Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.11 “In With The In Crowd”

Posted on August 28, 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!

This week, Jonathan brings vengeance to a high school.

Episode 4.11 “In With The In Crowd”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on December 9th, 1987)

This week, Jonathan and Mark are cops, assigned to a ritzy private school where a student recently died of an overdose. They’re working with Denise Kelly (Lar Park Lincoln), an undercover cop who is pretending to be a student in order to uncover the identity of and arrest the school’s main dealer. Unfortunately, the dealer figures out that Denise is a cop and he orders another student (Tom Hodges) to testify that Denise seduced him to get information. Suddenly, it looks like Denise might lose her job and even get charged with a crime herself!

Mark, feeling protective of Denise and also guilty that he stopped recording Denise’s conversation with the student who subsequently accused her, decides to go undercover himself. He tells drug dealing student Ray Russo (Jason Oliver Lipsett) that he’s actually a dealer himself. Ray, however, sees through the ruse and knocks Mark out before injecting him with pure cocaine.

Mark’s in coma. Denise feels like there’s no point in fighting crime. Seeking revenge, Jonathan calls a school assembly and specifically accuses Ray of being the school’s main dealer. Ray pulls out a gun and then runs out of the school. He gets in his car and starts the engine. As he’s speeding down the street, Ray sees that Jonathan is sitting in the passenger’s seat. Ray shoots at him, twice. Jonathan, untouched, says that Ray should look in the back seat. Ray sees the spirit of the girl who died over an overdose. The terrified Ray is so distracted that he crashes into a truck and his car explodes.

JONATHAN KILLED A GUY!

WOW!

That’s something I never thought I’d see on Highway to Heaven.

Now, to be clear, Ray was a very, very bad guy. He tried to murder Mark. He sold the drugs that killed the student. He brought a gun to school. There really wasn’t much hope that Ray would ever reform but still, Jonathan killing him seems to go against everything that Highway to Heaven was usually about. Highway to Heaven usually emphasized the idea of redemption and that everyone — even the worst among us — could change their ways. Part of the appeal of the show was that it was so unapologetically earnest. Ray getting blown up may have been emotionally satisfying but it just seemed to go against everything that the show was about.

In the end, Mark wakes up and Denise is cleared of all the accusations against her. Jonathan and Mark leave for their next assignment. Who knows who Jonathan will kill next!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.10 “A Dream of Wild Horses”

Posted on August 21, 2025 by Bradley Crain

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, we will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Tubi and other services!

Episode 4.10 “A Dream of Wild Horses”

(Dir. by Michael Landon, originally aired on December 2nd, 1987)

In this episode, traveling angel Jonathan Smith (Michael Landon), and his companion Mark Gordon (Victor French) arrive at a struggling ranch where the widow Billie Harwood (Gail Strickland) is trying to keep her late husband’s legacy alive while caring for her young son Richie (Jason Horst) and aging father Jet Sanders (Richard Farnsworth). It seems that Jet, the patriarch of the family, sort of lost his will to live when he lost his wife and then his son in law, a man he truly thought of as a son. As Jonathan and Mark arrive on the scene, the family members are all at a breaking point. Jet wishes he would just die and quit being a burden. Billie is completely overwhelmed with the ranch, and you get the feeling she’s never truly mourned the loss of her husband. And Richie, who needs someone to love him and pay attention to him, instead is mostly ignored by his family. Jonathan, Mark, a pack of wild horses, and some divine compassion turn out to be just what the family needs to find the inspiration to start putting the pieces of their lives back together.

Directed by Michael Landon, “A Dream of Wild Horses” is everything I would expect from this series. Considering this episode was in season 4, it’s possible the formula was starting to wear thin with viewers back in 1987, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. For a man like me who loves a good western, I especially enjoyed the ranch setting, the wild horses, and the presence of veteran, Oscar nominated actor Richard Farnsworth as Grandpa Jet Sanders. He’s believable as the man who’s lost his purpose in life, but he’s even better when he turns things around at the end. One of the things I like about this series is the way Jonathan always knows exactly what buttons to push to get the characters going in the right direction. From bluntly telling Grandpa that he needs to quit feeling sorry for himself, to offering the widow a shoulder to cry on, and helping both of them see how much Richie needs their love and guidance, Jonathan’s genuine compassion is something this world really does need. Skeptical viewers may even roll their eyes, but I choose to accept the episode’s inspiring messages at face value. There have been times in my own life when I just needed someone else to care, and this series leans into those types of interactions. This family was broken, and Jonathan and Mark helped turn things around for them by simply caring. Things may be more complex and nuanced in the real world, but the simple act of caring will always be powerful.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.9 “Why Punish the Children?”

