HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN - The complete series: Blu-ray (Michael Landon Productions, 1984-89) VEI Entertainment

When, at last, the scribe is bid to chronicle the full account of television history, let it be said of the 1980’s, here was its true renaissance period – a final flourish of the ‘big three’ network’s (NBC, ABC, and CBS) supremacy in the medium, and a willingness on virtually all fronts to offer an incredibly diverse palette from which the viewer might plan their nightly ritualized experience of ‘unwinding’ after a long, hard day at the factory or office. Along with action/adventure, the endless proliferation of detective shows and adult-themed drama, family fare was exceedingly popular throughout the 80’s. Unlike today’s drivel, the sentiment here skewed largely – and with surprising sincerity - towards Christian values. It was a decade where virtue was almost universally preached as its own reward. Lest we forget, this was the decade from which such family-centric sit-coms as Silver Spoons (1982-87), Mama’s Family (1983-90), Punky Brewster (1982-88), Alf (1986-90), Growing Pains (1985-91), Family Ties (1982-89), The Cosby Show (1982-95) and Full House (1987-95) were born.

What can I tell you? It was a kinder, simpler, more innocent generation, and, I would have its time again, if only to expunge the weird ugliness, since to have completely taken over pop culture. Yet, perhaps nowhere was the slant for 80’s ‘touched in the heart’ sentiment felt more deeply than on Highway to Heaven (1984-89) – a weekly, hour-long anthology with an ethereal nod to the creator of both the heavens and the earth, costarring Michael Landon, as the aspiring guardian of the downtrodden and/or misguided, alongside, Victor French, as his all-too-humanly-grounded coachman for their cross-country journeys to liberate humanity from its self-inflicted tyrannies. For Landon, who also produced the show, Highway to Heaven was, decidedly, a labor of love.  “I believe in God,” Landon reflected two years after the show’s cancellation, “I believe in family…in truth between people…in the power of love. I believe we really are created in God’s image…that there is God in all of us.” If so, he came to this understanding the hard way. Come to think of it, is there ever an easy way to get there? But I digress. By the time Highway to Heaven hit the airwaves, Landon (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz) was already a seasoned TV veteran, the star of two hit series: Bonanza (1959-73), and Little House on the Prairie (1974-82), to say nothing of his many ‘guest’ appearances and cameos throughout the infancy of his career.

In life, Landon would arguably, always carry something of the specter of a tragic childhood and upbringing, barely to have rescued his mother from a suicide attempt while still only a child, only to be haunted by the incident, and, into an extended period of bedwetting, for which his rather ungrateful mother elected to shame him by hanging his soiled linens on display for all to see. An exceptional athlete, prematurely derailed by a shoulder injury, Landon, who would eventually wed 3 times and become the father of 9 children, was first discovered by agent, Bob Raison while working at the gas station across the street from Warner Bros. And in the years leading up to his being cast as Bonanza’s youngest Cartwright, Little Joe, Landon – then, 22, fell into the gristmill of virtually every popular program on the air at that time, oft to appear as little more than a 2-liner or silent background fodder. Landon’s chiseled good looks, not to mention his actor’s finesse, resulted in his receiving more fan mail on Bonanza than virtually all the other cast members combined. He put this ‘fan leverage’ to good use, convincing producer, David Dortort to display his talents as both a writer and director.

Landon would waste little time between Bonanza’s cancellation and Little House on the Prairie, another of his passion projects, and then, with Prairie’s retirement in 1983, to launch into his opus magnum, Highway to Heaven. In the embodiment of Jonathan Smith, the probationary angel seeking redemption and his wings by doing good in other people’s lives, Landon, arguably, discovered his truest self. There is a careworn nobility built into Landon – both, the man and his alter ego, a bloodied yet unbowed magnificence that manages to circumvent the occasionally hokey and sometimes high-toned premises of certain episodes in the franchise. The counterbalance to Landon’s earth humanity is undeniably, Victor French – his costar from Little House on the Prairie. Apart from the disparity in their looks and outlooks – French, the introvert to Landon’s extrovert - these men might have been twins. Indeed, the bond of friendship formed would carry both men through to their unfortunate and untimely ends. French came to his golden epoch via the same ‘western-themed’ roots as Landon, appearing in 39-bit-parts on TV series from the late fifties and early sixties – his greatest achievement, a record 23 appearances on Gunsmoke (1955-75), chronically cast as the bumbling baddie. His one-off appearance on The Waltons (1972-81) brought French to Landon’s sphere of influence where he subsequently became a regular, as Mr. Edwards on Little House on the Prairie. Interestingly, French departed the series to pursue his dream of carrying his own franchise. Unsuccessful at this, French was startled when Landon welcomed him back into his fold for the remainder of ‘Little House’s run and then, called upon him again to co-star as ex-cop, Mark Gordon in Highway to Heaven. Although he managed to finish the series, French would not live to see the final airing of the show, dying on June 15, 1989, age 54 from lung cancer, just as Highway to Heaven was ending its original run.  Landon would follow his good friend into the great beyond a scant 2 years later, succumbing to pancreatic cancer on July 1, 1991.

