Airdate: 01/28/1987

Directed By: Michael Landon

They have another episode set in a school, with several more to follow later. This time, it’s actually a single assignment that spans multiple subjects at once.

Also, the title sounds familiar to an old 1960s show: the first episode of The Hero, the 1966 sitcom with French and Richard Mulligan had its first episode titled “A Night To Remember To Forget”; perhaps they did it on purpose.

Complete show available here.

Assignment: Jonathan and Mark are assigned to help a disparate group of students prepare for the upcoming ball.

It’s one of those assignments without a clear subject. However, it’s not an job-related assignment either. It’s just sprawling, and has many related subjects.

For this episode, Jonathan and Mark work as High School teacher, something they have already done before. Because teachers are there to teach life lessons—and who’s better than a probationary angel and an alcoholic ex cop.

Anyway, for this episode, they don’t have to teach any life lesson: instead, they have to help a bunch of teenagers prepare for the prom; you know, the most important day of the year for any 1980s American teen, isn’t it.

The assignment mainly revolves around four students. They have Melanie, the school’s prettiest girl, who’s in love with a boy named Danny, who reciprocates her feelings but won’t make the first move or invite her to the dance because his father has lost his job and he’s ashamed of his family’s bleak situation. And she doesn’t know what to think of this.

So, she just goes along with this. Because it would be improper for a girl to ask a boy out for a prom instead. That’s the way it was in the 1870s, at least.

Then there’s another student, Katie, the school’s tallest girl, who is in love with Sammy, an aspiring stand-up comedian who reciprocates her feelings (again), but they are embarrassed because she’s taller than him.

So, she won’t ask him out either. Because they couldn’t just go have a dance of their own in some place where nobody can judge them. That’s what they did in the 1840s, at least.

On top of all this, there’s also a bully who constantly gets in everyone’s way.

Altogether, it’s a sprawling assignment.

This time, though, the assignment isn’t directly related to the job itself (unlike Hotel of Dreams, for example). That’s mostly because, in this episode, it all revolves around the dance, which acts as the catalyst for the characters’ problems, and the assignment are somewhat interconnected one another. That’s different from Hotel Of Dreams where each character’s assignment was unrelated to the others (for instance, the doozy kid that Mark straighten out never interacts with the hotel owner, for example), or Bless The Boys In Blue, which was about the routine of a cop, with plenty of unrelated, scattered assignments all around the episode; this time, the assignment is more precise and less tied to the job of being a teacher.

Even though Hotel Of Dreams had a ball too.

• Background

As for the background details, they’re unclear. They never specify when the night is scheduled, nor how long Jonathan and Mark work on the assignment; still, it’s plausible that it’s the usual ten days. The prom could be scheduled for Spring (like One Fresh Batch Of Lemonade), but the assignment might take place anytime.

Instead, the setting is the fictional Lincoln High School, in Los Angeles, a school attended by adults.

Like any other school in this series.

• Characters

In the episode, there’s something weird to point out about Mark: one is at the beginning, and it’s problematic.

As he discusses what the assignment is about, he makes a stunning revelation.

Because you have a long experience with that. Just as long as kids have no impairments, and there are no girls.

The weird part is that they had never done this before. This episode is the first in the entire series in which Mark is a sports coach, so the basis on which he makes that assumption feels odd. There had already been episodes revolving around sports, but he was never the coach in those. For instance, in season one As Difficult As ABC he worked at the school while Jonathan was the coach, and in the baseball episode he was a reporter. And in Oh Lucky Man, he spent all his time hanging around that woman, and Jonathan was a volunteer as coach instead. So, Mark was never a coach.

There are only two episodes in which he was a coach: once is in A Song for Jason, but on that occasion he was a summer camp counselor, so coaching was only part of the job, and he didn’t do much more than that.

A second episode was A Special Love, which was probably a full coaching experience; and, on that episode, he said that he enjoyed coaching too. Just to realize he was going to coach kids in Special Olympics, and he liked that less.