Posted on August 14, 2025 by Bradley Crain

Episode 4.9 “Why Punish the Children?”

(Dir. by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 25th, 1987)

In this Thanksgiving episode, Jonathan Smith (Michael Landon) and Mark Gordon (Victor French) take on roles as history teachers in a women’s prison. It seems a compassionate social worker named Melanie Canner (Sally Spencer) has been fighting hard to improve the lives of the women on the inside and has been getting close to nowhere with prison warden Thomas Inman (Bruce French). The first positive step that Melanie has been able to secure for the inmates from the warden are these history classes. Once on the inside, we meet inmates like Maria Rojas (Tasia Valenza), a young woman who’s just about to have her first baby, and Reba Williams (Bebe Drake), a mother of five. Both women want to straighten out their lives in order to give their children a better chance in life. It soon becomes clear that Jonathan, Mark, and Melanie are on a mission to convince the warden to open up more opportunities for the women to improve their lives and spend more quality time with their kids. The warden isn’t an easy case, as he seems convinced that the women shouldn’t be given any real favors as they pay their debts to society. As you might imagine, Jonathan has a couple of divine tricks up his sleeve.

I liked this episode of HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN even if it’s not the most realistic story you’ll ever see. Each woman we meet has 100% accepted the error of their ways and are determined to be a productive member of society if they can get just one more chance. The cynical part of me has to overcome this unrealistic element of the story, and the “women in prison” movie lover in me would have enjoyed a couple of good catfights. Alas, this is HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN and director Michael Landon is not in the business of going for complete realism or providing B Movie fan service! Rather, Landon is interested in creating a world where basically good people have done wrong, honestly regret how their choices negatively impact those they love, and vow to do better for their children. This series built its five seasons on the prospect of people turning their lives around, and I’ll admit I got pretty emotional again with this one. This episode really focuses in on a mother’s love for her children, and I certainly want to believe that these women would do anything for theirs. Each mother is given a beautiful moment, at Thanksgiving no less, and the chance that they need to be the mom their children deserve. I’m getting a little misty just thinking about it as I type these words. The character of the warden is there to learn the lesson that we all need to learn, which is to try to see situations from different points of view. He gets a little angelic help in this area, which is quite heavy handed and completely in line with the show’s expectations.

Overall, I again enjoyed this episode as a nostalgic trip down memory lane with a series I grew up watching with my mom. The fact that I got a little emotional is also no surprise because the older I get the more I cry when watching movies and TV shows. The fact that I was bawling in my office while I watched the show at work could have been a little hard to explain… luckily, nobody came by during those waterworks moments.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.8 “All the Colors of the Heart”

Posted on August 7, 2025 by Bradley Crain

Episode 4.8 “All the Colors of the Heart”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 18th, 1987)

This episode brings Jonathan (Michael Landon) and Mark (Victor French) to a summer camp for the blind, where they come into contact with two men. There is Frank Riley (Tom Sullivan), an athletic blind man with a great attitude who has high hopes of gaining his sight and being able to see for the first time in his life. In contrast, there is Scott (Peter Kowanko), a young man who is in the process of rapidly losing his sight and is in complete denial of his new reality. Jonathan and Frank, who also happens to be the man who started the camp, work with Scott in hopes of helping him to face both the physical and the emotional challenges of going blind. Will Frank actually be able to regain his sight? Will Scott be able to accept his condition and find a reason to embrace life again?

Our family watched HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN often during its run in the 80’s. My mom loved the series, and I remember its episodes going straight for the heart. I haven’t revisited it as an adult, and I must admit that I had an enjoyably nostalgic time when I watched this episode today.

