Season 2 Overview

Highway To Heaven Cast: A Song For Jason Part 2

Airdate: 09/25/1985

Directed By: Michael Landon

Now, on to the second chapter of this heartbreaking yet painfully uplifting, groundbreaking, and soulful episode. The setting has already been established in part one, so the assignment may begin right away now.

Complete show available here.

Assignment: Jonathan and Mark are assigned to work at a Summer Camp for children with cancer and help them in their daily problems.

The assignment is always the same. On part one, Jonathan and Mark had to recruit kids for the camp, while part two is actually set at the camp, and they help the kids in many ways.

And Mark successfully drove safely.

So, now they are doing whatever people do at camps, like fishing, teaching your friends how to spit, and eating all kinds of unhealthy stuff while being way too enthusiastic about it.

And she’s supposed to be a nurse.

Of course, just like part one, the assignment is not tied to anyone in particular, but rather to the job of being counselor. There are still some relevant characters though: in particular, Jason and his issues with his dad (making it a sort of family issues assignment as well).

Here, it is important to notice that Jason’s character, even though he’s based on Jason Haddock (a real kid), still remains a composite one. So, the story about his relationship with his father Miki Winner (taking his name from Mike, who was Jason Haddock’s father) is fictionally created for the episode. But that shouldn’t undermine the real life story of the subject: the titular “song” is an ode to Haddock’s memory and to all people like him, and his character somehow represents all kids with similar conditions.

Also, something similar occurs to Curtis, the character is inspired by then 10 years old Curtis Shaffer, whom Dan Gordon met at the camp in 1984, while making research on the episode. Apparently, the quiet, shy behavior of the character is directly taken from that kid.

But even though some kids are fictional, they chose non professional actors with real disabilities for some roles. There’s especially a moment that stands out: when Curtis is ashamed of swimming because he’s bald, a kid with a prosthetic leg approaches him and tells him that he’ll take off his leg if Curtis takes off his cap.

And there they go: a kid without a leg just limping towards the pool.

This whole moment is striking. They went all the way casting a kid without a leg for the role and showed it so openly, in an ’80s TV show. This is groundbreaking, even by today’s standards.

This may digress, but it’s important: disabilities were a sensitive issue back then. The ’80s are generally considered a period in which people with physical impairments (first seen with pity) were finally depicted in a candid, realistic way, showing their struggles and hardships without centering exclusively on that. Another equally important aspect: the actors with real physical problems began acting more frequently, and their disabilities inserted seamlessly without distracting from the rest of show. So, the ’80s marked a watershed in representation of TV, and people usually mention the series of Wiseguy and L.A. Law as notable examples of that.

Now, this particular episode of Highway doesn’t expressively deal with disabilities (there’s already been one in the first season about that, and more will come later). What should be pointed out is that they’re actually showing physically impaired kids so plainly, in a primetime TV. And these are not the late 80s like in Wiseguy, consider that Highway came well before that.

Moreover, the subjects here are children. I mean, when was the last time in the ’80s that there was a kid with a physical impairment prominently shown on TV like this. Or when was the last time there was a kid in such condition shown on TV in general, for that matter. And it took a family, supposedly Christian show to do that, airing in primetime 8.00 pm across the country. It’s rare to see anything like that, even in the modern TV landscape. Big shout out to Highway for having the guts to do it straight here.

This whole show is ahead of its time.

• Background

Part one was set almost entirely at the hospital, while now they finally got the chance to move to the camp (which is a real one).

The actual location of the camp is the Santa Monica Mountains in Malibu (back then in the 80s, currently they moved south to the Apple Canyon Road). That’s also confirmed by Curtis, when he tells everybody that Jason’s father is giving a concert in Santa Barbara, around 45 minutes from there.

According to Google Maps, that’s realistic.

More in details, the episode was shot at Calamigos Ranch, so use that as a direction.

As for the time span, the camp was supposed to last a week, although they only show basically a couple of nights. It’s likely they compressed time, also because Jonathan and Mark know characters that have never been introduced on part 1 (like fellow counselors Trish and Tommy), so there’s definitely more time than what they show. But one week is reasonable enough.

• Characters

The assignment is a very delicate and particular one, and it probably leaves an impact on Mark that will be clearly visible in later seasons. It is important to notice here that, over the episode and similarly to Part 1, Mark doesn’t have any punchline or “save-the-day” moment. His character is not central, and that despite being in most of the scenes (unlike most episodes towards the conclusion of season 1 starting from The Brightest Star, where he basically disappeared early on and came back only for the conclusion).

That actually serves as evolution for his character. Rather than being the wise mentor, always offering advice to the right person at the right time (like Jonathan does most of the time), Mark is still learning how to be around the kids. He’s not the guy who instantly spots a problem and knows how to solve it right away: he’s growing by making mistakes and learning from them.

In particular, it is important to point out the way he treats Curtis, right from the beginning (when the kid is afraid to set foot on the camp).

If Mark drove safely to the camp, you can survive some stairs.

