Highway to Heaven: Season One

Long before Joan of Arcadia, there was Highway to Heaven, which debuted in 1984, kicking off the whole "on a mission from God" genre of dramatic television, and this seven-disc boxed set compiles the 24 first-season episodes in all their saintly glory. Highway to Heaven is not a challenging drama, and to call it melodrama would be kind; rather, this is comfort TV of the most unambitious order, but golly, folks do love it. Michael Landon stars--and directs and writes and produces--as Jonathan Smith, a veritable angel on Earth who is here to plant flowers and give people puppies and bicycles and hugs and just be so generally gosh darn nice that no one can avoid being uplifted. People are sick a lot around Jonathan--cancer, usually, as if runaway cell reproduction were an act of the Devil himself--or they're greedy or angry, but a smile or a kind word from Jonathan puts everything to rights. If only! Can't blame people for liking the fantasy, though, I guess. The image is a little flat (a minor restoration miracle wouldn't have gone astray here), but the strong DVD extras include a feature-length documentary on Landon, as well as rare outtakes. Recommended. (M. Johanson)