While I personally had warm and fuzzy feelings based on the show’s connection to my youth, the content of the episode itself was quite serious. Scott, the young man who is going blind, is basically giving up on life, so much so that he contemplates killing himself. Peter Kowanko, who plays Scott and bears a striking resemblance to actor James Van Der Beek, is pretty good in the part. He spends most of his time screaming at people that they don’t understand what he’s going through. It’s not the most endearing performance, but I can’t help but wonder how I would react in the same position. Heck, I’ve had some of my own health issues recently, and the anxiety that has come along with that has definitely hampered my ability to put others first. I think Tom Sullivan is a little more successful in the role of Frank Riley, the man who has been blind since birth. Sullivan, who is blind in real life, receives a “Story By” credit for this episode, and is reportedly much like the man he portrays here. While some of his scenes do lean heavily into melodrama at the end, his inspiring sense of humor and overall outlook on life gives us glimmers of hope throughout the episode. I did want to point out that Kowanko and Sullivan do almost all of the heavy lifting in the acting department in this episode. While they had some fun interplay at the beginning, I was surprised by how little the characters played by Landon and French factored into the main storyline. I’m going to assume this is the exception and not the norm for the show.

Overall, I enjoyed revisiting this TV series from my youth. This specific episode contains a strong message about the importance of finding the joys in life under the most difficult of circumstances. I think we all need to be reminded of that from time to time, even when we’re not facing the types of challenges that these characters are being forced to deal with. Michael Landon, who directed this episode, got me at the end as I felt some moisture welling up in my own eyes. I’m definitely looking forward to taking a little deeper dive into the series in the near future.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.7 “Amazing Man”

Posted on July 31, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week’s episode of Highway to Heaven deals with death and is the best of season 4 so far.

Episode 4.7 “Amazing Man”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 11th, 1987)

When a cop who was trained by Mark is killed in the line of duty, his family becomes Jonathan and Mark’s next assignment. While Lorraine Douglas (Jane Daly) comes to terms with being a widow and a single mother, her young son (Garrette Ratliff Henson) plays with an Amazing Man action figure and seems to be in denial about his father’s death.

This was a surprisingly low-key episode, up until the final few minutes. That’s when Amazing Man came to life, in the form of Michael Landon wearing a super hero costume. It says something about the sincerity and the likable earnestness of this show that this episode still worked despite having Michael Landon turn into a version of Superman. I mean, really, it should have been a ludicrous scene. It should have made my cynicism go into overdrive. Instead, I couldn’t help but smile. Landon’s big heart came through in this episode.

This was a well-done episode and certainly the best of season four so far. That said, the one-year anniversary of my dad’s death is approaching and this episode was about a father dying and, as a result, it left me feeling rather depressed. I don’t particularly want to spend too much more time thinking about this episode because, right now, that’s just going to make me more depressed. That said, the important thing is that show’s the good intentions came through. This was a sweet episode. I hope everyone involved with it was proud of the final result because they had every right to be.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.6 “Playing for Keeps”

Posted on July 24, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Highway to Heaven makes a mockery of legitimate theater.

Episode 4.6 “Playing for Keeps”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 4th, 1987)

Jonathan and Mark are directing a play!

The play stars movie star Rhett Clark (Eric Douglas, the least talented son of Kirk Douglas). Rhett plays a young man who is struggling to come to terms with the impending death of his father. In the play, Rhett’s father is played by his actual father, Jackie Clark (Donald O’Connor), a old-time comedian who can’t get work anymore.

It’s not an easy rehearsal process. Rhett resents his father. Jackie wants to tell jokes. He wants to put on a dress and a wig because, according to him, all of his fans will want to see him play “Aunt Jackie.” Rhett explains that the play is not a comedy. There’s no room for Aunt Jackie. Really, explaining all of that should have been Jonathan’s job. He’s the director!

The problem with this episode is that we’re supposed to be angry at Rhett for not supporting his father’s attempts to turn the play into a vaudeville comedy but actually, Jackie’s a jerk. Rhett’s a jerk too but he’s a jerk who understands that, when you’re doing a dramatic play, the actor playing a dying man can’t suddenly get out of his hospital bed, duck into a closet, and then come out as Aunt Jackie. An actor ad-libbing dialogue and then turning the play into a comedy because he’s petulant and insecure is not the type of behavior that would be tolerated in all-volunteer community theater, much less on a professional stage. The fact that Jackie is getting paid to appear in the show makes his unprofessional conduct all the more annoying.

This episode puts on the blame on Rhett. We’re meant to see Rhett as the ungrateful son who refuses to see things from his father’s point of view. Because Rhett is being played by Eric Douglas, an actor who did not exactly have the most likable screen presence, it’s easy to blame him. I mean, everyone loves Donald O’Connor, But honestly, Jackie is the jerk here.

