Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.18 “A Child of God”

Posted on January 25, 2024 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!

For this week’s rather sad episode, Jonathan confronts a reverend who has lost his way.

Episode 1.18 “A Child of God”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on February 6th, 1985)

After spending years away, Marsha Stearns (Coleen Maloney) has returned home. She wants her parents, Sarah Stearns (Patricia Smith) and Rev. David Stearns (William Window), to take care of her young daughter, Amy (Natalie Gregory). The Reverend Stearns wants nothing to do with Marsha or his granddaughter because Amy was born out of wedlock. He considers Marsha to be an embarrassment to his church and a sinner who cannot be forgiven.

(Yikes! It looks like Rev. Stearns kind of missed all of the important stuff dealing with forgiveness. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.” That’s Luke 6:37.)

What neither the Reverend nor his wife knows is that Marsha is terminally ill and only has a few weeks to live. However, Marsha’s new neighbor — Jonathan Smith — does know and he confronts the Reverend and rather forcefully denounces him until Reverend Stearns forgives her daughter and visits her in the hospital right before she dies.

This was a pretty sad episode and it did bring some tears to my eyes, largely because it made me think about my mom. That said, the most interesting thing about this episode was how angry Jonathan got at Reverend Stearns and his unforgiving attitude. For the past 17 episodes, Jonathan has been a mellow and peaceful angel who has always recognized that everyone has some good in them. But in this episode, when he confronts the Reverend, there is no way not to notice that Jonathan is truly pissed off. For once, Jonathan doesn’t even hide the fact that he’s an angel. He wants Rev. Stearns to know that he’s in trouble with Jonathan’s boss. And really, it makes sense. Why wouldn’t Jonathan be especially angry at a reverend who is failing in his duties? He and Jonathan both work for the same company and Jonathan obviously sees the Reverend’s attitude as being a personal insult. Jonathan is working hard and Rev. Stearns is screwing everything up.

Rev. Stearns does learn his lesson and embraces humility, though that doesn’t make up for all of the years that he refused to even acknowledge his granddaughter’s existence. The episode ends with him giving a rather lengthy sermon, in which he suggests that maybe he got to hung up on the whole idea of condemning sin when he should have been focusing on loving everyone. It’s a bit of a dull ending. William Windom has the right look for the role but, whenever he has to pretend to preach, he comes across as being a bit dry and stiff. Fortunately, Coleen Maloney is much more convincing and poignant as his estranged daughter.

Next week …. Scotty returns!

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.17 “As Difficult As ABC”

Posted on January 18, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Jonathan and Mark fight drug dealers and promote literacy!

Episode 1.17 “As Difficult As ABC”

(Dir by Victor French, originally aired on January 30th, 1985)

Brian Baldwin (Glenn-Michael Jones) appears to have a great future ahead of him.

Growing up in a poor neighborhood, Brian was tempted to get involved in the gang life, like so many of his friends did. However, Brian turned out to be a great basketball player and was given a full scholarship to a major university. As long as he played basketball and led the team to victory after victory, Brian wouldn’t even have to worry about going to class. As he points out, he got an A in his French class even though he never stepped into the classroom.

However, one day, Brian has chest pains and passes out. When Brian goes to the doctor, he is told that he has a heart condition but that it can be managed. However, Brian will never be able to play basketball again. His coach stops returning Brian’s calls and, when Brian confronts him in the gym, the coach explains that he only cares about winning and Brian can no longer help him do that. The coach complains about wasting a scholarship on Brian.

Brian drops out of school and returns to his old neighborhood. It’s there that he tells his mom (played by Beah Richards) the secret that he’s been hiding. Brian is illiterate! Because he was such a good basketball player, the school system never worried about teaching him anything. Now, Brian has lost his scholarship and, it would appear, his future.