Of course, he fell in love with that job shortly after that. But it goes to show that it depends on who they are coaching, so he should wait for Jonathan to specify that before committing himself.

And that’s exactly what happens here, when he contradicts himself upon discovering he has to coach girls.

Perhaps he means that he’s used to ill kids and men only.

Either way, the episode A Special Love was the only one in the series where he had to coach, and it’s weird he’d take that assignment as the best of the series (in light of some very impactful ones, as when he fell in love the first time or when he spent the best week of his life). So, one plausible way to justify his statement here is that there has been some prior episode in the series in which they actually worked as coaches, but they skipped that episode. That goes to show the series do not contain all the assignments (more about it here).

So, if that were the case and they had already worked as coaches on other assignments, it shouldn’t come as unexpected that Mark, the man who only wears the A’s cap all around—except when he falls in love— is into sport. Also, it justifies his words at the beginning of The Good Doctor in season two, when he felt it was going to be the best assignment only because it was about sport (even though he was an “assistant equipment manager” for that).

Now, that makes a whole lot of sense.

Oddly, in the opening of Love And Marriage, he revealed that the best assignment he has ever worked on with Jonathan is in A Match Made In Heaven, which is not about sport. But Mark was referencing a single assignment. Now he’s being more generic on what’s the kind of assignment he prefers.

Then, there’s another thing to point out about Mark’s background: in the same scene, after confessing Jonathan he likes coaching, he also adds a detail.

That’s new: he has never mentioned he used to play baseball in his past, so far. Actually, he revealed in The Good Doctor that he used to play football from High School to the academy, but didn’t say anything about baseball too. But again, that was plausible, given his passion for that sport.

Anyway, there’s another, unrelated thing to point out about him: at the conclusion of the episode, when he’s at the party, he spots a girl hanging around doozy drunken boy.

So, he decides to save her.

Just to clear out: this series is against underage drinking. They don’t want to get the wrong message across their impressionable audience.

“Be a real friend. Just Say No”.

• Production and Setting

As for production, the episode was shot in late November over the course of ten days (one of the lengthiest production of this season), finishing in early December—the same production window as Keep Smiling the year before and Plane Death the year before that. It was produced before A Song Of Songs, despite airing later.

Similarly, in season two, the episode Keep Smiling was produced before Change Of Life, but it aired later. They have this weird thing.

One weird thing to point out: someone apparently reported that there was a car accident involving French at the same time as they were making this episode, and he broke his nose; but, instead of delaying the production, they decided to weave his wound into the show by adding a scene in which he’s hit by a ball and Mark breaks his nose too.

Now, the sources for this info is not reported, but it’s hard to believe: one, there’s no record of it anywhere. Also, in the shooting schedule, “bandages” are marked as props, and if the actor had actually broken his nose, it’s hard he would have used fake bandages instead. So, it’s unclear whether French really had an accident during production—but even if he did, Mark’s injury in the episode was not an improvisation they made to accommodate the actor and prevent any delays or whatever.

Anyway, the show was written by David Thoreau (a relative of that Thoreau), marking his third contribution to the series: he had previously written Children’s Children in season two (about young mothers and journalism) and the episode in which Mark falls in love (the phony one, not the authentic version). Curiously, this wound up being the last non-cop-related episode he wrote for the show: the four remaining episodes he penned afterward (including one later in this same season) will all be about Jonathan and Mark working as cops, or deal with investigations.

As for the setting, the the high school where Jonathan and Mark work is the real John Marshall one.

Now, the episode was produced in November, when the school would presumably have been open. So, either they filmed in the afternoons after classes ended, or they temporarily disrupted the regular schedule. Even Friends revolved around students, but that episode only used a single hallway, whereas this one is heavily set throughout the entire school.

Glossary:

Cute: there’s one cute in the episode, when Mark breaks his nose and Jonathan mocks him for what he said before, that girls are not as strong as boys.

Car: there are two important parts revolving around Mark’s beloved Car (the one he sold when he fell in love but eventually got back). One is the beginning: when Jonathan and Mark arrive at school, they decide to park the car right in front of it.

