This episode is a special bonus one. As the title suggests, it’s not part of Highway; rather, now that the third season has concluded, it seems like a good moment to look at some works that led up to the series. There is already a special about probationary angels on TV either unsuccessfully predating or equally unsuccessfully replicating Highway’s ones. This time, it might be worth looking at a particular TV show, not strictly about probationary angels, but in many ways related to the series. This time, successfully anticipating some of its features and without ever being mentioned in the series. It’s uncanny.

And it’s not I Was A Teenage Werewolf, a 1958 production with Landon as the protagonist, his first role as one in his entire career.

That’s only going to be referenced to in a Highway Season Four episode; if it weren’t for that, it would be completely unrelated to the series.

It’s The Ghosts Of Buxley Hall”, a 1980 (or 1981) TV “Movie Of the Week” as part of the Wonderful World On Disney on NBC. This special is the real precursor of Highway To Heaven, just with ghosts and more childish games.

Now, just some background: The Wonderful World of Disney was a series of TV movies, typically broadcast weekly, each telling a different story. This episode actually had a very strange release. Most episodes of The Wonderful World of Disney were either single one-hour installments or, if longer (as in this case), split into two parts. However, they made an odd scheduling choice: the first part aired in late December 1980, while the second aired in early January 1981, two weeks later. That’s so weird, leaving the audience hanging on like that. Most people probably forgot much of the first part by the time the second aired—after all, there’s Christmas and New Year’s Eve (and French likely hosted something himself that left him recovering for a week; or maybe he was invited to Landon’s house and lighted up another fireworks in it).

Anyway, they could have just aired a single 45 minute installment on the last week before Christmas and air this two part episode right in January, or they could have moved it up one week and aired both parts in December before the holiday.

One last thing: basically, the most important thing is counting all the features it shares with Highway. Or more accurately, those it predates from Highway. Plenty of it.

Anyway, on to Buxley Hall. It’s about the titular old military academy for boys. And it was founded in 1876, that’s right—basically around the same time Little House is set. Somehow, everything circles back to that era.

That looks like the blind school from Little House, for that matter.

Anyway, the academy is about to close due to a low number of new cadets, so in a desperate attempt to save it, the new headmaster reluctantly opens enrollment to girls.

That’s right, again—it’s a story about boys and girls and their ensuing battle for supremacy.

Back at Buxley Hall, a drunken janitor enters the room containing the portraits of the General (who also founded the academy), his wife, and the sergeant. And he drunkenly declares that the academy will now admit girls.

He shouldn’t be drinking like that.

Maybe Jonathan could help him out, like he helped Mark in the Pilot.

Upon hearing that girls are in, the figures in the portraits suddenly come to life.

Basically, it turns out that the school’s long-dead founder is now a ghost, along with his wife and the sergeant.

Just, pause here for a moment: plenty of old acquaintances here. So, the General’s wife in the right is portrayed by Louise Latham, who five years later would appear in Highway in the second season episode Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind, which was directed by French as well.

Instead, the General is played by Dick O’Neill, and the sergeant on the left is played by French, in a break from Little House On The Prairie, though a forced one. Just to give some contest: as already mentioned here, French had been on Little House since the pilot (in 1974), but he left the series in 1977 to join the roaster of Carter Country on a different network. His character was written out and effectively replaced by Merlin Olsen, who played a sort of surrogate version of the role French used to play (something even referenced by another character in the second season of Highway).

But Carter Country wasn’t particularly successful in the ratings and lasted only two years. In 1979, French returned to Little House for a guest appearance in the sixth season. Around that time, he wasn’t doing fine: in 1978, one year after leaving Little House, he divorced Julie Cobb, his second wife—a moment that reportedly left him crestfallen, as recalled by fellow Little House actress Charlotte Stewart, who later became his lover (and also played with him on Highway in season two).

At the same time, his father, Ted French, passed away (and French had often spoken in interviews about how close he was to his father, how similar they were, and how much he had inspired him to become an actor.) On top of that, his career had stalled following the abrupt cancellation of the sitcom he had left Little House for—just as Little House was enjoying massive popularity.