Fortunately, Jonathan and Mark roll into town. Mark gets a job working as a janitor at an adult literacy school. Jonathan gets a job working at the community center. Jonathan encourages Brian to both learn how to read and to date his teacher, Julie Reynolds (Deborah Lacey). (Fear not, they’re the same age.) Brian also gets a job as a neighborhood basketball coach and tries to keep all of his players from getting hooked on drugs.

Luckily, Jonathan and Victor are able to help with the drug situation. They go undercover and, in a rather weird scene that features Jonathan in a leather jacket and Terminator-style shades, they offer to pay the local drug dealer two million dollars in return for cocaine. The dealer agrees to meet with them at the school, where he and his associates steal the briefcase with the money and make a run for it. However, they are grabbed by the cops and suddenly, all of the money in the briefcase turns into cocaine! Off the dealers go to prison. With the dealers gone and Brian reading, it’s time for Jonathan and Mark to move on.

This was one of those well-intentioned episodes that attempted to do a bit too much. Not only did the episode feature Brian learning that he could still be an important member of his community even if he couldn’t play basketball but it also featured him learning to read and trying to clean up the neighborhood. Instead of focusing on one story, this episode focuses on three and, as a result, each story feels a bit rushed and simplistic. Brian is reading in no time and the drug dealers turn out to be pretty easy to fool. This episode is optimistic but rather unconvincing.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway To Heaven 1.16

Posted on January 11, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Mark has a near-death experience.

Episode 1.16 “Going Home, Going Home”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on January 23rd, 1985)

While driving through Oklahoma at night, Mark mentions to Jonathan that they are near the location of his grandfather’s old farm. Jonathan suggests that they stop off to see the farm and see if any of Mark’s old friends are around but Mark explains that he had no friends when he lived with his grandfather. As Mark puts it, he was sent to live with his grandfather after his mother died and he spent the whole time complaining about how much he would have rather stayed back in California. Mark says that his greatest regret is that he never told his grandfather that he loved him.

Awwwww! That’s so sad!

Suddenly, a cow appears in the middle of the road. Mark swerves to avoid it and the car ends up in a ditch. Jonathan, being an immortal angel, is not injured. Mark, however, hits his head on the steering wheel and goes into a coma. A local farmer rushes Jonathan and Mark to the town doctor. When Jonathan tells the comatose Mark that it’s not his time to die, the doctor replies that the time of Mark’s death is up to God.

Yikes!

Mark does eventually wake up. Feeling much better, he goes for a walk around the town with Jonathan. Mark is surprised to see that the town has not changed at all since he lived there. The cars are all vintage. 1930s swing music is playing from the radios. And, on the bridge near the location of his grandfather’s farm, Mark meets a 9 year-old boy (Sean De Veritch) who is reading a copy of Superman #1. The boy says that his name is Mark Gordon.

Jonathan explains that Mark has not woken up at all. He’s still in his coma and now, he’s getting a chance to tell his grandfather that he loves him. But, Jonathan explains, old Mark cannot reveal his true identity so he’ll have to get Young Mark to say the words. Good luck with that, seeing as Young Mark is obsessed with going back to Oakland.

Soon, Mark and Johnathan are working on the farm and helping Carl Fred Simms (John McLiam), who is also Mark’s grandfather, keep his land from falling into the hands of a greedy land developer. To the show’s credit, it doesn’t take much for Old Mark to convince Young Mark to start treating his grandfather with more respect. Old Mark explains that Young Mark will always regret not appreciating his grandfather and that’s all it takes for Young Mark to shape up. Young Mark even finds a the location of an underground well but, by that point, old Carl is already on the verge of death.

This is one of those extremely sentimental and earnest episodes that are pretty much this show’s trademark. It’s not subtle but it is extremely sincere and, as a result, it’s hard not to get caught up in the episode’s emotions. There’s a lot about this episode that would normally bring out my snarky side but everyone seems to be so committed to the story that they’re telling that one has to appreciate their efforts.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.15 “One Winged Angels”

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Jonathan falls in love.