How big of a jerk is Jackie? On opening night, he gets mad at his son and does his Aunt Jackie schtick. Somehow, this leads to Rhett and Jackie reconciling and hugging it out while the audience applauds. Honestly, though, it should have led to Jackie being fired. If you’re not going to be professional, you have to go. This episode would have been far more touching if Jackie had been willing to put his ego aside and actually allow his son to have the spotlight for once.

This episode will definitely not be remembered as one of my favorites of the series. In the past, I’ve defended this show’s tendency to go for sentimentality over realism but this episode just pushed things a little too far.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.4 “The People Next Door”

Posted on July 10, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Jonathan and Mark take on prejudice.

Episode 4.4 “The People Next Door”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on October 21st, 1987)

Dr. William Martin (David Spielberg) is living a double life. His family and his neighbors know him as a white doctor who lives in a suburban community and who is a part of the homeowner’s community. He’s told his wife and his son that his parents died before he met them.

His mother knows him as Dr. Guillermo Martinez, who works at the free clinic in the economically disadvantaged area of town. Anna Martinez (Mariam Colon) works as a maid and has no idea that her son is married and that she’s a grandmother.

Guillermo changed his name and lied about his ethnicity so that he could get ahead as a doctor and it’s worked for him. His best friend is Brad Bowman (John Lawlor), the real estate agent who is dedicated to making sure that only “the right people” move into the neighborhood. But when Jonathan and Mark show up as rival real estate agents and hire Anna to help them clean up the house next door, William/Guillermo is forced to face the truth about who he is.

At the start of this episode, Jonathan tells Mark that their assignment is not only to show William the foolishness of denying his heritage but to also help William’s neighbors become more tolerant. They definitely help out William but they don’t really seem to have much luck with the neighbors. Brad Bowman (no relation!) is as much of a bigot at the end of the show as he was at the start. Jonathan and Mark do arrange for a black family to move into the empty house and then Jonathan and Mark promptly leave the neighborhood. So, I guess the responsibility for teaching everyone else tolerance is going to be on the new homeowners. This is one of those episodes where you wish Jonathan had actually gone to extremes to make his point, instead of just arranging for people to run into each other while wandering around the neighborhood. I know that some people would say, “Well, Brad’s just a bad person,” but wasn’t one the original themes of this show that everyone had the potential to see the light, learn the errors of their ways, and be redeemed?

While the show suggested that there was no hope for Brad to see the error of his ways, it also let Guillermo off way too easy. His wife was surprisingly understanding about her husband lying to her for years. And, in the end, his mother was surprisingly forgiving about him lying about the fact that she had a grandson. Jonathan scolded him briefly but that was pretty much it. My grandmother, who came to this country from Franco’s Spain, would not have been as forgiving.

This episode was well-intentioned but didn’t quite work.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.3 “Fight For Your Life”

Posted on July 3, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, it’s a boxing episode.

Episode 4.3 “Fight For Your Life”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on September 30th, 1987)

I’m just going to say it. This episode is pretty bad.

The plot is simple enough. Jonathan and Mark are working as cornermen for boxer Morty “Sailor” Zadan (Michael Shaner). Morty coulda been a contendah, but instead his brother Jerry (Robert Miranda) always arranges for Morty to throw his fights. When Morty meets and trains a young fighter named Billy Ryan (Nick Garfield), he also starts an unlikely romance with Billy’s sister, Julia (Jennifer Parsons). The mob demands that Morty to fight Billy. They offer Billy money to throw the fight and Morty has to decide if he wants Billy to follow his example and become a bum.

As I said, it’s a simple plot but the execution is just terrible. Even by the admittedly generous standards of Highway to Heaven, the story and the dialogue is often corny and the performances are pretty much uniformly bad. At no point did I buy the romance between Morty and Julia. For that matter, I really didn’t buy the idea that Julia would be so excited about her younger brother pursuing a career that would mean getting beaten up every few weeks. By it’s nature, Highway to Heaven tends to be an old-fashioned show. But this episode really did feel like one of those old Warner Bros. B-movies from the 30s. Those movies, of course, hold up well as long as they star James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, or George Raft. Unfortunately, none of those folks show up in this episode. Instead, we just got Micahel Shaner portraying a boxer who seems like he’d lose a game of tic tac toe against Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

Jonathan and Mark don’t do much in this episode. They spend most of the story as just observers. That said, this episode does end with Jonathan beating up a bunch of gangsters, smiling because they don’t have the same powers that he has. Keeping in mind that most gangsters probably do deserve to get beaten up, it still didn’t feel like proper angel behavior.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.2 “Man’s Best Friend, Part 2”

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the fourth season premiere concludes.