In many instances, Mark tries to be gentle with him, but without being right all the time. For example, when he sees all the kids by the swimming pool except Curtis, he approaches him to ask him what’s wrong, and Curtis makes up an excuse saying the doctor warned him to relax for a while. However, Mark quickly understands the real issue and guesses it’s about the hair.

It’s unclear how Mark figured this out, and why he didn’t think the kid was afraid of swimming instead (which is reasonable, considering that Curtis has spent almost a year in quarantine and he was shown being afraid of basically anything, even getting off a bus or sleeping alone). However Curtis simply dismisses him.

So, Mark knows what’s going on with Curtis, but can’t convince him to take the right step. And then, instead of unrealistically dropping some persuasive line or anything, Mark just steps aside and observes how the other kid with no leg successfully convinces Curtis. Again, Mark’s character is not an angel, but somebody who is still learning along the way.

And eventually, he feels grateful for the time he has spent around those kids, and thanks them in his final speech at parent’s night.

That marks an important moment of growth for his character. Actually, it might even foreshadow his future endeavor by the conclusion of the series: in the fourth season, Jonathan and Mark will go working again at a Summer Camp (episode “All The Colors Of The Heart“) and Mark will love the job so much that, when in another episode on that same season Jonathan temporarily parts way with him, Mark decides to go working back at that camp. Of all the jobs he could have had, he came back there.

Now, the idea that Mark will decide to permanently settle at a summer camp after the big finale of the series is just a supposition — because Highway was canceled without a proper conclusion, and it’s unclear what happens to the character after the final episode. Yet, it’s pretty much plausible that he’ll decide to remain working as counselor around kids at a summer Camp for the rest of his life. If that were the case, this episode really marks a watershed for his character, planting in him such passion for this kind of environment.

Either way, there are a couple of problems here: in his speech, Mark declares how important the week (and the assignment) has been to him. It’s then reasonable to conclude that he liked this assignment more than other episodes (he had never said those kind words before).

Yet, in the third season, there’s going to be an episode (the Love And Marriage show) in which he’s talking to Jonathan about their prior jobs and says that the best assignment they have ever worked on (by then) is the one about getting Scotty and Diane together (A Match Made In Heaven, season 1), which seems a contradiction with his speech here.

A second problem: he continues the speech by wishing to be back the next summer as well.

And they won’t do that.

In the series, Jonathan and Mark won’t ever be shown coming back here (they’ll work in another camp in season four.)

But it could be possible that Jonathan and Mark actually did come back, maybe at some point during the third season (in the time between assignments that is not shown in the series).

• Production and Setting

The setting is the real existing Summer Camp Good Times (more details here), which was situated around the Santa Monica Mountains, near Malibu. However, back then the Camp didn’t have a single location, and now it has been moved to a different place in the Apple Canyons.

As for the production, Part one and two were produced concurrently for one week: actually, the first scene they shot for this two part episode is a part two scene, the one in which Jason tells Jonathan he feels like giving up because of the lack of support from his dad.

The production of season two began two weeks earlier than season 1 (which started on August 2nd with To touch The Moon). At least they didn’t have to complete it in a hurry before Christmas.

A couple of curious things about the script: it was written by Dan Gordon in early May, the first completed script for the new season (after being on the Camp during the Winter Session to make research for it).

Although there are some revisions (which occurred on July 7), and some notable differences.

The first one is at the beginning: after lunch, there was supposed to be a scene in which all the characters gather around and an enthusiastic nurse (the one who gave them hamburgers) calls the kids’ names to sort them in bunks (something like Harry Potter, essentially). And Jason and Jimmy get into the “Bear Cubs”, while Curtis fears he’ll be left out of Jason’s bunk (Harry Potter, again). Eventually, she calls his name and Jonathan and Mark are selected as its counselors.

And this episode came ten years before that book.

However, for some reason, they scrapped it, and immediately after lunch, the episode shows when the characters are already in their bunks and Curtis wakes Mark up because he’s afraid of sleeping alone.

No idea why they skipped it. Maybe this two part episode was already 90 minutes long, and they ran out of time for that. It was fitting, though.

A second difference is the epilogue of the episode: in the original script (the one dated May), it was supposed to conclude showing all the characters gathered around holding hands while singing a song— and that’s how it plays out in the episode too.

However, with two differences: one, the script reports that Jonathan and Mark are there holding hands and singing too, but they are not in the episode. Actually, they are there, but they are not shown singing.

The most important difference, though, is that the song they were going to sing was supposed to be a Michael Jackson’s one. But they changed it to Diane Ross instead.

Anyway, the episode was directly produced at the actual Camp Good Times.

And on the last day, they made the lunchtime part.

More in details: the setting is the Calamigos Ranch for the camping scenes (according to the original production schedule drafted on July 8, the setting was supposed to be the J.C.A. “Shalom” Camp in Mulholland Highway, but they moved to Calamigos instead).

The Ranch was actually a camp until 1984, and later turned into a “wellness center”.