And they won’t find it there.

That’s definitely not a parking spot, and even if it were, it’s hard to believe no one else would use it.

Curiously, that is not gonna be the last time in the series they park the car like that.

But there’s another problem with the car, which is partially a friendly Jonathan instance: at the prom, Danny tells Jonathan that his father has decided to take a job at the gas station, following Jonathan’s advice, and that he’ll be happy to help.

Jonathan politely nods and thanks him—except that he doesn’t have a car and has always used Mark’s to get around, even when Mark didn’t need it. The amusing part is that Mark is standing right there and hears everything, yet he doesn’t say a word about Jonathan using his car.

Cute, Jonathan.

Friendly Jonathan: there’s one instance. When Sammy admits he can’t dance, Jonathan suggests that he ask someone to teach him some moves.

Then you are.

An angel would be fine. Also, it was shown in One Winged Angels that Jonathan can dance too.

But, apparently, that someone can’t be the probationary angel.

You know better.

Of course, it’s all a joke—Mark can’t dance at all, as he openly admits.

Jonathan might have been thinking of French and his roller-disco dance in Chips, because Landon will clearly never stop teasing his friend about it.

Nobody ever truly recovers from that.

That’s the last time Mark ever danced.

You’d better forget that last time.

But he doesn’t.

And Mark even thanks Jonathan when everyone sees them dancing like that—as if Jonathan had sent them into that situation in the first place.

French will be haunted by that episode forever.

Sunday Suit: in the final ball, both Jonathan and Mark have their old black suits on.

And, before that, for much of the episode Jonathan has his brown coat. The same one he used when he was a teacher in season two.

The Job: this time, Jonathan and Mark are assigned to work at the same high school again, making this the second time in the series they’ve worked there.

The first was in Friends, the second-season finale. Here, Jonathan teaches History while Mark works as a sports coach, whereas in that earlier episode their roles weren’t clearly defined. At least, Jonathan’s, but Mark had a precise one.

There are some similarities about these two episodes: just like that time, it’s unclear how they got the job. Of course, Jonathan probably used some fake references, but the point is that he’s a teacher. So, he should know the stuff he’s talking about. And he died in 1948, and before that it was never revealed whether he ever got any schooling when he was alive.

But he doesn’t have to worry about that now: he’s got the Stuff. That’s not fair, though.

Another similarity is in Jonathan’s approach: on his first day as a teacher, he tells them to write about their forebears and their teachings.

And Thoreau Jr. has learned from Thoreau Sr. how to write for Highway.

It’s a weird thing for teenagers to do. But then again, they are all adults. And what the heck, anything can happen: you know, maybe it turns out that someone is related to Laura (not directly, though).

Also, as Jonathan admits, he’s only a stand-up teacher “for the next few days”. So, it’s yet another job they’ll have to leave in a short time.

Ratings: 33 – 34 million audience. 13th tie weekly TV programs, 2nd TV genre show.

The episode aired in late January 1987, during the period when the series enjoyed its greatest popularity in terms of ratings (episodes airing in January and early February were consistently the most popular of each season). This particular one aired one year after Change of Life, the most successful episode of the series. While it didn’t quite reach those same ratings, it was still very successful—more so than many episodes earlier in the season—and, it became the most popular episode written by Thoreau in the series.

It further confirmed that, for some reason, ratings for episodes airing in early January improved drastically compared to most episodes earlier in the season. And they usually remained strong until March, when the series began airing reruns alongside the last new episodes. It’s unclear why this happened: most series airing at the same time didn’t experience a similar post–New Year ratings boost (perhaps only for a single week in early January, at most), so Highway was something of an exception. Still, this third season was more uneven in terms of ratings (as it’s apparent by the ratings of its first half, and the blow it suffered after Love And Marriage that lasted all the way ’till Christmas). So, whether the next episode is safe enough, despite airing in this time of the year, remains to be seen. There are strong chances, though. Unless people disliked this episode and quit watching the series after this. In that case, it’ll make things hard for what’s next from now.