this week, the cancer comes back and Lee dies after a month.

What a depressing episode!

Lee gets to do a lot in that month. She goes out on a boat and saves a group of dolphins from some hunters. She testified before Congress and, through emotional blackmail, gets them to pass a bill protecting the dolphins. She swims with a dolphin! And then she dies and its suggested that she’s been reborn as a dolphin.

Normally, I would complain about how shamelessly manipulative this all is but you know what? I like dolphins. I’ll forgive a lot when it comes to dolphins.

And, also, I am going to give some credit where is credit is due. Not every story has a happy ending. Sometimes, people die. It’s not fair but it happens. Highway to Heaven admitted that in this episode and I was in tears by the end of it.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.21 “A Dolphin Song For Lee: Part One”

Posted on November 6, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Mark finally gets the stuff.

Episode 4.21 “A Dolphin Song For Lee: Part One”

(Dir by Michael Landon, March 9th, 1988)

After he complains for the hundredth time about not having “the stuff,” Mark finally gets the boss’s attention in this episode. Suddenly, Mark is the one who doesn’t need to eat, who knows where to go for the assignment, and who instinctively realizes that the young woman they’ve been assigned to help — Lee (Bess Meyer) — desperately needs a bone marrow transplant. Meanwhile, Jonathan becomes human yet again.

That’s not a bad idea for a story, though it’s hard not to notice that this is the second time that Jonathan’s gone from being an angel to being mortal during season four. One would think that either Jonathan or Mark would have noted this fact but neither one does. Maintaining continuity has not been season four’s strong point.

As for the story itself, it’s pretty simple but then again, it’s only Part 1 of a two-parter. Lee refuses to get the bone marrow transplant because she fears her parents won’t be able to afford it. Using “the stuff,” Mark essentially commands a local news producer to do a story on Lee and her need for a transplant. In a scene that feels like a fantasy today, we see people apparently all across the country watching the news story on Lee. One guy in a bar yells at everyone to be quiet so he can hear the story. It feels incredibly dated and almost too earnest for its own good, if just because it’s hard to imagine people actually sitting around the TV and watching a network newscast nowadays. (It’s also hard not to wonder if Mark essentially zapping the producer and taking over his mind is a good example of what the Boss wants done with the stuff. That’s not something that Jonathan has ever done, even though it would have made things a lot simpler.)

People across the country donate money so that Lee can get her operation. Lee’s cancer goes into remission but the “To Be Continued” announcement at the end of the episode feels a bit ominous. If Lee’s going to be okay, why does the story need to be coninuted?

We’ll find out next week!

Horror On TV: Highway to Heaven 2.5 “The Devil and Jonathan Smith” (dir by Michael Landon)

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On this, the final day of our annual Horrorthon, we offer you a final Horror on TV entry.

In this episode of Highway to Heaven, angel Jonathan Smith (Michael Landon) tries to defeat the devil for the soul of his friend Mark (Victor French). This episode, a true Halloween episode, originally aired on October 30th, 1985, and it features guest turns from Anthony Zerbe and the great Michael Berryman.

We hope you have had a happy Halloween!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.20 “Aloha”

Posted on October 30, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Mark is a disappointed again.

Episode 4.20 “Aloha”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on March 2nd, 1988)

Jonathan gets Mark all excited by saying that their next assignment is a Hawaiian mission. Mark says, “We’re going to Hawaii!” He’s looking forward to it and who can blame him? After a countless number of assignments that found him working in crummy jobs and depressing neighborhoods, Mark thinks that he’s going to be most beautiful place on Earth.

Nope, sorry, Mark. You’re going to a rundown apartment complex called the Hawaiian Sands. The complex is managed by Aulani (Mokihana), a singer who found fame in Hawaii but not in Los Angeles. Instead, in L.A., she was hit by a truck and left in a wheelchair. Now, she spends her days bitter, constantly yelling at her handyman and former partner, Alvin (Danny Ing). Alvin loves Aulani and Aulani loves Alvin but she’s too angry and scared of opening up emotionally to admit it. When Alvin learns that he doesn’t have much longer to live, he plans to return to Hawaii. Aulani refuses to admit that she cares. Luckily, her new tenant Jonathan is there to set her straight.

As I’ve often said, the main strength of this show was its nonstop earnestness. Even at its most sentimental, it still worked because the show was just so dang sincere. That’s ultimately the case here. Danny Ing gives a very touching performance as Alvin. Your heart breaks for him. Mokihana overacts in the role Aulani, to the extent that she actually becomes pretty annoying. But, despite that, the show itself was so sincere and well-intentioned that it was impossible not be touched by the end of this episode.

Add to that, Hawaii — there’s no place more beautiful to visit. I wonder what Halloween is like in Hawaii. Maybe I’ll find out next year!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.19 “The Correspondent”

Posted on October 23, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Jonathan is a dream warrior.

Episode 4.19 “The Correspondent”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 24th, 1988)

Journalist Hale Stoddard (Darren McGavin) sits in a South American prison cell and waits to be executed. One-by-one, the other prisoners are dragged out of the cell and shot by the country’s new government. Hale passes the time by writing a letter that he knows no one will ever read.

Suddenly, Hale is no longer in the cell. Instead, he’s in the basement of his house. And there’s Jonathan. Jonathan explains that time has stopped and now, Hale is in his wife’s dream. Martha (Patricia Smith) dreams of Hale never being at home. She dreams of their son having both arms, even though he lost those arms in an accident when he was younger. (She also dreams of their now-adult son as always being a child.) Martha dreams about Hale’s former mistress, Eleanor (Eileen Barnett), standing around the house. (Hale argues that Eleanor was never in the house but Jonathan explains that, in Martha’s dreams, she is.) Hale comes to realize how often he deserted Martha because he couldn’t deal with settling down and raising a family. And now, while Martha dreams of him, Hale is about to be shot and killed….

