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Season 1

1. Highway to Heaven (1)  

Community Score

9.0 Superb 1
review
First aired: 9/19/1984

In this, the pilot movie for the series, we meet Jonathan Smith walking slowly down a lonely road toward an unknown destination. He flags down a passing truck and asks for a ride from the old man driving. The man refuses and drives on, only to have his truck engine blow before he gets more than a few yards down the road. Jonathan obligingly does a little quick mechanic work on the vehicle and tells him to have a nice day. The man hastily changes his mind and offers a ride. With this scene, the theme of the entire series is set into motion. Stangers help strangers, people do good for one another, the forgotten and lonely are given a new purpose in life, and the world becomes just a little bit better place. In this case, Jonathan's destination is a retirement home called Havencrest, where he takes on the recently vacated job of handyman. It seems no one wants the job because the home is on the verge of being sold out from under the residents, leaving most of them nowhere to go. Life at Havencrest is best described as dreary. People rarely speak to each other or do anything enjoyable and the place seems devoid of any cheer. Jonathan sets out to restore the quality of life for the residents. He brings dozens of cheerful flowering plants, tools, and lots of enthusiasm, recruiting the old people to help with the gardening, giving them not only some needed diversion but also a chance to spend some time and get to know each other as friends. One particularly tough case is Estelle (Helen Hayes), who refuses all attempts to bring her into the life around her. Between Jonathan, who gives her a puppy to take care of, and Sidney, a fellow resident who gives her a lecture on her own selfishness and the offer of his own loving heart, she eventually starts to live again.

2. Highway to Heaven (2)  

Community Score

9.3 Superb
First aired: 9/19/1984

In this, the pilot movie for the series, we meet Jonathan Smith walking slowly down a lonely road toward an unknown destination. He flags down a passing truck and asks for a ride from the old man driving. The man refuses and drives on, only to have his truck engine blow before he gets more than a few yards down the road. Jonathan obligingly does a little quick mechanic work on the vehicle and tells him to have a nice day. The man hastily changes his mind and offers a ride. With this scene, the theme of the entire series is set into motion. Stangers help strangers, people do good for one another, the forgotten and lonely are given a new purpose in life, and the world becomes just a little bit better place. In this case, Jonathan's destination is a retirement home called Havencrest, where he takes on the recently vacated job of handyman. It seems no one wants the job because the home is on the verge of being sold out from under the residents, leaving most of them nowhere to go. Life at Havencrest is best described as dreary. People rarely speak to each other or do anything enjoyable and the place seems devoid of any cheer. Jonathan sets out to restore the quality of life for the residents. He brings dozens of cheerful flowering plants, tools, and lots of enthusiasm, recruiting the old people to help with the gardening, giving them not only some needed diversion but also a chance to spend some time and get to know each other as friends. One particularly tough case is Estelle (Helen Hayes), who refuses all attempts to bring her into the life around her. Between Jonathan, who gives her a puppy to take care of, and Sidney, a fellow resident who gives her a lecture on her own selfishness and the offer of his own loving heart, she eventually starts to live again.

3. To Touch the Moon  

Community Score

9.3 Superb 1
review
First aired: 9/26/1984

Jonathan counsels a young runaway (Tony La Torre) and a widow (Carrie Snodgress) with a terminally ill son (Barret Oliver).

4. The Return of the Masked Rider  

Community Score

6.2 Fair 1
review
First aired: 10/3/1984

Jonathan and Mark take jobs working in a local area boxing ring. The owner's grandson, Joey, has a good shot at the local championship fight against the leader of the gang causing the problems. Joey wants to win so that he can give the kids in the neighborhood an honest example to live up to, hopefully to prevent at least a few of them from joining the gangs. In order to ensure his victory, Thumper (the gang leader), kidnaps Joey's grandfather. Joey feels that his hands are tied and he has no choice but to throw the fight. Mark tries to tough talk the gang, figuring on Jonathan's angelic powers to kick their collective ass, but God doesn't see fit to grant Mark's wish and Jonathan gets beat up. He doesn't have any marks to show for the beating, but Jonathan is obviously pretty irritated with Mark over the incident, and can't figure out what he's supposed to do if God won't let him take the direct approach.

