The BEST episodes of Midnight Caller

Every episode of Midnight Caller ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Midnight Caller!

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.

Last Updated: 8/16/2026Network: NBCStatus: Ended
star
8.00
27 votes

#1 - 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.

Directors: Mimi Leder
Writer: Stephen Zito
star
8.00
27 votes

#2 - 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.

Directors: Peter Levin
star
8.00
27 votes

#3 - 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.

Directors: Peter Levin
star
8.00
27 votes

#4 - 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.

Directors: Robert Singer
star
8.00
27 votes

#5 - 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.

Directors: Eric Laneuville
star
8.00
27 votes

#6 - 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.

Directors: Larry Gross
star
8.00
27 votes

#7 - 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.

Directors: Matt Clark
Writer: Randy Zisk
star
8.00
27 votes

#8 - 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.

Directors: Bradford May
star
8.00
27 votes

#9 - 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.

Directors: Eric Laneuville
star
8.00
27 votes

#10 - 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.

Directors: Robert Singer
star
8.00
27 votes

#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.

Directors: John Patterson
star
8.00
27 votes

#12 - 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.

Directors: Larry Gross
star
8.00
27 votes

#13 - 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.

star
8.00
27 votes

#14 - 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.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Writer: Stephen Zito
star
8.00
27 votes

#15 - 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.

Directors: Kevin Hooks
star
8.00
27 votes

#16 - 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.

Directors: Robert Butler
star
7.10
54 votes

#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.

Directors: Thomas Carter
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0.00
0 votes

#18 - Her Dirty Little Secret

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/25/1991

Jack recognizes a woman who has been missing for years and in his pursuit of her he uncovers that she intentionally disappeared to avoid beatings from cop husband.

Directors: Betty Thomas
Writer: Karen Clark
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0 votes

#19 - That's Amore

Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/4/1991

Jack's associate in the underworld seeks his assistance in locating his restaurant's kidnapped chef. The story turns out to be of a personal nature between the kidnapper and his hostage.

Directors: James A. Contner
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0.00
0 votes

#20 - With Malice Towards One

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/14/1990

Jack tells Nikki about a situation he and Devon were trapped in a year ago, in which a vengeful ex-con and his gang kidnapped Devon in order to lure Jack to a payback situation.

Directors: James Quinn
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0.00
0 votes

#21 - Home to Roost

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/7/1990

A child of the Vietnam war, whose father was a U.S. serviceman, instigates a hostage situation into which Jack is drawn.

Directors: Robert Singer
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0.00
0 votes

#22 - Ryder on the Storm

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/16/1990

Jack tries to help out his radio hero from his youth by trying to convince Nikki to give him a job. Jack seems blind to the man's obvious faults and self-destructive actions.

Directors: Fred Gerber
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0.00
0 votes

#23 - Life Without Possibility (2)

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1990

The convicts demand Jack broadcast their side of the story via KJCM, Deacon gets an interview with the prisoner on the outside, and Jack meets up with the prisoner with a bone to pick.

Directors: Eric Laneuville
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0.00
0 votes

#24 - Life Without Possibility (1)

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/2/1990

Nikki shows who's the new boss by insisting Jack cover a prison riot near San Francisco. Jack arrives at the prison and becomes part of a chosen delegation to go inside and witness the atrocities the convicts are rebelling against. Unknowingly, Jack becomes the target of one of the inmates, who has a personal score to settle.

Directors: Eric Laneuville
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0.00
0 votes

#25 - Sale Away (2)

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/26/1990

Devon struggles with the sale of KJCM, wanting to ensure that her employees are well taken care of. She and Jack continue to lock horns, until push comes to shove in the delivery room! Jack has to decide whether to stay on at KJCM or move on to greener pastures.

Directors: Rob Bowman