So, in 1979 he shortly returned to Little House for one guest appearance in the sixth season. Then, he spent a couple of years taking on various roles in films and television. These included An Olympic Love Story, a TV movie about the Olympics where he played a supporting role, the protagonist’s father; Choices, yet another sports-related story about an aspiring musician with a hearing impairment, and he played the protagonist’s father, again.

And The Cherokee Trail, yet another “World of Disney” installment, although a single episode, and a Western where he played the antagonist (something he said he was committed to avoid after years playing bad characters in his earlier roles before Landon “saved” him, as he reported in an interview; more about it here).

So, not a particularly remarkable run.

And among these roles, he also appeared in this special episode of The Wonderful World of Disney, which aired on NBC. Actually, this role was probably the most important one: he got to play the protagonist, one of the the few times in his career. Also, he is shaved, as he usually was after Carter Country, except for a long mustache. Except that he wasn’t shaved by the time he made that guest appearance in Little House sixth season. He probably shaved after that.

Another curious thing: this episode is directed by Bruce Bilson, who is also the director of the sitcom Get Smart, in which French played a recurring role for some episodes in the first season—the first recurring role in his career.

Actually, in one of these episodes directed by Bilson and featuring French, one particular Highway Lifetime actor appears too.

He’s the same actor from Close Encounters Of The Heavenly Kind, playing the neighbor falling in love with that grumpy woman played by Latham, here the General’s wife.

Again, that episode and this TV movie have more connections than meets the eyes.

Back to the Buxley Hall: the General turns out to be a typical man of the 1870s, convinced that girls belong on farms like Caroline, not in military settings. So here’s the assignment: find a way to drive the girls out of the school.

Not exactly angelic—but then again, they’re ghosts. Maybe they are still haunting the academy because they were denied entry to Heaven and have to earn redemption by doing some good, like the ghostly agent from a few episodes back in season three.

Anyway, the three ghosts are interrupted by the janitor, who walks in the room like that.

The Sergeant wants to duel him, unbeknownst to him that he’s a ghost.

There were probably better devices to explain the audience that they are ghosts than having the General explain it to the sergeant.

Because the problem is that, by the way they talk (And as it will be confirmed later), it turns out they have never moved out of their paintings and invaded the real world before. But then, how come none of them seemed so surprise to be back “alive” or in the real world. And how come the General knows everything about being a ghost, when his wife is indifferent and the Sergeant is so clumsy. Maybe he’s like a big name ghost, while the sergeant is a probationary one. It seems like French is doomed to play those.

Also, it feels like those offbeat justifications in Highway when Jonathan explains something to Mark even though that’s addressed to the audience (one example is the Sunday Suits in Catch A Falling Star in season one and Gift Of Life in season three).

Anyway, the rules are laid out: nobody can see them or hear—unless they choose to be seen, which is exactly how Jonathan behaved in The Banker And The Bum in season one. Also, it’s similar to the ghost agent episode; it almost feels like these two series exist in the same fictional universe—maybe even the same version of California.

And they can pass through doors as if they weren’t there.

That’s something Jonathan probably couldn’t do with the Stuff.

Even though the sergeant doesn’t know it either.

That’s probably where they spent all the money.

However, they can still interact with physical objects. And that is revealed not much by their casual walking around rather than fluctuating like ghosts would (perhaps it’d be too hard to make a movie where the actors hover around), but it is revealed when the Sarge drinks some water. And it looks like this.

And, nobody seems to notice except the janitor, who cautiously approaches as the Sarge grins like a cat.

And he feels inspired by Jonathan’s tricks to pull one himself: splashing water on that man’s face.

Cute.

Yet another example of shows from that era finding humor in people getting soaked—something audiences in the ’80s, especially kids, seemed to love.

Also, if this were Highway, that would be basically a Friendly Jonathan instance, only now it’s a Friendly Ghost one. It’s been ten minutes, and this was like the third feature Highway took from this.

Later, the headmaster discovers that a wealthy orphan has been sent to the academy by his uncle. Basically, as long as the boy remains enrolled, the school will receive his inheritance—enough to keep it open even without admitting girls.