Episode 1.15 “One Winged Angel”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on January 16th, 1985)

This week, Jonathan’s mission seems simple.

Libby Hall (Robin Dearden) is a widow who owns a small hotel, one that she manages with her mother (Peggy McCay). Libby’s son, Max (a young Wil Wheaton), has been struggling without a father figure in his life and has reached the point where he now regularly acts out and refuses to obey his mother. He’s so obnoxious that guests will often check out of the hotel early rather than spend another minute around him. The owner of the local gas station, Earl (John Lawlor), has a crush on Libby but he is too shy to ask her out. It doesn’t help that Earl knew Libby’s late husband and he feels guilty about liking her.

When Jonathan and Mark show up at the hotel, it’s obvious what is meant to happen. Jonathan just has to help Max deal with his anger and help Earl summon up the courage to ask out Libby. Jonathan says that mission is so simple that Mark can spend the whole week fishing. Mark’s excited about that!

Except …. uh-oh! Jonathan starts to fall in love with Libby and Libby starts to fall for him. Max is soon looking up to Jonathan and asking him if he wants to throw the old football around. Earl can only watch helplessly. Jonathan explains to Mark that he knows what his mission is but he can’t help how he feels about Libby. Mark suggests that maybe “the boss” wants Jonathan to be reminded of what it feels like to be human.

Well, no worries! With Jonathan struggling with his feelings, Mark takes it upon himself to go out fishing with Earl. He tells Earl that he and Jonathan travel from town to town, get involved in people’s lives, and then move on. Mark isn’t lying but Earl takes it to mean that Jonathan is just leading Libby on. This gives Earl the courage to tell Jonathan how he feels about Libby (and to also tell Jonathan not to hurt her). Realizing the Libby and Earl are meant to be together, Jonathan checks out of the hotel and tells Libby and Max that it’s time for him to move on. Libby and especially Max are upset but things brighten up when Earl shows up. He not only offers to give Max a job at the garage (and to also throw around the football with the kid) but he finally asks Libby out on a date.

This was a pretty sad episode, all things considered. Earl and Libby are finally together and it’s obvious that they belong together but Jonathan is still really depressed as Mark drives him out of town. But, seriously, Jonathan had to know about the dangers of falling in love with a human woman. As an angel, he has surely read the Book of Enoch and knows about the Nephilim. All that aside, this was a very sincere and a very earnest episode about lost love and it was nicely done.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.14 “Plane Death”

Posted on December 28, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Jonathan and Mark enlist in the War on Drugs.

Episode 1.14 “Plane Death”

(Dir by Victor French, originally aired on January 9th, 1985)

In a small town in California, a man named Charlie Down (Robert Ford) drives his big family car down an isolated car. One thing that that is immediately noticeable is that Charlie has a gigantic pair of fuzzy dice hanging from his rearview mirror. That’s rarely a good sign. The other thing that is immediately noticeable is that a remote control airplane is flying over the landscape. As the audience will soon learn, the people in this town are obsessed with remote control airplanes. That’s because drug dealer Jack Harm (Michael Bowen), the son of the local sheriff, is using the airplanes to smuggle cocaine. When one of the planes crashes, Charlie rushes out to it and grabs the cocaine for himself. He is pursued by Jack and his gang. Charlie runs away from them. An off-screen gunshot is heard.

What Jack doesn’t know is that the man that he murdered is an old friend of Mark Gordon’s (Victor French). For the past few months, Mark has been on the road with angel Jonathan Smith (Michael Landon). They’ve been taking care of people all over America. But right now, they are between assignments. They show up in town so that Mark can see his friend but, shortly after arriving, Mark is informed that Charlie has gone missing. It doesn’t take Mark long to figure out what happened. He announces that he’s going to get revenge, “just like in the Bible, eye for an eye.”