Although not as overplayed on television, Highway to Heaven has never entirely left the public consciousness. This is for good reason. For in it, Landon and his team of writers elected to explore a good many of life’s truths, and from them, to extrapolate the even bolder attempt to unearthing answers to the greatest mystery of them all – the afterlife. It may seem silly, but even in preparing this review, I find myself getting quite emotional when remembering some of the series’ standout episodes. Rather shamelessly, this genius would later be reconstituted for TV’s Touched by an Angel (1994-2003), with a more femo-centric slant on the buddy/buddy chemistry originally inculcated by Landon and French. The hand of Michael Landon is all over Highway to Heaven, as he not only starred in it, but served as the show’s executive producer and, intermittently, its writer/director. And Landon, rather shrewdly elected to own the show outright, thus to ensure his vision alone would weekly proliferate on the small screen…so long as the ratings held out. Deeply empathetic, Landon hired real-life cancer survivors and people living with other varying disabilities to work on the show. He also wrote episodes devoted to the sharing of their plight with the audience, and this, at a time when it was generally perceived as ‘unfashionable’ to do so.

Throughout its 5-years, Highway to Heaven was deeply invested in exalting the joys as well as the tragedies of the human condition – its best episodes often to elicit the most curious celebration of life in its laughter through tears. Jonathan’s arrival on earth in the 2-part launch of the series had him befriending the curmudgeonly Mark whose sister owned a retirement home on the cusp of being foreclosed. From this inauspicious debut, the newly enlightened Mark would elect to follow Jonathan on his life-altering journeys. Season 1, still one of the best-written of all TV shows of all time, followed the pair as they help everyone from a terminally ill child, Vietnam vet, self-centered movie star, crippled ex-baseball player, aspiring country singer, and, ghetto gang members rediscover their own inner strengths, humanity and purpose. It should be noted, Highway to Heaven was not above ‘borrowing’ from great literary masterworks to inspire its episodic travels. As example, Season 1’s Another Tale of Christmas is transparently Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Yet, the series became better known for its original set pieces and deft handling of subject matter that, in lesser hands, could so easily have become mawkish treacle.

An episode-by-episode recitation would be rather pointless, as the legacy of Highway to Heaven remains more in the memory of its collective impact on our hearts. Leaving all logic behind, it was a show of its time, ironically to prove more relevant in our present age for counterbalanced reasons. Whereas the 80’s has been hermetically sealed in the minds of many a critic as the purveyors of cheap fluff and nonsense, Highway to Heaven serves as its own testament to a celebration of life on its own terms. If the show endeavored, only occasionally to make us smile, then the series ‘laughter through tears’ approach to storytelling, really did warm the soul. It made us think and it gave us hope and faith in humanity. As I stated at the outset of this review, I would sincerely have this time again. Particularly in a world that continues to spin wildly out of control on its crudely politicized axis of broad-reaching turmoil and regrets, and, where courage and conviction are as distant and archaic as the principled virtues gleaned from the Bible, grotesquely undermined and reassessed today as fit only for the naïve and careworn, Highway to Heaven serves as its own beacon and glowing reminder, heartrending in its absence from public view for far too long, yet heartwarming for its gentle reassessments of a better world just beyond our reach. This is the realm to which humanity ought to aspire, if seemingly to have lost its way, and, for which contemporary and popularized entertainments possess - and have been rather successful at disseminating – their undeniable and needling scorn.    

When Highway to Heaven ended its original run Michael Landon, owing to a dispute with NBC – the network to have been his home for virtually his entire career – departed for CBS in the hopes of launching yet another morally reflective series - Us. But on April 5, Landon died of pancreatic cancer, with Us never to air beyond the pilot. Remembering Michael Landon today, it is safe to surmise that without his influence, his passion and his commitment to bringing out the best in us all, the world of television programming, at least for a little while, would have been a far less admirable place to spend our leisure. With its strangely melancholy, yet ethereal anthem composed by David Rose, we reflect on Highway to Heaven today, perhaps with the tender promise that another, more forgiving place exists where we are all of one collective thoughtfulness and benevolence towards one another, respectful even, of the suffrage of the rest of humankind. I would have this too.  

I abhor clever marketing. Someone at VEI, the company to have earned the right to distribute Highway to Heaven on Blu-ray, really needs to atone and reassess what they consider as ‘remastered’ – the word, plastered in bold lettering on the front packaging of this complete series set, and, to suggest what follows as a deft handling of film-based elements ushered into the hi-def digital format. It’s not. For kick-starters, VEI has elected to re-format all of these episodes, which originally aired in 1.33:1 aspect ratio, to conform to contemporary television monitors – so, 1.85:1. The cropping is not as egregious as one might suspect, although certain close-ups now threaten to cut off the tops and bottoms of heads. But what I find rather appalling is the virtual lack of consideration to apply even the most basic digital clean-up and dust-busting to ready these episodes for their hi-def debut. Instead, things get off to a real rocky start with the first episode, exhibiting some hellish gate weave and wobble, with color saturation toggling between fairly acceptable to downright anemic. These shortcomings will become the modus operandi for this entire ‘remastering’ effort. The opening credits are in rougher shape than the body of each episode. Contrast and black levels are pretty anemic - even, faded on more than a handful of occasions. Add to this a barrage of age-related artifacts that are pretty darn distracting (rips, tears, dirt, and other film-based anomalies) and what’s here just barely passes the proverbial ‘smell test’. Are these episodes watchable? On smaller screens, the answer is yes. On anything larger than a 65-inch monitor, there are glitches in the image that a Buick could drive through. The 2.0 mono DTS audio fairs much better than the image. I suppose we should give VEI props for not price-gouging this one out of existence. 111 episodes, or 90+ hours of programming for barely fifty bucks. It is fair, I suppose. What isn’t fair is how such a well-written and expertly played spiritual drama has been given such short shrift in hi-def. Extras are distilled into a blooper and outtakes reel on the final disc. One would have hoped for a better testament to Michael Landon’s opus magnum. Alas, no. Judge and buy accordingly.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

Overall – 4

VIDEO/AUDIO

Overall – 2.5

EXTRAS

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