The BEST episodes of Highway to Heaven
Every episode of Highway to Heaven ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Highway to Heaven!
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. Jonathan and Mark are given "assignments" by "The Boss" (God) where they are required to use their humanity 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. Jonathan's mission on Earth is 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 does not want to lose his friend, and sometimes tries to prevent it from happening.
#1 - Keep Smiling
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/5/1986
Jonathan is given one of the most emotional assignments he's ever had ... to help his own widow regain her love for life.
#2 - Wally
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/14/1987
Jonathan and Mark tag along with an elderly street puppeteer who's also an angel - but doesn't know it.
#3 - The Gift of Life
Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 5/6/1987
Jonathan and Mark's latest assignment is to try and get cold hearted businessman R.R. Benson to change his ways. When subtlety fails, Jonathan decides to try the direct approach and tell Benson who he is and why he is here. When Benson refuses to change, Jonathan tells him to read the Bible. And it's during the night that a burglar breaks in and shoots Benson. Later Jonathan and Mark find Benson but he's now a spirit. That's when Jonathan takes him on a tour of his life and what he has done. Upon seeing that Jonathan tells him he's being given the opportunity to relive the last week of his life. And he tries to do the right thing this time.
#4 - Time in a Bottle
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/20/1988
When a homeless man is arrested for robbery, Jonathan tries to get the man's friend, another homeless man who was a lawyer to defend him. It appears that the D.A. prosecuting the case is taking a hard line because a powerful man wants to get rid of the homeless people.
#6 - Birds of a Feather
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/6/1985
Out of fear of losing their jobs, workers at a factory ignore ground-water contamination (even though the contamination is making their children sick), and Jonathan must resort to drastic measures to force them to face the facts - but the consequences may be just as fatal to him.
#7 - To Bind the Wounds
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/19/1986
Jonathan and Mark help a whole town to remember how a young soldier who was killed in Vietnam touched their lives when the attempts of his father to have a memorial made to commemorate his son are ignored.
#8 - The Monster (1)
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/4/1985
Julian Bradley is a young artist with a facial deformity that is treated badly by the town folks. Julian meets a blind girl named Rachel and they fall in love, but an operation that could restore Rachel's sight may also destroy Julian's hopes for love.
#9 - Parents' Day
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/25/1987
Jonathan and Mark, as police detectives investigating drug selling in schools, become involved when the son of a famous news anchorman and leading anti-drug proponent learns that his father is a secret cocaine user and informs the police, leading to a cover-up and betrayal of trust by the father.
#10 - Going Home, Going Home
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/23/1985
Mark gets a chance to go back in time to tell his grandfather that he loved him. Mark also gets to help his grandfather said his farm for repossession but he must get Mark Jr. to tell his grandfather that he loves him and would rather stay with him.
#11 - A Father's Faith
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/4/1987
When Jonathan and Mark decide to take some time off, they visit Mark's friends to go fishing. When they arrive, they discover, the son of Mark's friends was in an accident a few years ago and after being taken off life support is still alive and is a convalescent home. And the father spends all his time with his son practically ignoring his wife. And the tension between them causes problems for their daughter who hasn't visited her brother because she was with her brother when he had his accident.
#12 - Heaven on Earth
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/26/1986
Mark becomes deeply stricken with grief after believing he caused two tragedies involving young girls - one of them a victim of a car accident, the other trapped in a house fire - in a matter of hours. That, along with a litany of other complaints, prompts Mark to make a demand: That Jonathan erase everything that's happened and allow him to create his own vision of "Heaven on Earth."
#13 - The Monster (2)
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/11/1985
Scotty must defend Julian after he is accused of assaulting Rachel....and it appears the odds are not in either man's favor.
#14 - As Difficult as ABC
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/30/1985
Brian Baldwin learns that his hopes of being a college basketball star are dashed when he is diagnosed with cardiac insufficiency. Now he must face another challenge the challenge is that he cannot read. He tries to hide that fact but doesn't hide it very well.
#15 - For the Love of Larry
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/8/1986
After his owners are trapped at the bottom of a hill in car accident, a precocious dog tries to lead Jonathon and Mark to them.
#16 - A Mother and a Daughter
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/4/1987
Jonathan and Mark's assignment is to reunite a Hollywood actress with her estranged daughter who is writing a book about her life with her mother in a negative way because she was never told the truth about her father. Meanwhile, another angel reveals to Mark that if Jonathan is successful with this assignment it could mean he will be moved up to heaven and Mark isn't happy about the idea of loosing his best friend.
#17 - The Inner Limits
Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 7/21/1989
A young man is considering institutionalizing his brother, who has been completely paralyzed and speechless for many years, against the wishes of their mother who insists that the brother is not vegetative but can truly understand. When Jonathan and Mark prove that far from being mindless the brother does indeed have a brilliant mind locked in his disadvantaged body, the man must confront his guilt and shame as well as the brother he gave up on.
#18 - Dust Child
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/28/1984
Family and friends of a Vietnam veteran (James Whitmore Jr.) won't accept his Amerasian daughter.
#19 - Hotel of Dreams
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/12/1984
Mark and Jonathan work as hotel bellhops to help a millionaire's son (Brian Kerwin) find meaning in his life.
#20 - The Secret
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/27/1985
Mark is the only one who can help when his friend's fifteen-year-old adopted daughter tries to find her biological mother and the unexpected uncovered truth threatens to tear the family apart completely.
#21 - Alone
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/8/1986
A homeless boy wishes that someone would love him and so Jonathan comes to him and offers to make his wish come true. They go to a man whose separated from his wife who refuses to let her see their son. And he also refuses to believe that his son who's confined to a wheelchair is because of something psychological.
#22 - One Winged Angels
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/16/1985
Jonathan has a tough time on this particular assignment. He is supposed to get Libby and earl to fall love with each other but Jonathan runs into one problem before he can accomplish the assignment he falls in love with Libby. Mark tells Jonathan that God may have wanted Jonathan to fall in love again so he wouldn't lose touch with what it's like to be a human being and feel how painful falling in love can be.
#23 - A Divine Madness
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/7/1984
Jonathan and Mark have started their assignment by meeting with one of the people that Crock Jr. wants to bulldoze, a sweet middle-aged lady named Gwen,who runs a veterinary clinic. Jonathan convinces Gwen to go with him to plead her case before Mr. Crock. Poor Gwen is nearly scared out of her wits when she meets 'King Arthur' and is ranted at for being an invader to his realm. Jonathan very smoothly convinces the man that he is a humble subject of the realm who has accompanied the Lady Guinevere, who wishes to petition her liege. The king promptly knights Jonathan and accepts the petition, stunning the lady again by offering his loving heart to her.
#24 - Man's Best Friend (2)
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/23/1987
Alex finally meets the family of his dreams, those dreams are soon shattered when the turners want to adopt Alex. Alex wants to take Jake with him but the Foster family lives in a place where dogs aren't allowed. In order to make his dream come true Alex runs away with Jake to the family he first fell in love with. Michele and Paul had been hoping to have a baby on their own but soon learn that adoption maybe their best option.
#25 - Plane Death
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/9/1985
Mark hopes that he and Jonathan don't have assignment so they can visit Charlie Down who worked on the police force with Mark. What was supposed to be a happy time with a friend turned into finding out why he went missing for five days. Charlie down worked with border enforcement to try and stop drugs. Mark and Jonathan soon discover where Charlie is they find out that Jack Harm shot Charlie because he found cocaine in a model airplane.
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