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Highway to Heaven
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Highway to Heaven
Highway to Heaven is an American fantasy drama television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 1984, to August 4, 1989. The series starred its creator and co-director Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth to help people in need. Victor French, Landon's co-star from his previous television series, Little House on the Prairie, co-starred as Mark Gordon, a retired policeman who travels with and helps Smith with the tasks or "assignments" to which he is referred. Landon directed most of the show's episodes, and French directed many of the remaining ones. It was Landon's third and final TV series and his only one set in the present day, unlike Little House on the Prairie, and Landon's first TV series, Bonanza, both of which were Westerns. It was the final screen appearance for French, who died two months before the final episode aired, aged 54 years old; Landon went on to appear in two films, one of which was a pilot for a new series, before his death at 54 in 1991.
Highway to Heaven aired for five seasons, running a total of 111 episodes. It consistently earned respectable ratings; it was in the Nielsen Top 20 in its first season, and ranked in the Top 40 for its first four seasons.
Jonathan Smith is a "probationary" angel sent to Earth to help people in need. In the course of an "assignment", he meets Mark Gordon, an embittered retired policeman now bouncing from job to job. At first distrustful of Jonathan, Mark helps him complete his assignment and comes to believe in his true nature. He volunteers to assist Jonathan in helping troubled people on Earth, feeling that Jonathan needs a companion in his lonely mission, and "The Boss" (a.k.a. God) approves. Jonathan and Mark are given assignments in which they help troubled souls overcome their problems.
Each episode typically begins with Jonathan and Mark arriving in a new city and taking jobs as business employees or civil service workers as part of their latest assignment. Due to Jonathan's angelic nature, the two can work as police officers, medical personnel, teachers, social workers or other skilled employees (background checks or employment history verification being divinely provided or somehow never looked into), allowing for a variety of identities and scenarios. Both Jonathan and Mark face the same difficulties as people on Earth trying to rectify these problems and have little to aid them beyond a bare outline of their assignment. At certain times Jonathan presents gifts to others, such as decorating a drab nursing home with flowers or giving someone a bicycle. These material gifts likely come from "The Boss", but when asked, he answers only "A friend of mine provided them." When necessary, "The Boss" provides the protagonists with divine intervention or as Jonathan and Mark refer to it, "The Stuff". An early season-one episode, "The Return of the Masked Rider", establishes that Jonathan is not given "The Stuff" if he acts contrary to God's will. This rule would be often referred to in later episodes but would also be at times ignored or forgotten; for example, in the episode "The Secret" Jonathan uses "The Stuff" in direct defiance of God's orders.
Early episodes generally left it ambiguous whether Jonathan is an angel in the original sense of the term or a deceased human being, but the cold open of the season-one episode "Hotel of Dreams" has a scene in which Jonathan mentions to Mark that he died of lung cancer attributed to his tobacco smoking habit. In the season-two episode "Keep Smiling" it is revealed that "Jonathan Smith" is Arthur Thompson, a man who lived on Earth from September 7, 1917 to March 21, 1948. The season three episode "Love at Second Sight" further explains that angels sent to Earth are given different bodies so that they will not be recognized by anyone who knew them when they were alive.
The series aimed to address contemporary social and emotional issues with sensitivity, and also with humor, particularly between Jonathan and Mark. Their personalities often clash (Jonathan being more sensible and compassionate, but sometimes naïve, and Mark being more pragmatic and cynical), but they always support each other. Jonathan's mission on Earth is to do enough good to gain his wings and, presumably, ascend to Heaven. As Jonathan and Mark develop a close relationship and Jonathan is in better favor with his superiors, Mark is torn between losing his best friend as opposed to being happy for Jonathan's being promoted to Heaven and considers impeding the process.
Recalling how he came up with the idea for Highway to Heaven, director/executive producer/star Michael Landon said, "I was driving through Beverly Hills to pick up my kids on a Friday night, and people were honking at each other. There is no worse place for that than Beverly Hills; I think when people have a little bit more money, they believe that the Red Sea will part and their car will go forward. And I thought, 'Why is everybody so angry? If they would just spend that same time being nice ... It’s obvious the flow of traffic is going to go much better if everybody has his opportunity.'"
NBC executives were skeptical when Landon pitched the idea to them, feeling it would be an easy target for television critics, but Landon was persistent, even vowing that if the pilot episode failed to perform well with test audiences, he would produce a second pilot for the series for no pay.