However, the boy’s aunt—a greedy woman who pretends to be wealthy but has nothing—wants custody of him in order to access his fortune.

Eventually, Jeremy stays.

In the meantime, there’s a blooper: as Jeremy befriends an obnoxious girl, Posie (definitely a doozy), the shadow of a microphone suddenly appears on the left side of the wall—and it grows increasingly visible.

That’s exactly like the mic blooper in Highway the episode The Secret in season two.

And then again in A Song Of Songs in season three.

Maybe it’s the same guy in both.

Anyway, at the post, the General devises a plan.

Basically, the “assignment” is divided into two parts: he’ll try to support his great-grandson in scaring the girls off the academy; in the meantime, he instructs the sergeant to make sure the Jeremy enjoys his time at the academy so that he won’t leave with his aunt.

Of course, Chester admits he doesn’t like kids, but just like Mark in Highway, there’s nothing he can do to change the assignment.

Then, it’s revealed that the aunt Ernestine plans is to seize Jeremy’s inheritance by force Jeremy out of the academy and obtain custody of him. To make matters worse, she is married to an Italian count who runs around shouting Italian food names as expletives.

At least he’s played by an actual Italian actor, rather than a caricature. Still, he seems like a prototype for that elderly woman in season one who rejects her grandson.

It was a long time ago.

Back at Buxley, the girls begin settling in with the boys, and it’s a mess: they party and pass bottles between windows as though it were not a military academy.

This dorm looks familiar.

It’s more like something out of that season three episode of Highway—the dorm Mark had to supervise.

Again, this episode anticipates Highway to Heaven in many ways.

That night, the Sergeant makes sure that Jeremy is asleep. And then, he leaves, but differently. The first time he walked through a door, he just passed through it as though it didn’t exist. Now he approaches the door, then suddenly vanishes (much like Jonathan using his power) shortly before hitting it and in the next shot, he’s already on the other side.

Even though the actor likely had to walk straight into the door and was edited out later. It must have looked ridiculous making it—just, imagine: someone confidently striding toward a door, pretending to be a ghost, trying not to visibly brace for impact and preparing to smash your head against it.

Being an actor is sure hard.

As the sergeant stands in the hallway, he decides to grab a gun hanging on the wall before walking out—but the janitor witnesses this and immediately runs away.

This feels a bit excessive: even for a military school, having guns casually hanging around where young underage cadets can access them seems too dangerous and unrealistic. Those guns are probably fake, which means the janitor’s reaction makes little sense—although, to be fair, you don’t usually see guns floating in midair.

Maybe he drank too much of that booze.

While the sergeant laughs.

Cute, that’s real cute.

Later, the students organize a nighttime party that devolves into a massive pillow fight. The staff shut it down, and when they see that Jeremy has befriended Posie—the rebellious girl—they decide to expel her for inciting the chaos.

Feeling responsible, Jeremy decides to run away in the middle of the night—like that.

And the sergeant Chester has to find him.

Apparently, these ghosts have to sleep, not like Jonathan.

Eventually, he finds Jeremy hiding in a warehouse.

To prevent him from running away, the sergeant appears to him.

So, he reveals himself as a ghost who has been “assigned” by a superior to ensure Jeremy settles in.

Basically, he makes the ghost revelation. Surprisingly, Jeremy accepts this explanation without much hesitation. As though he lived in a world where ghosts’ existence has been widely accepted.

Soon after, Posie finds him too.

It’s way too easy running away from this academy.

Anyway, she convinces him to return to the academy.

The next day, everyone—including the ghostly sergeant—attends classes. And there’s one on a subject that should be familiar to the Highway audience.

Of all possible lessons, they chose that one—the same that Mark was forced to teach in the second-season finale.

And the sergeant looks as embarrassed as Mark in that episode.

If this ain’t a coincidence.

The connections between these two series are growing stronger.

Imagine French and his face when he read the script for the season two finale, and he realized it was exactly like this episode. That’s why he was so convincing in his embarrassment in that episode.

The connections between these two series are growing stronger.

