The BEST episodes of Midnight Caller
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Follows Jack Killian, a San Francisco cop who accidentally killed his partner. After leaving the police force, he ended up the host of a late-night radio talk show--with a penchant for getting involved with the problems of his listeners.
#1 - Twelve Gauge
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/6/1988
Jack spends most of his radio show talking with a homicidal/suicidal 'spurned lover' - the man is waiting to kill his girlfriend and then himself. It's a race against time for the police to track down the location of the woman's home.
#2 - Fathers and Sins
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 2/14/1989
Jack and Devon are both struggling to come to terms with their fathers. Jack's father returns after an absence of 25 years; Devon's father suffers a heart attack and the two must mend their fences in the face of the illness.
#3 - Payback
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/20/1988
A female friend of Jack's from the police force is wounded in the line of duty and her partner killed. They seek comfort in each other's arms to grieve the deaths of their partners. Jack finds himself in the crossfire of the mob hit man trying to silence the only witness to the crime.
#4 - Trash Radio
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/24/1989
Jack finds himself being raked over the coals by a jealous competitor who has insider information on an Internal Affairs investigation, which found Jack not guilty of the charges.
#5 - The Fall
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/21/1989
Jack is drawn back to the neighborhood he worked in as a patrolman in response to a mother's plea to help her drug-addicted son.
#6 - Ethan's Call
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 4/4/1989
Jack continues to be haunted by the night of Rusty's death. This time he has to help out Rusty's son, Ethan, who has run away from home and calls Jack to tell him so.
#7 - Wait Until Midnight
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/2/1989
One of Jack's regular callers 'witnesses' a murder in her apartment building while talking to Jack on the phone. She isn't believed by the authorities because she is blind and there is no evidence that a crime has been committed.
#8 - Blues for Mr. Charlie
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 5/9/1989
The season finale deals with the issue of gun control, and a citizen's right to bear arms. A neighborhood convenience store owner misinterprets Jack's caution to protect himself, ends up killing a man and places partial blame on Jack for the idea.
#9 - But Not for Me
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 1/17/1989
Jack receives a phone call from a kidnapper who informs Jack that he has taken a suspected murderer into his personal custody so he won't hurt any more women. He continues to use Jack's show as a forum for his demands. A supposed suicide is revealed to be an elaborate murder cover up.
#10 - After It Happened
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/13/1988
Jack's old girlfriend, Tina, arrives in town. She informs him she has contracted AIDS and will die. Unable to handle the hopelessness of the situation, Jack sets out to find the man responsible. Jack is shocked to see that the message of safe sex is still being ignored, despite the obvious consequences. He uses his show as a forum on AIDS awareness as well as a means of tracking down the man who infected Tina.
#11 - No Exit
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/7/1989
A young runaway, forced into prostitution, turns to Jack via his radio show for assistance in breaking away from her pimp who is involved in the white slavery market.
#12 - Promise to a Dead Man
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/7/1989
On the fortieth anniversary of one of San Francisco's most celebrated unsolved murders, Jack is drawn into a case that hits closer to home than anyone could imagine.
#13 - Baby Chase
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/11/1989
Assisting an injured woman on the street, a young doctor is faced with every mother's nightmare when her infant daughter is abducted by a young woman whose grasp on reality is failing. Jack uses the show as a forum to track down the kidnapped child, who, on top of everything, is desperately ill and will die without her medication.
#14 - Blame It on Midnight
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/28/1989
An abused wife calls Jack's show fearing for her life. Their paths cross and they become romantically involved. The reappearance of the abusive husband throws Jack into the middle of a murder investigation - as the prime suspect.
#15 - The Execution of John Saringo
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/10/1989
Jack, Devon and Billy are forced to examine their belief in capital punishment when they are invited to broadcast the final hours of a death row inmate's life.
#16 - Bank Job
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/3/1989
As Jack's luck would have it, he goes into a bank to cash a cheque and finds himself a hostage in a bank robbery. The media and the police wait out the negotiations, all with a personal interest in Jack's well-being.
#17 - Conversations with an Assassin
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/25/1988
Jack Killian retires from the San Francisco Police Department after accidentally shooting his partner, Rusty, in a crossfire situation. He's drawn back to the world of the living by an offer to be a late night talk radio host. A serial killer begins calling Jack, explaining the assassinations and Jack's inadvertently pulled back into the crime fighting world.
#18 - Evil is Live Spelled Backward (2)
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/3/1989
When Devon becomes a kidnap victim of the call-in killer, Zymak and Jack work together to discover that the crimes are a twisted vendetta against Jack and KJCM.
#19 - Tarnished Shield
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/19/1989
Jack's mentor on the police force is reunited with him under horrific circumstances. His policeman son-in-law commits suicide after calling Jack's show. Jack finds himself involved in a convoluted plot of understanding why, which has him questioning the ethics of some fellow officers.
#20 - Based on a True Story
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/16/1990
The devastating San Francisco earthquake is re-enacted as Jack and Billy help citizens connect with loved ones via the radio waves, Devon has a close encounter, and Zymak and his family re-unite under tense circumstances.
#21 - Evil is Live Spelled Backward (1)
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/26/1989
Jack's show is plagued by a series of on-air murders and locations of dead bodies. Jack's intuition tells him it's a serial killer but he has a hard time convincing Lieutenant Zymak.
#22 - Take Back the Streets
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/7/1989
The drug trade hits too close to home for a San Francisco neighborhood. Their personal war on crime becomes the focus of Jack's show.
#23 - A Snitch in Time (1)
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/20/1990
Jack borrows Devon's car, unfortunately a young woman is killed by a hit and run driver matching Devon's car and Jack's description. The victim turns out to be the daughter of an influential retired lawyer, who wants retribution. Jack is hauled in for questioning, and becomes the pawn in a jewelry thief's deal for release.
#24 - The Reverend Soundbite
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/6/1990
Gang violence and police retaliation are the focal point for this episode. Zymak, accused of police brutality, is unable to come clean with his whereabouts as his marriage is disintegrating.
#25 - The Hostage Game
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/8/1990
Jack's friend from childhood is too close to the hostage situations around the world; his brother is one of many on a hijacked plane. In retaliation, he kidnaps an official from the country claiming responsibility. He keeps regular contact with Jack via the radio show, alluding to his location.