Fortunately, Jonathan is there to keep Mark from doing something that he might regret. Before Mark can drive down to the local bar, Jonathan arranges for the police and the FBI to show up and take Jack and his gang into custody. Jack’s father can only watch in disappointment as his son is taken off to prison. When Mark thanks Jonathan for keeping him from making a mistake, Jonathan replies that he’s sure Mark would have stopped himself from killing anyone. Mark says that he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself and Victor French’s delivery of the line is so somber and serious that there’s little doubt he was prepared to kill everyone in town.

At Charlie’s funeral, his young son (played by David Faustino) announces that he’s going to become a cop so that no other kids have to feel as bad as he feel right now. Jonathan says that Charlie would be proud to hear that. Mark asks Jonathan if the country is ever going to be able to win the war on drugs.

“If they don’t,” Jonathan replies, “they’re may not be a country to worry about.”

Yikes! Setting aside the ultimate futility of the War on Drugs (which far too often became a war on addicts as opposed to war on the people making money off of them), this episode was actually pretty well-done. Mark’s intense anger was perfectly portrayed, making him a bit frightening even if you understood his desire for revenge. Michael Bowen’s superficially friendly psychopath was easy to dislike. This was one of those episodes where the viewer appreciates the sincerity of the show’s emotions even if the legacy of the War on Drugs has ultimately been one of failure.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 1.13 “Another Song For Christmas”

Posted on December 21, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s time for a Christmas episode!

Episode 1.13 “Another Song For Christmas”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on December 19th, 1984)

Oh, that Fast Eddie!

Played by the familiar character actor Geoffrey Lewis, Fast Eddie is a wealthy used car salesman. He knows how to turn on the charm. He knows how to close the sale. Fast Eddie may have grown up poor but now he’s rich and he’s determined to not sacrifice one cent. It’s the day before Christmas but Fast Eddie has no problem refusing to give money to charity. He has no problem ripping off an elderly couple looking for an affordable car. He has no problem firing Dave Ratchett (Jeff Doucette) when Dave refuses to roll back a car’s mileage. Fast Eddie doesn’t care that Dave’s son is sick and Fast Eddie certainly doesn’t care that it’s Christmas Eve. He even orders his butler (Ivor Barry) to work on Christmas Day.

Jonathan and Mark stop by Fast Eddie’s car lot but they don’t buy a car. They just observe Fast Eddie at work. After they leave, Mark watches as Jonathan has a brief conversation with Santa Claus (Don Beddoe). It turns out that, like Fast Eddie, Mark doesn’t really have the Christmas spirit. Jonathan suggests that Mark should re-read A Christmas Carol. Mark starts to read it but falls asleep after the first page.

Meanwhile, at his mansion, Fast Eddie also falls asleep but is soon awakened by Jonathan who takes him to the past and shows Eddie how his poor childhood led him to grow up to become overly obsessed with money. Mark then appears and shows Eddie what’s happening in the present. Eddie’s lawyers are trying to shut down a charity so that Eddie can buy their headquarters. Poor Dave Ratchett is having to explain to his family that he lost his job. Eddie is moved by the sight of Dave’s wheelchair-bound son, who will die unless he gets the operation that Dave will now never be able to afford. Finally, Jonathan takes him to the future and shows Eddie that no one will visit his grave after he dies.

Eddie wakes up infused with the spirit of Christmas and soon, he’s running around town and giving people, including Dave, all of his money and other gifts. Interestingly enough, Mark also wakes up and he tells Jonathan that he had a dream in which he was the Ghost of Christmas Present. Just like Eddie, Mark wakes up with a new appreciation for the Christmas holidays.

I’ve lost track of how many different version of A Christmas Carol that I’ve seen. The idea of turning Scrooge into a used car salesman is an interesting one and I liked the fact that Eddie and Mark apparently both had the same dream. This may be the only time in which one of the “ghosts” learned a lesson as well as Scrooge. That said, Geoffrey Lewis — who was good in so many different films — goes a bit overboard as Fast Eddie. He’s so desperate and twitchy that it’s easy to believe him as a used car salesman but not as a successful one.

