[1] The series starred its creator and co-director Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth in order to help people in need.

Each episode typically begins with Jonathan and Mark arriving in a new city and taking jobs as business employees or civil service workers as part of their latest assignment.

Due to Jonathan's angelic nature, the two can work as police officers, medical personnel, teachers, social workers or other skilled employees (background checks or employment history verification being divinely provided or somehow never looked into), allowing for a variety of identities and scenarios.

Both Jonathan and Mark face the same difficulties as people on Earth trying to rectify these problems, and have little to aid them beyond a bare outline of their assignment.

In the season two episode "Keep Smiling" it is revealed that "Jonathan Smith" is actually Arthur Thompson, a man who lived on Earth from September 7, 1917 to March 21, 1948.

[7] Recalling how he came up with the idea for Highway to Heaven, director/executive producer/star Michael Landon said, "I was driving through Beverly Hills to pick up my kids on a Friday night, and people were honking at each other.

[8][9] Quadriplegic actor James Troesh had a small part in the two-part season one episode "A Fresh Batch of Lemonade" as attorney Scotty Wilson.

He later persuaded Landon to do an episode ("A Match Made in Heaven") in which Scotty becomes romantically involved with Mark Gordon's cousin Diane, loosely based on Troesh's real-life romance with his wife.

[9] Part of this scene was spliced together with footage of Mark picking Jonathan up in his car to form the show's title sequence.

This additional footage (which does not appear in the story content of any episode) was filmed along Soledad Canyon Road near Acton, California.

The second-season episode "To Bind The Wounds" was partially filmed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where the World War II B-25 Mitchell Bomber was located.

[12] In June 1988 in the midst of the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike, NBC decided that season five would be Highway to Heaven's last, since the show was falling in the ratings.

Michael Landon made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on March 10, 1989,[15] and explained the series' cancellation.

Even if the series had performed well enough to warrant renewal, Victor French would have been unable to continue with it, since he had been diagnosed with lung cancer in March 1989, shortly after completing filming for the fifth season.

Landon's last public appearance was on NBC, as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, less than two months before he died in July 1991.

The transfers have also been opened out on the sides and slightly cropped top and bottom to create a 1.78:1 aspect ratio image, as opposed to the original 1.33:1.

The remastered series has been released in complete Blu-ray and DVD box sets in the US (Visual Entertainment Inc.) and Germany (Pidax Film).