5. Song of the Wild West  

Community Score

8.4 Great
First aired: 10/17/1984

The guys' latest assignment is reunite a broken family. Evelyn Higgins left her husband Tim and baby daughter Sarah in search of a career in music and Tim never forgave her for it, even going as far as telling their daughter that her mother has died. Evelyn had a fairly successful career after changing her name to Patsy Maynard, but guilt and sorrow over her past life have led her to become a lush and a has-been who can only get gigs playing small honkey-tonk bars. She is set to play one such place right outside her old hometown and her daughter eagerly comes to see her, having no idea that the singer is her mother. Sarah shares her mother's love of music and wants to be a professional country singer, against the wishes of her father who fears losing his daughter the same way he lost his wife. Jonathan and Mark go to work in the bar/casino where Patsy sings. Through a little investigative work, Mark discovers that the owner of the place is a crook who is rigging every game. Jonathan finds out that the former owner lost the place in one of Nick's crooked games and died of a broken heart, while his wife Trudy stayed on as cook because she had nowhere else to go.

6. One Fresh Batch of Lemonade (1)  

Community Score

8.4 Great 1
review
First aired: 10/24/1984

One day, while showing off for some friends by riding his motorcycle in a wreckless manner, a car comes around a blind corner from the opposite direction and is not able to swerve out of the way in time to avoid hitting Deke. The next time we see the young man, he is in the hospital where both of his legs have had to be amputated below the knee. Feeling bitter and resentful toward everyone, Deke drives away everyone who tries to visit with him. He seems intent on simply sulking and bemoaning his fate until the day he dies. Fortunately, this is where Jonathan steps in to help. He has taken the job of physical therapist at the hospital, but it's easy to see that it's really Deke's mental and emotional state that he's there to work on. With the willing help of a quadriplegic patient named Scotty, a shy fellow student named Eleanor, and a young gymnast who is the boy who crippled Deke, Jonathan sets out to restore Deke's faith in himself.

7. One Fresh Batch of Lemonade (2)  

Community Score

8.4 Great 1
review
First aired: 10/31/1984

One day, while showing off for some friends by riding his motorcycle in a wreckless manner, a car comes around a blind corner from the opposite direction and is not able to swerve out of the way in time to avoid hitting Deke. The next time we see the young man, he is in the hospital where both of his legs have had to be amputated below the knee. Feeling bitter and resentful toward everyone, Deke drives away everyone who tries to visit with him. He seems intent on simply sulking and bemoaning his fate until the day he dies. Fortunately, this is where Jonathan steps in to help. He has taken the job of physical therapist at the hospital, but it's easy to see that it's really Deke's mental and emotional state that he's there to work on. With the willing help of a quadriplegic patient named Scotty, a shy fellow student named Eleanor, and a young gymnast who is the boy who crippled Deke, Jonathan sets out to restore Deke's faith in himself.

There is a side plot about Deke's father, who raised the boy from the cradle to be the star athlete that he never was, and who now wants to give up on him thinking that there's nothing left. Naturally, the man comes to his senses by the end of the show, after seeing Deke beat the odds to such a degree that he actually participates in a high school gymnastics competition. Big hug, happy ending, fade to triumphant overcoming-the-odds music.

8. A Divine Madness  

Community Score

7.4 Good
First aired: 11/7/1984

Jonathan and Mark have started their assignment by meeting with one of the people that Crock Jr. wants to bulldoze, a sweet middle-aged lady named Gwen,who runs a veterinary clinic. Jonathan convinces Gwen to go with him to plead her case before Mr. Crock. Poor Gwen is nearly scared out of her wits when she meets 'King Arthur' and is ranted at for being an invader to his realm. Jonathan very smoothly convinces the man that he is a humble subject of the realm who has accompanied the Lady Guinevere, who wishes to petition her liege. The king promptly knights Jonathan and accepts the petition, stunning the lady again by offering his loving heart to her.

9. Catch a Falling Star  

Community Score

9.6 Superb
First aired: 11/14/1984

A movie star is stranger to his own kids.

10. Help Wanted: Angel  

Community Score

7.4 Good
First aired: 11/21/1984

Martin Lamm is waiting to hear that his script will become a movie, checking with the front desk clerk frequently to see if any mail has arrived for him. None ever does.

Martin's friend, Joey,nails a poster on a pole asking for an "angel" in the sense Martin needs one: someone with the money to help him turn his script into a movie. Jonathan and Mark respond to the poster, not knowing what kind of angel Joey is looking for.

While Jonathan and Mark are finding out what kind of angel Joey is looking for, a man named Petros arrives with the poster in his hand. He loves the script and wants to make the movie. Petros at first scoffs at Martin's idea of using people from the neighborhood as actors in the movie, but Jonathan suggests they might find a star among the amateurs, save money and help people at the same time.

11. Dust Child  

Community Score

9.9 Superb
First aired: 11/28/1984

Family and friends of a Vietnam veteran (James Whitmore Jr.) won't accept his Amerasian daughter.

12. Hotel of Dreams  

Community Score

8.5 Great 1
review
First aired: 12/12/1984

Mark and Jonathan work as hotel bellhops to help a millionaire's son (Brian Kerwin) find meaning in his life.