Meanwhile, Jereremy’s aunts meets the janitor getting drunk, and learns from him that there are ghosts around the academy. So, she and her husband hatch a plan: they disguise themselves as ghosts in order to close down the academy. While dramatically dropping the title.

And the episode ends like that—at least, part one does.

Viewers originally had to wait two weeks—through Christmas and New Year’s Eve—to see the conclusion.

Perhaps it was planned, or perhaps the production simply ran over schedule. They could have aired both parts the same night. But they’d rather have a two week break instead.

So, after the Christmas break and the hangovers, part two begins as Jeremy is looking for the Sergeant.

Apparently, the sergeant is now portrayed as having helped Jeremy for quite some time—even though Jeremy had only discovered the existence of ghosts last night. And now he suddenly asks him to stop helping him.

But you wanted him.

He probably forgot that he was the one looking for the Sergeant in the first place. This feels like Mark forgetting things in Highway: in season one, he didn’t like roller coasters, but got on one in season two, leading to an assignment; he got married to a woman, and then forgot all about her when he fell in love again.

Now, as they talk, an upperclassman scolds Jeremy for breaking formation and threatens to report him.

Jeremy, fed up with being pushed around—and unwilling to let anyone threaten his friend Posie—decides to learn boxing.

Yes, boxing.

And French couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Apparently, French had a genuine passion for the sport: in a 1985 interview for the L.A. Times, he revealed that as a child he used to shadowbox in front of the TV and dreamed of becoming either a stuntman (like his father) or a boxer. Eventually, he discovered acting and chose that instead.

Still, his love for boxing later grew more: in that same interview, he explained that he regularly trained and attended the Ten Goose Gym in Van Nuys, and befriended the owner —an ex-cop who had opened the gym to help keep young people off the street.

In May 1985, however, the owner passed away. And French stepped in using his own money to help keep the gym open—and becoming involved as a boxing promoter. There, he worked with several fighters, including bantamweight contender Frankie Duarte and future middleweight champion Michael Nunn, who won that world title in 1988, while under his promotion.

Actually, this side career may help explain why French reduced his involvement in Highway to Heaven during its third season (beginning production in the summer of 1986), which marked the conclusion of his directing career, reportedly due to lack of time—as he revealed in December of that year (more about it here). It’s possible that his growing commitments as a promoter became too demanding. This would also explain his more limited on-screen presence in the fourth season compared to the earlier ones.

Anyway, what it all boils down to is that he liked that. And that explains why he looks so happy here (just like he is in the Highway episodes about boxing).

There’s also a small but noticeable detail: since French was left-handed, he demonstrates boxing from a southpaw stance. However, the actor playing Jeremy is likely right-handed, so he ends up mirroring the moves rather than properly matching them, making the whole sequence look slightly off.

Yet another Highway’s connection.

Also, one small but noticeable detail: French was left-handed, so he demonstrates boxing from a southpaw stance—but the actor playing Jeremy is right-handed, so he matches the moves. Even though Jeremy supposedly knows nothing about boxing, or he wouldn’t ask for a lesson.

Also, this whole training scene recalls when Mark awkwardly tries to teach someone a skill.

It’s the same stage, the same slightly stiff energy—only here, French plays it completely straight.

And just like in that scene, in which some girls were spying on Mark, now a janitor witnesses the scene.

Later that night, Jeremy’s aunt, her husband the count and a hired thug attempt to break into the academy disguised as ghosts—by simply throwing blankets over themselves.

Their plan is to scare the girls away.

Because, of course, if you see someone draped in a blanket, the most logical conclusion is that it’s a ghost—not just someone playing a prank. Especially not in a place where the students were having pillow fights and partying all around. Perhaps Jeremy’s aunt genuinely believed the academy was too disciplined for that kind of behavior—clearly, she was wrong. Just like security measures in Highway.

In any case, the plan quickly goes awry when the Sergeant and the General joins them by stealing their blankets.

That’s probably not the kind of trick the French used to play on Landon, but it’s the child’s version of it.