Episode 4.2 “Man’s Best Friend Part 2”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on September 23rd, 1987)

Picking up where last week’s episode, this episode opens with Alex (Danny Pintauro) visiting Jake the Siberian Husky at the big home that Jake shares with Jenny (Elisabeth Harnois), her grandfather (William Schallert), and her parents, Paul (Stan Ivar) and Michelle Raines (Laurie Walters).

Yay!

Alex’s attitude improves so much that it’s decided to move him into a foster home.

Uhmm….what about the Raines family?

The surrogate hired to carry Paul and Michelle’s baby loses the baby. Paul and Michelle are heartbroken.

Uhmm….hey, I think Alex needs a family….

Jenny gives Jake to Alex.

Awwww!

Alex’s foster family lives in a building that doesn’t allow pets.

Oh no!

Alex and Jake run away and, after nearly dying in the desert, they end up with the Raines family’s home.

I see where this is going….

If you guessed that Paul and Michelle announce that they’re going to adopt Alex and that Jake is going to continue to live with them on the ranch, congratulations! You could have been a Highway to Heaven writer!

This episode didn’t make me cry as much as last week’s, mostly because it was pretty easy to see where things were heading from the beginning. Even when Alex and Jake were lost in the desert, I knew they would be okay because this is Highway to Heaven. Children and their adorable dogs don’t die on this show. (Except, of course, for those two times that they did. Actually, three times, now that I think about it.) That said, I was still relieved when Jake was rescued because seriously, that dog was adorable!

This was a good conclusion to last week’s episode. Everything worked out for the best. At the end of the episode, Mark said that he understood why “they call them man’s best friend.” Michael nodded and then said, a little sadly, “Shouldn’t man’s best friend be …. man?”

You tell ’em, Hippie Angel!

You tell them.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 4.1 “Man’s Best Friend Part One”

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we start the fourth season of Highway to Heaven. This episode features orphans and dogs! I feel the tears coming….

Episode 4.1 “Man’s Best Friend Part One”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on September 16th, 1987)

Oh, this episode made me cry and cry.

Why? Well, for a couple of reasons….

First off, Jonathan and Mark got new jobs working at a kennel. Many of the dogs at the kennel had been abandoned by their owners and Ms. Lil (Fran Ryan) took care of them all, rather than taking them to the pound. And listen, I’m not a dog person. I’m a cat person. We all know this. But seriously, those dogs were adorable!

A Siberian husky named Jake gets lost. After running across the interstate (gasp!), he finds himself alone at night. Coyotes approach. (OH NO!) Suddenly, Jonathan appears and turns into a lion, scaring the coyotes off. (*sniff* *sniff* I’m okay.)

Every few days, Lil takes the dogs down to the local orphanage — (OH MY GOD!) — and lets them play with the orphans. Jake, now a part of the kennel crew, begs young Alex (Danny Pintauro, who had a much worse experience with a dog in Cujo) to play with him. Alex is shy and introverted but Jake quickly becomes his best friend. Alex starts to come out of his shell and says that he knows he’ll never be separated from Jake. For the first time in his young life, Alex is happy.

(Oh dear.)

The local media does a story on Lil and her dogs. They take a picture of Alex and Jake. The next morning, a young girl named Jenny (Elisabeth Harnois) sees the picture and recognizes Jake. For the past month, she’s been desperately looking for Jake!

(This isn’t good….)

Jenny and her grandfather (William Schallert) pick Jake up from the kennel. Jonathan has to go to the orphanage and tell Alex that his best friend is no longer going to be visiting him.

(Sorry, give me a minute.)

Alex is depressed. Jake is depressed. Jonathan shows at Jenny’s home and asks if Alex can come and visit Jake. Jenny and grandpa say yes. (YAY!)

Suddenly, three dreaded words appear on the screen: “TO BE CONTINUED”

What!? No, there’s no need to continue. Alex and Jake have been reunited, let’s end the story here….

This episode was Highway to Heaven at its most earnest, manipulative, and effective. Not only did it feature orphans but also an adorable dog and William Schallert as a genial authority figure. There was also a subplot about Jenny’s parents trying to have another child with a surrogate and I’m sure that has something to do with that promise of “TO BE CONTINUED.”

Nothing better happen to the dog!