Next week, Jonathan and Mark search for a missing friend.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.12 “Hotel of Dreams”

Posted on December 14, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Mark and Jonathan work at a hotel …. a hotel of dreams!

Episode 1.12 “Hotel of Dreams”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on December 12th, 1984)

Barry Rudd (Brian Kerwin) may be the son of a wealthy hotel owner but he’s far more comfortable living out in the country, wearing denim and flannel, and helping to raise goats. However, one day, Barry is summoned to his father’s hotel. His father even sends a helicopter out to get him. Barry gets on the helicopter but he insists on bringing his goat with him.

At the hotel, Barry’s father (Jacques Aubuchon) explains that he’s gotten married to a woman who is much younger than him and he needs Barry to run the hotel while he’s on his honeymoon. Barry is stuck running the snootiest hotel in California, despite the fact that he doesn’t even own a suit and all he really wants to do is look after his goat. Unfortunately, the hotel has a lot of problems. The manager (played by Dean Dittman) is a mean-spirited snob who takes bribes from the guests. A child (Douglas Emerson) is running wild through the halls of the hotel, all because his father is too busy working to keep an eye on him. Saintly maid Elena (Julie Carmen) does the best job that she can but she’s looked down upon by the guests and the hotel’s manager.

Can Barry solve all of the hotel’s problems and also find time to attend his high school reunion? Will he stay true to himself or will he sell out in an effort to impress people like his former classmate, Allison Rutledge (Judith-Marie Bergan)? It’s not going to be easy and Barry doesn’t even know where to begin. Fortunately, he has some help. The hotel’s two new bellhops are Jonathan Smith and Mark Gordon!

Especially when compared to the previous two episodes, Hotel of Dreams is a rather light-hearted episode. There’s nothing particularly surprising to be found in this episode. Of course, Allison is going to turn out to be a total snob. Of course, Elena is going to help Barry take care of his goat. Of course, Barry and Elena are going to fall in love and end up together, all with the help of Jonathan. And, of course, Mark is going to become a surrogate father figure for the bratty kid. This is a thoroughly pleasant if not particularly memorable episode, one that plays out more like a pilot for a show about the hotel than an episode about an angel trying to make the world a better place. Brian Kerwin and Julie Carmen make for an attractive couple and, as the episode ends, you can’t help but hope that Barry and Elena are going spend the rest of their lives raising goats together.

There is an unfortunate moment in this episode when Jonathan gives Mark a hard time for smoking. When Jonathan tells Mark that he could die if he doesn’t stop smoking, Mark replies that everyone has to die of something. Mark then asks Jonathan what cause his death.

“Lung cancer,” Jonathan replies.

Victor French, who played Mark, would die of lung cancer just five years later. Shortly afterwards, Michael Landon would also die of cancer.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.11 “Dust Child”

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Jonathan offers up some clues about his past.

Episode 1.11 “Dust Child”

(Dir by Victor French, originally aired on November 28th, 1984)

Mark and Jonathan’s latest mission finds them in a small California town. It seems like a nice and welcoming community …. or, at least, it does if you’re an American. If you are one of the many refugees from Vietnam who have recently settled in the town, it’s a far less welcoming place.

When Mark goes into a gas station, he witnesses the owner refusing to give change to two Vietnamese kids. When Mark demands to know why, he’s told that the refugees are coming over and stealing everyone’s jobs.

“It’s a sickness worse than the plague,” Jonathan later says, “But the cure is in every one of us …. love!” And that may sound a bit simplistic but Michael Landon delivers the line with such conviction that he totally makes it work.

Working as house painters, Jonathan and Mark get a job remodeling the home of Richard Gaines (James Whitmore, Jr.), a Vietnam vet who has just discovered that, as the result of a wartime romance, he has a daughter named Nguyen (Denice Kumagai). 15 year-old Nguyen comes over to America to live with Richard and his wife (Jenny Sullivan) and his teenage son, Brad Gaines (Billy Jacoby). From the minute she arrives in the town, Nguyen finds herself facing prejudice. The other kids at school taunt her with derogatory slurs. Brad resents both the attention that Nguyen gets and the fact that his best friend, Larry (K.C. Martel), now refuses to talk to Brad because Larry’s father was killed while serving in Vietnam.