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Highway to Heaven
Highway to Heaven is an American fantasy drama television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 1984, to August 4, 1989. The series starred its creator and co-director Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth to help people in need. Victor French, Landon's co-star from his previous television series, Little House on the Prairie, co-starred as Mark Gordon, a retired policeman who travels with and helps Smith with the tasks or "assignments" to which he is referred. Landon directed most of the show's episodes, and French directed many of the remaining ones. It was Landon's third and final TV series and his only one set in the present day, unlike Little House on the Prairie, and Landon's first TV series, Bonanza, both of which were Westerns. It was the final screen appearance for French, who died two months before the final episode aired, aged 54 years old; Landon went on to appear in two films, one of which was a pilot for a new series, before his death at 54 in 1991.
Highway to Heaven aired for five seasons, running a total of 111 episodes. It consistently earned respectable ratings; it was in the Nielsen Top 20 in its first season, and ranked in the Top 40 for its first four seasons.
Jonathan Smith is a "probationary" angel sent to Earth to help people in need. In the course of an "assignment", he meets Mark Gordon, an embittered retired policeman now bouncing from job to job. At first distrustful of Jonathan, Mark helps him complete his assignment and comes to believe in his true nature. He volunteers to assist Jonathan in helping troubled people on Earth, feeling that Jonathan needs a companion in his lonely mission, and "The Boss" (a.k.a. God) approves. Jonathan and Mark are given assignments in which they help troubled souls overcome their problems.
Each episode typically begins with Jonathan and Mark arriving in a new city and taking jobs as business employees or civil service workers as part of their latest assignment. Due to Jonathan's angelic nature, the two can work as police officers, medical personnel, teachers, social workers or other skilled employees (background checks or employment history verification being divinely provided or somehow never looked into), allowing for a variety of identities and scenarios. Both Jonathan and Mark face the same difficulties as people on Earth trying to rectify these problems and have little to aid them beyond a bare outline of their assignment. At certain times Jonathan presents gifts to others, such as decorating a drab nursing home with flowers or giving someone a bicycle. These material gifts likely come from "The Boss", but when asked, he answers only "A friend of mine provided them." When necessary, "The Boss" provides the protagonists with divine intervention or as Jonathan and Mark refer to it, "The Stuff". An early season-one episode, "The Return of the Masked Rider", establishes that Jonathan is not given "The Stuff" if he acts contrary to God's will. This rule would be often referred to in later episodes but would also be at times ignored or forgotten; for example, in the episode "The Secret" Jonathan uses "The Stuff" in direct defiance of God's orders.
Early episodes generally left it ambiguous whether Jonathan is an angel in the original sense of the term or a deceased human being, but the cold open of the season-one episode "Hotel of Dreams" has a scene in which Jonathan mentions to Mark that he died of lung cancer attributed to his tobacco smoking habit. In the season-two episode "Keep Smiling" it is revealed that "Jonathan Smith" is Arthur Thompson, a man who lived on Earth from September 7, 1917 to March 21, 1948. The season three episode "Love at Second Sight" further explains that angels sent to Earth are given different bodies so that they will not be recognized by anyone who knew them when they were alive.
The series aimed to address contemporary social and emotional issues with sensitivity, and also with humor, particularly between Jonathan and Mark. Their personalities often clash (Jonathan being more sensible and compassionate, but sometimes naïve, and Mark being more pragmatic and cynical), but they always support each other. Jonathan's mission on Earth is to do enough good to gain his wings and, presumably, ascend to Heaven. As Jonathan and Mark develop a close relationship and Jonathan is in better favor with his superiors, Mark is torn between losing his best friend as opposed to being happy for Jonathan's being promoted to Heaven and considers impeding the process.
Recalling how he came up with the idea for Highway to Heaven, director/executive producer/star Michael Landon said, "I was driving through Beverly Hills to pick up my kids on a Friday night, and people were honking at each other. There is no worse place for that than Beverly Hills; I think when people have a little bit more money, they believe that the Red Sea will part and their car will go forward. And I thought, 'Why is everybody so angry? If they would just spend that same time being nice ... It’s obvious the flow of traffic is going to go much better if everybody has his opportunity.'"
NBC executives were skeptical when Landon pitched the idea to them, feeling it would be an easy target for television critics, but Landon was persistent, even vowing that if the pilot episode failed to perform well with test audiences, he would produce a second pilot for the series for no pay.