Anyway, the thugs run away calling Jeremy’s aunt, and the sergeant realizes she is behind this. While the head of Buxley places the blame on the girls and warns them that, the next day, they will have to attend “Suicide Hill,” a simulated battlefield used for training. Of course, the head intends to make the exercise especially difficult that year in order to drive the girls away by proving they can’t keep up with the boys.

As everyone returns to the dorm, however, the General’s wife, Bettina, overhears Jeremy telling Posy that he will quit Buxley if, for any reason, Posie leaves as well—or if the girls are forced to leave. Fearing that the girls might not succeed at the hill the next day, the Sergeant decides to deliberately act against his the General’s orders and help the girls, in order to complete at least one assignment: keeping Jeremy happy so that he remains at Buxley and saves the school.

This feels like Jonathan going against his superior’s orders for an assignment.

During the marathon, the headmistress of the girls’ school falls over and gets muddy soaked.

And she pushes the headmaster of the boys’ school into the dumps too.

Because they are equal.

The two argue and the merge is off.

As a result, the girls will now have to leave—and so will Jeremy, as he had previously threatened.

At this point, the Sergeant unexpectedly decides to reveal himself to Posie, introducing himself as a friendly spirit.

Much like Mark did to Eddy.

He then explains that the whole situation revolves around Jeremy’s inheritance, which is why he was assigned to keep the boy happy.

Upon hearing this, Jeremy decides to buy the school and prevent the girls from leaving and live happily ever after with the girls and the ghosts.

But there’s a problem: when the Sergeant first met Jeremy and dropped the ghost revelation, he only said he had been assigned to make him happy—not that this was because of Jeremy’s wealth. By revealing the truth now, the Sergeant inadvertently exposes that he has been using Jeremy all along for his money, rather than acting out of real, selfless friendship.

But the kid is not worried about it, even though one of the literally two friends he has just told him their friendship relied on money, and that doesn’t make the Sergeant any better than what Jeremy’s aunt wants to do.

Anyway, as Jeremy calls his uncle to ask him to buy the academy, his aunt arrives and forces him to go home.

Basically, Jeremy’s aunt met the janitor getting drunk a second time, and he drunkenly reported that Jeremy was taking boxing lesson with an invisible ghost. So, she entices Jeremy to talk about it, unbeknownst to him that she also brought a doctor down, with the purpose of letting him overhear them and have Jeremy institutionalized for believing in ghosts.

It sounds like the premise of a season-two episode about actors suffering from religious visions and his sister and nephew trying to get him declared unstable for that.

Anyway, the sergeant sees her and realizes that she only wants control of the kid’s money— just like he does, for that matter—and tries to reach them.

You’re ghosts, aren’t you?

They’ve been vanishing all the episode like Jonathan would. But for some reason, instead of using their vanishing powers to get to Jeremy’s aunt, the Sarge and General’s lady take the academy bus, driven by the janitor, and learn how to drive it almost instantly.

This feels like a mystery: one, they could vanish and get there immediately, instead of using this old human vehicle. Second, they have no idea where the aunt lives. Yet they find her all the same.

And then they do some Joey Chitwood.

Really, they probably got some help from Jonathan with the Stuff.

And the road is mysteriously empty—apparently every cop is too busy drinking their soul away.

Meanwhile, at the aunt’s house, she tells Jeremy what she heard from the janitor—that the academy is haunted by three ghosts. Eventually, Jeremy opens up and confesses everything, even admitting that the Ghost of Sarge is his best friend.

If the sergeant is your best friend, you’ve got some real problems kiddo.

Of course, he considers the sergeant to be his friend, even when he was told that he had been using him for his wealth. Again, this kid latches onto people like Mark—who considers everybody his friend even if they don’t see nor hear from each other for years.

That kid clearly has issues if he thinks a ghost who uses him for money is his best friend—and that’s exactly what a doctor thinks, too. After overhearing them, he promises the aunt that Jeremy will be institutionalized and that she’ll gain control of his money.

As the doctor leaves, the Sergeant and the lady ghosts arrive and invisibly beat everybody (just like the ghost in season three) and pull one of their tricks on the aunt, throwing a cake at her.