Eventually, Jonathan introduces himself to Larry and we discover a little bit about who Jonathan was before he became an angel. Jonathan says that he served in Vietnam with Larry’s father and he goes on to explain that Larry’s father died while protecting a group of South Vietnamese orphans from the Viet Cong. As Jonathan explains it, Larry’s father viewed the orphans as his own children. That’s all it takes for both Larry and Brad to see the errors of their ways and to welcome Nguyen into the neighborhood.

(Is Jonathan telling the truth about serving in Vietnam with Larry’s father? Jonathan’s an angel so I assume that he is. That, of course, means that this episode’s mission was not to help Nguyen feel at home in America but instead to help Larry overcome his own prejudice.)

As Jonathan and Mark prepare to leave for their next assignment, two kids on bicycles ride by and shout a slur at Nguyen. They immediately fall of their bicycles and, when they try to get back on, they fall off yet again. Mark laughs and says that God probably won’t object to Jonathan making that happen. Of course, if Mark read about what happened to the Canaanites, he would know those two kids got off easy.

Especially when compared to last week’s odd episode, this was an admirably straight-forward episode. There weren’t any great surprises to how the story unfolded but the story was told with such obvious sincerity that it worked. It can be easy to laugh at this show’s lack of subtlety but, in an episode like this, the lack of subtlety worked to the show’s advantage. Personally, I’ve gotten so used to snarky entertainment that it can be a bit of a pleasant surprise to watch something like this that is totally earnest and well-intentioned. This was a heartfelt episode and, in its old-fashioned way, it still holds up today.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Highway to Heaven 1.10 “Help Wanted: Angel”

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Mark falls in love and Jonathan directs a movie.

Episode 1.10 “Help Wanted: Angel”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on November 21st, 1984)

This is a strange episode.

The first half of the episode plays out like almost a parody of Highway to Heaven. In fact, I would assume that it was a parody except for the fact that this was only the show’s tenth episode and that’s a bit early for any show to start intentionally parodying itself.

Still in Hollywood, Jonathan and Mark come across a sign that has been posted by someone named Joey. “Angels Needed,” the sign says. The sign has an address that turns out to be a community center, one that is populated by a mix of cranky retired people and young criminals. The center’s maintenance worker is a developmentally challenged young man named Joey Smalls (Dennis Fimple). Joey put up his sign because he wants an angel to help an elderly screenwriter named Martin Lamm (John Lormer). Martin has written a script about a magician and he wants to not only make the film but also fill the cast with people from the neighborhood.

No sooner have Mark and Jonathan stepped into the community center and met Joey and Martin then they are suddenly joined by a man named Petros (Al Ruscio). Petros speaks in a thick Greek accent and he says that he has also seen Joey’s sign, he has read Martin’s script, and he wants to produce the movie. And he wants Jonathan to direct it and Mark to play the role of a sea captain who falls in love with a woman who has “a past,” as Petros puts it. As the woman, they cast Stella (Stella Stevens), who actually does have a past.

We then jump forward several weeks. Jonathan is directing the film, even though he doesn’t seem to have a crew and we don’t actually see any cameras filming anything. Joey has impressed everyone with the sincerity of his acting and he is now friends with former gang member, Chewy (Randy Vasquez). Mark, meanwhile, is falling in love with Stella.

So, that’s the first half of the episode. It’s all very broadly acted and the dialogue frequently crosses the line from sentimental to mawkish. I have to admit that I rolled my eyes more than a few times because it all felt so overdone.

