| Highway to Heaven | |
|---|---|
| Format | Family Drama |
| Directed by | William F. Claxton Victor French Dan Gordon Kevin Inch Michael Landon |
| Starring | Michael Landon Victor French |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 111 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Michael Landon |
| Producer(s) | Kent McCray |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Michael Landon Productions |
| Distributor | Genesis Entertainment |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | August 19, 1984 – August 1, 1989 |
Highway to Heaven is an American television drama series which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The series aired for five seasons, running a total of 111 episodes.
Contents |
The series stars Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent down to earth "on probation", and his human companion Mark Gordon, played by Victor French, Landon's co-star from Little House on the Prairie. Jonathan and Mark are given "assignments" by "The Boss" (God) where they are required to use their humanity (and sometimes a little bit of "The Stuff") in order to help various troubled souls to overcome their problems. Examples of these problems include families dealing with sick loved ones; wealthy and greedy businessmen being encouraged to use their wealth for good; and discouraging prejudice in regards to people of different ethnicities, appearances, or socioeconomic backgrounds or who have disabilities. While dealing with these situations with sensitivity, Highway to Heaven also used humor – particularly between Jonathan and Mark. Their personalities often clashed (Jonathan being more sensible and compassionate but naive, and Mark being more pragmatic and cynical), but they always supported each other. Jonathan's mission on Earth was to do enough good so that he could earn his wings and, presumably, ascend to heaven. Due to the close relationship that builds between Jonathan and Mark, this becomes a contentious issue as Mark doesn't want to lose his friend to "The Boss" and sometimes tries to prevent it from happening.[1]
Guest stars Devon Odessa, Alyson Croft, and Joshua John Miller all won Young Artist Awards for their appearances. Landon's Bonanza co-star Lorne Greene appeared in a 1985 episode. Landon's Little House on the Prairie co-star Matthew Laborteaux appeared in the Season 1 episode "The Right Thing". Moses Gunn, who also co-starred on Little House on the Prairie and starred on Father Murphy, appeared in the Season 2 episode "Popcorn, Peanuts and Cracker Jacks". Barbara Stuart appeared as Carla in the 1986 two-part episode "Love and Marriage". In his last roles, Tyler McVey appeared in separate episodes in 1985 and 1986 as a minister. Don Keefer portrayed Dr. Washburn in the 1986 episode "For the Love of Larry". Anthony Zerbe played a servant of the devil in the episode "The Devil and Jonathan Smith". In the May 1985 2 part episode, "The Thoroughbred", Helen Hunt starred as a young and expectant mother with cancer. In Season 3, episode 9 "Code Named Freak", a young Jeff B. Davis guest starred as a twelve year old boy genius in college. Davis is known for his guest appearances in Whose Line is it Anyway? and regular appearance on Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza, both shows of improvisation.
Other notable guest stars include:
Filming locations included Los Angeles, Simi Valley, Stanislaus National Forest, and Tuolumne County, all in California. In addition, the pilot episode from 1984 was partially filmed along Dawn Road, south of Tucson, Arizona. The footage of Jonathan walking before being picked up by Mark was filmed in Tucson and along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton, California.
The theme tune for Highway to Heaven was performed by David Rose.
In June 1988, NBC decided that the fifth season would be the last, since the show was falling in the ratings. The show was removed from the 1988 fall schedule and used as a mid-season replacement in 1989. This change was explained by Michael Landon on an appearance he made on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in early 1989 and is why the episodes, which were originally filmed in the fall of 1988, did not air until the late spring and into the summer of 1989 (the last episode aired on August 1, 1989). The series ending was due to it being canceled by the network and was not due to Victor French's death in June 1989 from lung cancer.
The series currently airs in syndication on cable networks the GMC, INSP - Inspiration, and the digital network RTV.
In Region 1, A&E Home Video (under license from the estate and production company of Michael Landon) released the first 3 seasons on DVD in 2005-2006. The episodes contained on these releases are the edited, syndicated versions and not the original broadcast versions. Due to poor sales, the final two seasons were never released.
In Region 2, Paramount Home Entertainment & CBS DVD have released all 5 seasons on DVD in France under the title "Les Routes Du Paradis". The Box Art depicts the eye of Horus for some reason. Seasons 1-4 have been released in Germany under the title "Ein Engel auf Erden", while in the Netherlands, the first two seasons have been released on DVD.[2][3]
In Region 4, Paramount Home Entertainment & CBS DVD have released the first 3 seasons on DVD in Australia. The episodes contained on these releases are edited, syndicated versions and not the original broadcast versions. Seasons 4 and 5 were to be released on DVD on December 24, 2009 but the releases never materialized. It is unknown when the final two seasons will be released. The Australian Region 4 DVD releases do not contain the Region 1 DVD Extras, but do have English and French soundtracks and subtitles.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Dates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 (France) | Region 2 (Germany) | Region 4 | ||
| Season 1 | 24 | April 26, 2005 | April 17, 2008[4] | December 11, 2008[5] | April 10, 2008[6] |
| Season 2 | 24 | August 30, 2005 | October 9, 2008[7] | March 5, 2009[8] | September 4, 2008[9] |
| Season 3 | 25 | March 28, 2006 | June 18, 2009[10] | December 12, 2009[11] | April 2, 2009[12] |
| Season 4 | 24 | N/A | June 18, 2009[13] | March 4, 2010[14] | N/A |
| Season 5 | 13 | N/A | December 1, 2009[15] | N/A | N/A |