13. Another Song for Christmas  

Community Score

8.5 Great 1
review
First aired: 12/19/1984

In this variation on "A Christmas Carol," Jonathan and Mark have a Dickens of a time--literally--bringing Holiday joy into the heart of "Honest Eddie": a crooked-as-they-come used-car dealer.

14. Plane Death  

Community Score

7.8 Good
First aired: 1/9/1985

Mark hopes that he and Jonathan don't have assignment so they can visit Charlie Down who worked on the police force with Mark. What was supposed to be a happy time with a friend turned into finding out why he went missing for five days. Charlie down worked with border enforcement to try and stop drugs. Mark and Jonathan soon discover where Charlie is they find out that Jack Harm shot Charlie because he found cocaine in a model airplane.

15. One Winged Angels  

Community Score

8.1 Great
First aired: 1/16/1985

Jonathan has a tough time on this particular assignment. He is supposed to get Libby and earl to fall love with each other but Jonathan runs into one problem before he can accomplish the assignment he falls in love with Libby. Mark tells Jonathan that God may have wanted Jonathan to fall in love again so he wouldn't lose touch with what it's like to be a human being and feel how painful falling in love can be.

16. Going Home, Going Home  

Community Score

8.5 Great
First aired: 1/23/1985

Mark gets a chance to go back in time to tell his grandfather that he loved him. Mark also gets to help his grandfather said his farm for repossession but he must get Mark Jr. to tell his grandfather that he loves him and would rather stay with him.

17. As Difficult as ABC  

Community Score

8.1 Great
First aired: 1/30/1985

Brian Baldwin learns that his hopes of being a college basketball star are dashed when he is diagnosed with cardiac insufficiency. Now he must face another challenge the challenge is that he cannot read. He tries to hide that fact but doesn't hide it very well.

18. A Child of God  

Community Score

7.4 Good
First aired: 2/6/1985

Jonathan and Mark try to reunite a father and daughter who hadn't seen each other in years because of the daughter had a child from own without a husband. Now Jonathan has a difficult task of trying to convince the father that he doesn't have a lot of time to get to know his daughter Marsha because she is terminally ill.

19. A Match Made in Heaven  

Community Score

8.6 Great
First aired: 2/20/1985

Jonathan helps Mark's Cousin Diane find romance in an unlikely place. Diane begins to fall in love with a quadriplegic lawyer named Scotty who is surprised at how fast the romance seems to be going. When they go out on a date to eat dinner they hit a snag.

20. The Banker and the Bum  

Community Score

7.5 Good
First aired: 2/27/1985

Jonathan tries to help a candidate for mayor learn to be nice but gets more than he bargained for when Melvin rich decides to stay rich. Jonathan then has Willie the waiver change places with Melvyn rich to see what it would be like if the each lived different lives.

21. The Brightest Star  

Community Score

8.1 Great
First aired: 3/6/1985

Jonathan and Mark help a young actress not to be so controlling around other's. Laurie soon tells Mark and Jonathan that she never wanted to be the star. She only wanted to continue acting and let someone else be the star.

22. An Investment in Caring  

Community Score

8.0 Great
First aired: 3/13/1985

Jonathan must get neighbors to help Helen keep her home from getting in the hands of corporate developers. Jonathan asks the neighbors to buy some stock and hope that it rises high enough so they to will lose their homes. Also Jonathan tries to get a man that used to work for the developer to make sure that his wife's death will mean something.

23. The Right Thing  

Community Score

9.0 Superb 1
review
First aired: 3/27/1985

A former jogger still grieving over the loss of his wife's death sees no reason to live again. So Harry is put into a nursing home even though Matt's father doesn't agree with the plan. Harry gets the chance to fill his wife's wish to go Hollywood.

24. Thoroughbreds (1)  

Community Score

9.1 Superb
First aired: 5/1/1985

Jonathan and Mark reunite Lizzy MacGill Garth Armstrong (they haven't seen each other since they were kids) Garth is set to marry Elaine who he doesn't like very much because his father wants him to marry someone rich. Lizzy and Garth compete together in a horse competition and find out who is the best horse rider but they also find that they love each other. Garth to finds his daughter's wishes by asking Lizzy to marry him. Only to encounter some trouble ahead.

25. Thoroughbreds (2)  

Community Score

8.5 Great
First aired: 5/8/1985

The tests reveal that Lizzy has cancer. She decides not to tell Garth the results until she can find out what the odds are. The doctor also tells her that she is pregnant and must decide whether to have the baby and wonder if the chemotherapy will harm the baby.

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