And laughing.

It looks like the actors had more fun doing this than the kids watching it—kind of like the soaking scenes.

Anyway, now that basically everyone on Earth knows about the existence of ghosts, and the aunt has control of Jeremy’s money, we reach the epilogue: she wants revenge for the humiliation of being caked by a ghost, so she buys the academy using Jeremy’s money.

Most certainly unwise.

That’s reckless and downright dangerous: you’ve just found out there are ghosts there—they could haunt you for the rest of your life. Just because the worst they’ve done so far is throw a cake doesn’t mean they couldn’t do something far more threatening.

It feels like a thug in As Difficult As ABC truing to doublecross Jonathan.

But that’s how it goes: she arrives at the academy with a backhoe to tear the place down. Now it’s time for the “final battle”: everyone grabs rakes and whatever they can find and lines up in front of the building.

This plan makes no sense—if she owns the place, she could just call the police and have them all arrested for trespassing. But then again, this show seems to exist in the same version of California as Highway, where the police apparently don’t exist (like that time former actors beat up thugs, or when Jonathan manipulated stock prices by spreading words of a corporate buyout beforehand).

The fight begins: the ghosts blast at the workers to scare them off, while the cadets splash water at them.

It all feels very familiar—basically the season one finale.

Everything just loops back to Highway.

Finally, the ghosts decide to play one last trick, leading to the most ridiculous part of the episode—the moment everyone’s been waiting for. The Sarge jumps from place to place, saying one word each time while making unsettling faces. It’s even more awkward and drunken than CHiPs at its worst, and honestly, it’s embarrassing to watch.

Just imagine how they filmed it: French says one word per take, then moves somewhere else, says another word, jumps again, and repeats. It probably took multiple takes for each line. This goes way beyond sitcom territory—you can clearly tell there’s a sitcom director behind it. French approaches the role the same way he played Roy in Carter Country, with the same pitch, mimicry, and facial expressions—even down to the mustache—but here it’s pushed completely over the top.

No idea how they got him to do this.

Eventually, the aunt is scared off the property when Jeremy’s uncle arrives. Seeing her rambling about ghosts, he has her taken away, and Jeremy is allowed to stay at the academy. The head of the academy is then informed that Jeremy won’t help unless the girls are allowed to stay as well. That doesn’t leave him with much choice, so he reconciles with the other head.

Later, Jeremy and Posy go to find Sarge’s ghost, who is sitting alone on a bench. As they approach, it’s unclear why he let them go without saying anything earlier. Maybe Sarge is as friendly as Jonathan was, or maybe he was just afraid to say goodbye. In the end, they share an emotional farewell, saluting each other, because Sarge has to return to his painting.
That part is quite strange. There’s no clear reason for him to go back to the painting—he wasn’t brought back as a ghost to fulfill some vow to protect the school, and now that the school is safe, he has no defined purpose to complete. At the beginning, the ghosts simply materialize out of nowhere, as if they’ve always been able to do that. The show never establishes any rules or suggests they have limited time to complete their task.

Also, they’re just returning to the painting, so if Jeremy ever wanted to see Sarge again, he could simply go to the room where the painting hangs—no problem at all. It even seems like they can still hear what’s happening around them, since the first time they came to life was triggered by someone talking about the painting. So they’re not really “gone” when they return; they can presumably come back at any moment.
Still, compared to the many other absurd moments, this barely stands out. It even seems like the writers realized this, because Sarge later warns his superior about the academy’s future in case something goes wrong, and they all decide to keep haunting the place anyway. That makes the earlier goodbye to Jeremy feel pointless.

In the end, the episode concludes with Sarge walking toward the door, French crashing into it, and two ghosts in the painting reminiscing about the past—back when slavery hadn’t been abolished and girls weren’t around. But don’t worry about that, Jonathan can apparently make up for it.
Overall, the episode feels completely random—just like the characters and the situations. Still, it oddly anticipates many elements of Highway, such as the assignments, the disappearing powers, the friendly ghost dynamics, and French making ridiculous faces. That was probably the only part worth watching of all this.