Anyway, given that the kids from the actual Camp Good Times were bused there for production of this show, the actors also got the chance to meet and blend in with the other kids. In an article on the Los Angeles Herald in 1985, the actor Joshua Miller (who plays Jason) was reportedly awed by the children there, describing them “They seem so happy… It’s a little shocking at first. See a kid with no arm climbing up a wall.” I mean, it’s groundbreaking to see this episode on TV right now, so it’s evident that it was even more back then.

In the same article, Landon revealed he was struck by the kids’ attitude, reporting that “They really know how to live today“, and one of the reason behind this episode was celebrating their strength while offering the audience something to think about, especially by learning how those kids deal with their problems.

That interview attests the sunglasses’ ownership: those were actually Landon’s (although Jonathan doesn’t wear any in this episode).

One curious thing: during an interview dated November 4 that same year in the Los Angeles Herald, professional golfer Tammy Fredrickson, while laying out her plan for her future career, also made it clear that she has learned “There are more important things in life than golf“, explaining that one day she watched an episode of Highway To Heaven about “kids with cancer who were at a camp having fun“, teaching her “How lucky I was… the biggest dream these kids had was just living another day“, and she realized that, besides golf and tournaments “There’s much more to life“; of course, she was talking about this episode.

It seems like it accomplished one of the purposes Gordon and Landon talked about earlier. And the camp hopefully gave back some good times to many.

Glossary

A’s: it’s a very special one. Over the course of the episode, Mark always wears his A’s cap, and there’s nothing new with that.

However, early on in the episode, when all the kids get down of the bus, one of them has the same Oakland Athletics cap on.

Maybe production wanted every kid to have a cap on and they only had A’s ones. Or maybe the kid just liked the Oakland Athletics (and that’s unlikely, as the camp is in Southern California). Or maybe the kid wanted to look like Mark (and that’s more likely).

Cute: there are two instances of Cute by Mark in the episode. The first one is when Mark asks Jonathan to take Curtis to sleep, because angels don’t have to rest, unlike men. But Jonathan refuses.

That sounded quite offensive, but Mark is used to it.

The second one is when he’s about to have his final speech at parents’ night, but everyone interrupts him to chant a scout hymn telling him that he’s a windbag. Sort of.

Little House Actors: there’s still Charlotte Stewart in the episode, although she only appears in the background for parents’ night, and she has no line.

Highway Actors: there’s still Jessica Drake as Sharon, although she appears just a couple of times.

And there’s also Robin Riker as Sherri, although she appears a couple a times too.

Early appearance: there’s still “Vonni Ribisi” as Curtis and Michael Bacall as Jimmy, the friend that teaches adults how to spit.

Real score: the episode features two songs (which are not specifically for Jason, nor for other kids). One is an original by singer and actor Barry Williams, here playing Jason’s dad. Curiously, it’s not the first time Highway enlisted a real singer as actor for one of its episode: in the episode Song Of The Wild West in season one, the subject of the assignment was played by Ronee Blackley, and there was a singing sequence in that episode too.

That’s unavailable anywhere.

However, there’s a second song that plays out during the dancing scene, and that’s “Shout” of 1984, which confirms that this episode must be set at least in the 1985 Summer and not earlier during the first season.

So, it’s the first time in the series they actually paid the rights to play a real existing song in the show; in the first season, they got away with it by using old song available for free (like the one Mark sings in To Touch The Moon). And they must have paid it dearly, because they are gong to recycle this song on multiple occasions in the next season.

Finally, the song in the epilogue is a 1970 song by singer Diana Ross, a real one.

Not Michael Jackson’s, according to the script.

The Job: again, Camp counselor, just like part one.

The “Stuff”: in the episode, Jonathan will use the “Stuff” twice, and both in very odd situations. The first time is when he gets behind the stage of the concert by Jason’s father to talk to him.

Of course, he got there by making himself invisible or something.

The second one is when the bodyguard then stops him and orders him to go away, but Jonathan defies him.

And the man punches him, but Jonathan remains unfazed (similar to the Pilot).

Jonathan likely used his power to receive otherworldly strength. Or maybe Jonathan is actually a very strong man.

Also, it feels wrong: Jonathan has the power to move from one place to another (as he has just done to get there in the first place) and the power to be invisible (like he had done in the first season here) or to enter otherwise inaccessible places (as in the Pilot). So, he could have done the same here and get directly inside the dressing room, instead of going to the backstage and face the guard there. But it’s clear by now that he doesn’t know the rules of the “Stuff“, really. Or maybe he just wanted to hear some of the concert as well.

Ratings: 35-36 millions, 14th tie weekly TV programs, 3rd TV genre show.

The episode was not only groundbreaking and touching, but it was also a huge success. Apparently, part one accomplished its purpose of warming up the audience and lead up to part two: it aired on September 25, one week after part one, and scored two points more than the predecessor, drawing nearly 36 million viewers in the audience. It marks the largest improvement in ratings between episodes divided into two parts of the entire series.

Also, the ratings made this the most-watched episode of the entire first season, even surpassing the Pilot (that set it one year earlier). And this was just the beginning of season two; actually, that figure is going to be set higher and higher over the course of the new episodes. It certainly set a high bar (both in quality and in success) for the rest of the season.