The BEST Episodes of Highway to Heaven
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Apr 18, 2020
Network: NBC
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 clash (Jonathan being more sensible and compassionate but naive, and Mark being more pragmatic and cynical), but they always support each other. 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 - Wally
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired Jan 14, 1987
Jonathan and Mark tag along with an elderly street puppeteer who's also an angel - but doesn't know it.
9.00 
#2 - A Dolphin Song For Lee (2)
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired Mar 23, 1988
A teen aged girl goes through an operation, that may not be successful. Mark helps Her fulfill Her dream of saving the dolphins.
8.83 
#3 - We Have Forever (1)
Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired Feb 10, 1988
Jonathon gets a 'feeling' while he and Mark are driving towards their next job. He goes to the hospital to find his wife is near death and was calling for him. After she passes away Jonathon believes that he will no longer be working for the 'boss' and will go to be with his wife. To the answer of lightning and thunder he finds out otherwise and becomes enraged. He is then stripped of his 'stuff' and has to live as a mere mortal.
8.80 
#4 - Basinger's New York
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired Dec 17, 1986
It's Christmas time and Jonathan and Mark's assignment is to prove to a cynical reporter, who doesn't believe that there's any goodness in the world, that there is.
8.77 
#5 - The Inner Limits
Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired Jul 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.
8.75 
#6 - Keep Smiling
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired Feb 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.
8.73 
#7 - I Was a Middle Aged Werewolf
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired Oct 28, 1987
During Halloween night, Jonathan helps a little boy get over his fears.
8.71 
#8 - Hello and Farewell (1)
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired Dec 7, 1988
Jonathan helps Commander Michaels deal with flashbacks of Vietnam as well as try to convince her to go to therapy. Mark deals with his fear of flying.
8.71 
#9 - We Have Forever (2)
Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired Feb 17, 1988
As a mortal human being Jonathan is still angry with God for not letting him go heaven to see Jane one last time. Meanwhile Jennifer has fallen in love with Jonathan and now must help him understand that he will always have Jane in his heart regardless of the job he chooses. Jennifer suddenly finds a letter from Jane and as a way of saying goodbye to him he understands that until his job is finished they will always have forever.
8.67 
#10 - A Dolphin Song For Lee (1)
Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired Mar 16, 1988
A young teen aged girl is dying, and has one more chance for a life saving operation. She has one dream that she would like to fulfill, in case She doesn't make it.
8.67 
#11 - The Whole Nine Yards
Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired Apr 27, 1988
A chauvinistic coach doesn't want a female wide receiver on his junior-high football team.
8.67 
#12 - The Silent Bell
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired Mar 21, 1989
A pastor must follow a church council's decision to fire most of the staff at the school because they're not Christian.
8.67 
#13 - Aloha
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired Mar 2, 1988
A Hawaiian singer learns to overcome self-pity after being disabled in a truck accident.
8.60 
#14 - Sail Away
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired Apr 2, 1986
Jonathan helps a novelist and his son both find inspiration in writing their next books and connecting with each other again.
8.58 
#15 - Man's Best Friend (1)
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired Sep 16, 1987
Jenny's dog Jake runs away after chasing a cat. Jonathan and Mark find the dog and take him over to the orphanage to help cheer up the kids. They use Jake to play with the kids and try to get Alex to become active again. They soon learn that Alex is afraid that if he touches anything it will be taken away from him.
8.57 
#16 - Playing For Keeps
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired Nov 4, 1987
Jonathan tries to reunite a father who is a comedian with his son the actor by getting therm to star in a community theater play about an estranged father and son. But the comedian's antics quickly make his son go crazy.
8.57 
#17 - Man's Best Friend (2)
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired Sep 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.
8.56 
#18 - Heaven Nose, Mister Smith
Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired Mar 30, 1988
Jonathan has to stop an angel who's back on Earth and intent on breaking up his son's marriage. To stop him, Jonathan must enlist aid of a special kind.
8.50 
#19 - A Mother and a Daughter
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired Feb 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.
8.45 
#20 - Summit
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired Mar 5, 1986
Mark and Jonathan try to reunite a mother with her son who is now the premier of the U.S.S.R. When he is told that his mom would like to see him he believes Jonathan is with the CIA and not an angel.
8.38 
#21 - A Song for Jason (1)
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired Sep 18, 1985
Jonathan and Mark become counselors at Camp Good Times, a summer camp for children with cancer, to help two cancer patients: a frightened little boy with an overprotective mother and an angry teenage athlete who may lose his leg to bone cancer.
8.33 
#22 - A Song of Songs
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired Jan 21, 1987
James Earl Jones stars as Gabe Wilson, an old friend of Mark's and down-and-out jazz pianist who tries to re-build his life after suffering a heart attack. Gabe reconnects with an old flame named Ellie, a God-fearing widow who is having problems trying to relate to her daughter, Vanessa, the vocalist in a rock band. When Gabe tries to encourage Vanessa to pursue her dreams, he unwittingly strains the not-so-harmonious mother-daughter relationship even more. After Vanessa runs away without leaving a note, Ellie lashes out at Gabe, telling him that God made him blind to make him pay for his sins (he had become blind after a drunk driver struck his vehicle years earlier). It is up to Jonathan to reunite Ellie and Vanessa and set them both straight.
8.33 
#23 - The People Next Door
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired Oct 21, 1987
When a black family tries to move next door to a successful doctor in an exclusive community, Jonathan and Mark must help the doctor confront a secret he's kept from everyone, including his own family.
8.33 
#24 - Amazing Man
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired Nov 11, 1987
Mark and Jonathon are sent to help a little boy overcome the sudden death of his father. Stevie deals with his grief through his favorite superhero, Amazing Man. Jonathon and Mark help his mother realize that grief is a normal reaction and help the family begin to heal.
8.33 
#25 - The Correspondent
Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired Feb 24, 1988
A war correspondent who can't resist going on just one more story finds himself imprisoned and facing execution, and Jonathan and Mark must show him what's he's missed and lost during his life by putting work ahead of family.
8.33