Highway To Heaven - Season 1 on DVD
08-02-2005
by Mark Fischer

Each generation’s finest pop culture has a way of being remembered for its excesses. For example, pop culture will likely remember this generation as the one that completely and openly embraced pornography and inner city violence as well as the generation that took the internet to unimaginable new heights. In truth, the achievements of the current generation should not be reduced to such a narrow scope…but we all know that they will be. Someday those who choose to look beyond the surface will discover a generation that pushed the limits, they will see world changers, and they will see a generation that hungered for spirituality.

Each generation has pop culture “anchors” though. These “anchors” are not always megahits but they always strongly stand in the face of trends and they speak against generational ills….and people listen. Before there were television shows like Joan of Arcadia and Revelations, before there were bands like Switchfoot and P.O.D., before there were books like Black/White/Red or Left Behind, and long before anyone had dreamed up Veggie Tales there was Highway to Heaven.

If you are over the age of 25 that title probably does one of two things to you. It either makes you think of a cheesy eighties TV show about an angel and his troubled ex-cop sidekick or it makes you go “That guy from Little House on the Prairie was on that show, right?” Its wild success in the early to mid-eighties affected an entire generation of people. Need proof? Look no farther than my wife then. 20 years after the show was pulled off television she can tell you the basic premise of it, despite the fact that she had never watched it. The show ran four full 24-episode seasons. It’s fifth and final season boasted only 12 episodes. That’s right 108, one-hour episodes full of men choosing right over wrong and inspiring others to do the same. That alone should speak volumes. It featured Michael Landon as an angel named Jonathan Smith and Victor French as Mark Gordon. In a nutshell, the 2 traveled around from town to town on assignments from “the boss” (a.k.a. God) and much like the later hit show Quantum Leap they often didn’t know what their assignment was. They could never leave town though until they had figured out the assignment and completed it.

So with the recent release of the Complete Season 1 DVD on A&E home video the looming question is simply “Is Highway to Heaven relevant to today?” Well, that all depends on what sort of relevance you are looking for I suppose. For my money there are 2 major pieces to explore.

The first is the look of the show. The look here is definitely not relevant to today, but then again neither are The Dukes of Hazzard or The A-Team but that doesn’t stop people from watching their reruns. Unfortunately Highway to Heaven looks a little dated even for the time period. There are certainly more than a few “cheesy” moments throughout season 1 as well, my personal favorite being the inner city gang calling themselves “Satan’s Helpers” in the episode entitled The Return of the Masked Rider. Also Michael Landon and Victor French were not young men when this show was popular. In that respect it stands in stark contrast to modern hit shows, where you are over the hill when you hit the ripe old age of 30. If the look needs to be modern for you to be able to take a show seriously, then you’ll stumble over this one.

Spiritual relevance is of course an issue here as well. Everyone who sees this show, or has seen this show, will unquestionably have an opinion on this particular aspect. In my opinion, there are some good morals here but not necessarily any major spiritual relevance aside from that. Choosing good and kind and right ways over wrong and harmful and mean ways is a tremendously important part of every episode. As an angel, God’s opinion on the matter is always at the forefront of Jonathan’s thinking but it all remains at a very basic and simple level. Landon and French are not throwing around scriptures or inviting people to ask Christ into their hearts as some people might expect they’ll see. There is certainly an argument to be made over the simplicity of it all as far as those with a deep Christian faith are concerned, but before we declare the show “fluff” let’s not forget to consider the fact that this was a secular TV show and probably not written by Christians. Therefore, it can’t be expected to truly reflect the Christian faith, although it is tempting to try and look at it in that light.

Highway to Heaven is a good portrait of a time in history remembered mainly for people’s capitalistic drive and the explosion of hard drugs such as cocaine. This show is one of thethings that you find if you “dig a little deeper” when considering the early to mid-eighties. It did its best to show how the world could change in earth shaking ways, one person at a time, through simple kindness and an unselfish heart. Each episode had a point, a moral if you will, and in the end the good guys always one. Not necessarily realistic on a case by case basis but we all know that the good guys have already won, now don’t we?

Undoubtedly purchasing this DVD set is a big investment. The price tag (between $50 and $60 here in the U.S.) is fairly hefty and if you’re not a die-hard fan or have never seen the show that’s an awfully big risk to take (in its defense though it is a 7 DVD set). Fans of the series will be delighted to simply have it available however. This is a show that is not widely available in reruns and, like I said, was a massive generational success commercially.

by Mark Fischer