But then, the second half of the episode opens with Petros approaching Jonathan. Jonathan asks Petros about his past. Petros says that he was born in Galilee and that, before starting his current line of work, he was a fisherman. Jonathan realizes that Petros is actually St. Peter and he’s been sent down to help Jonathan out with his mission. It turns out that Jonathan’s mission is not really about Joey or Martin. Instead, it’s about Stella, who is going to die and it’s about Mark, who is about to lose the woman that he’s fallen in love with. Realizing that Stella’s character is also going to die in the movie that he’s supposedly directing, Jonathan asks if they can just rewrite the script but Peter tells him that they can’t. What is going to happen is going to happen.

And it does happen, though not before Mark asks Stella to marry him and Stella says yes. When she finds out that she’s ill, Stella leaves Mark a note saying that she’s dumping him for an ex-boyfriend. At first, Mark is angry but, with Jonathan’s help, he realizes the truth. Mark finds Stella waiting for him on the beach where they filmed their scenes for the movie and they get married as the ocean crashes behind them. And then, off-screen, Stella dies.

And I went from rolling my eyes to actually wiping away tears because, as broad and kind of annoying as the first half of the episode was, the second half was sensitively directed by Michael Landon and sincerely acted by both Victor French and Stella Stevens. If the first half felt like a parody, the second half was a reminder of why this show still remains popular on so many streaming platforms. At its best, there was an unapologetic earnestness to Highway to Heaven. This was a show that said that it was okay to cry and to have emotions and to care about people. This was a strange episode but, ultimately, a surprisingly effective one.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Highway to Heaven 1.9 “Catch A Falling Star”

Posted on November 23, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the highway leads to Hollywood!

Episode 1.9 “Catch a Falling Star”

(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on Nov. 14, 1984)

In this rather slight episode, Daniel Davis plays movie star Lance Gaylord. Lance is both producing and starring in a western and he’s so dedicated to the film that he rarely sees his two children, Brock (Bobby Jacoby) and Karen (Emily Moultrie). His son has been acting out and Lance thinks that it’s just because the kid is a brat and he’s upset about his parents getting divorced. The truth, of course, is that Brock just wants his father’s attention.

Jonathan and Mark show up on the set of Lance’s movie and explain that they’ve been sent over by the Darwin Agency. (An angel who works for the Darwin Agency? Take that, secular humanism!) Lance tells Jonathan and Mark to keep an eye on his kids while he’s shooting his movie.

The problem is an obvious one. How can Jonathan get Lance to spend more time with his children, especially his angry son? Well, maybe the child star who is appearing in the movie could come down with the chicken pox. And then, maybe with Jonathan’s encouragement, Brock could try out for the role. At first, Lance angrily says that he will not even allow his son to audition but when Brock runs away from home and Jonathan yells at him for not being there for his son, Lance realizes the errors of his ways. When Brock returns home, he gets his audition and he gets the role. He also finally gets to go fishing with his dad.

Probably the most interesting thing about this episode is how little actually happens. It really doesn’t take much for Lance to see the errors of his ways. He just needs Jonathan to yell at him for a minute or two. The whole thing epitomizes the feel-good blandness that the show was known for. In the end, Lance isn’t a bad father. He just needed to be reminded to do what was right. Myself, I’m more concerned with the fact that Lance’s film looks way too old-fashioned to be a hit, even in the 80s. As soon as I saw Lance dressed up like a cowboy, I thought to myself, “Oh, this movie is going to be such a flop that careers are going to end.” Hopefully, Lance is keeping productions costs down or he might never work in Hollywood again.

This episode’s big scene actually doesn’t have anything to do with Lance or his children. Instead, it comes when Jonathan and Mark go to a grocery store and end up getting confronted by a junkie (Dennis A. Pratt) with a gun. With the junkie attempts to shoot Jonathan, Jonathan snatches the bullet out of the air. At the police drag him away, the junkie shouts that he’s never going to drugs again. Obviously, Jonathan and Mark were changing lives everywhere!

Next week, Jonathan and Mark help out on another film set!