Except, he’s not. It turns out that the South American prison was Hale’s dream. When Hale wakes up, he’s still at home. He tells Martha that he won’t be going to South American after all.

Awwww! How sweet.

This was a bit of a weird episode but I liked it. I appreciated how the show created Martha’s dream world by adding randomly weird details (like an oversized chair at the breakfast table, which was meant to represent Hale’s absence). Darren McGavin gave a good performance as Hale and resisted the temptation to overact. With the episode, the show tried to do something different and, for the most part, it succeeded.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.18 “We Have Forever: Part Two”

Posted on October 16, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week’s episode is massively confusing.

Episode 4.18 “We Have Forever: Part Two”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 17th, 1988)

Picking up from last week, an embittered Jonathan is no longer an angel. Instead, he’s a mortal man who can’t get a job because he doesn’t have any references. (The idea is that Jonathan can’t explain that he’s spent the last 40 years working for God. But, over the past four and a half seasons, he’s had numerous jobs where he helped people out. Couldn’t he have listed some of those people are references?) However, Jonathan is happy because he’s fallen in love with Jennifer (Leann Hunley), the woman that he saved from drowning last week.

Meanwhile, Mark is actually making an effort to help people by working at the camp for the blind where he and Jonathan worked earlier in the season. (Actually, why couldn’t Jonathan ask for a job at the camp? The more I think about it, Jonathan not being able to get a job makes less and less sense.)

Jennifer, however, has a secret of her own. At the end of the episode, she leaves Jonathan a note, in which she explains that she’s actually Joan, Jonathan’s late wife. Jonathan was upset because he felt God was keeping him from seeing Joan in Heaven. Instead, it turns out that Joan — like Jonathan — has been assigned to work on Earth as an angel. So, the two months that Jonathan spent with Jennifer was actually God giving Jonathan a chance to spend time with Joan but, for some reason, no one told Jonathan that was what was happening so Jonathan got mad and walked out on God. But then, Jonathan changes his mind after learning that Joan is Jennifer but instead of asking to work with Joan/Jennifer, Jonathan goes back to working with Mark.

Seriously, I’m having a hard time following some of the logic here.

That said, despite all the lapses in logic, this episode still made me cry. Admittedly, I’ve been feeling under the weather today so maybe that’s why I was so emotionally susceptible to this episode. Or maybe it’s just the fact that Highway to Heaven is such an overwhelmingly earnest and sincere show that even the episodes that shouldn’t work somehow do. All I know is that I was sobbing by the end of this episode.

The important thing is that, at the end of the episode, Jonathan and Mark have a new assignment and drive off. Wait, I thought Mark had a job. Way to abandon all those blind children, Mark!

Perhaps it’s best not to think too hard about this episode and just accept it for being the tear jerker that it was.

Horror on TV: Highway to Heaven 4.5 “I Was A Middle-Aged Werewolf” (dir by Michael Landon)

Posted on October 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Since we’ve been talking about werewolves today, I decided to take a one-night break from Hammer House of Horror and share this Halloween-themed episode of Highway to Heaven. Michael Landon recreates his role as the Teenage Werewolf and scares Mark half to death. He also helps a kid play some tricks and get some treats.

This originally aired on October 28th, 1987. The series was a bit silly but this episode is kind of fun. Keep an eye out for Michael Berryman!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.17 “We Have Forever: Part One”

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Jonathan loses his powers.

Episode 4.17 “We Have Forever: Part One”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 10th, 1988)

When Jonathan’s former wife (Dorothy McGuire) dies, Jonathan assumes that God will release him of his duties and bring him to Heaven to be with her. Instead, Jonathan is told that he is still needed on Earth and that he has an assignment. Jonathan gets upset and uses some language that one doesn’t always expect to hear from an angel. God responds with thunder and lightning.

Long story short, Jonathan loses his angelic powers. He becomes a human again. But since Jonathan died 40 years ago, shouldn’t taking away his powers cause him to drop dead on the spot? I’m a bit confused on how this works but then again, it’s also pretty obvious that God is trying to teach him a lesson as opposed to just punishing him.

Jonathan runs away from Mark, refusing to speak to him. He sees a movie theater that is showing Heaven Can Wait and he proceeds to throw beer bottles at the marquee until all of the letters have fallen. Jonathan ends up in jail but Mark manages to track him down and gets him released. Jonathan borrows some money from Mark so that he can go get drunk.

Later, walking along the beach, Jonathan sees a young woman named Jennifer (Leann Hunley) who looks just like his wife did when they first got married. Jennifer attempts to commit suicide by walking into the ocean. Jonathan saves her life. It turns out that Jennifer is suicidal because her boyfriend dumped her. Jonathan tells her that her boyfriend isn’t going to care that she killed herself. In fact, he’ll probably brag about it to all of his friends.

Long story short, it’s obvious that Jonathan and Jennifer are falling in love. Meanwhile, Mark is looking for some way to occupy himself and considers accepting a job at the camp for the blind that he and Jonathan visited earlier in the season. Finally, this is a two-parter so we’ll see how everything works out next week!

I will say that this was a nice change-of-pace for the series. Seeing Jonathan finally get mad after four seasons of doing whatever he was assigned to do was interesting and Michael Landon’s anger and sadness felt very real. Victor French also did a good job of portraying Mark’s sadness over not being able to help his best friend. This was an episode where Highway to Heaven‘s unabashedly earnest and emotional approach really paid off.