The Best Episodes of Midnight Caller

"After It Happened" is a 1988 episode of the NBC television series Midnight Caller. The controversial episode tells the story of a bisexual man who is deliberately infecting people, including series lead character Jack Killian's ex-girlfriend, with HIV. AIDS and LGBT rights activists disrupted filming, citing concerns over the negative portrayal of bisexual and HIV-positive people and fears that the show would make people with AIDS the targets of violence. Series executives made some changes to the script in response to these concerns, but activists were still displeased. "After It Happened" performed well in the ratings but received a mixed critical response. Actress Kay Lenz received an Emmy Award for her guest-starring role as Killian's ex-girlfriend Tina. NBC aired a follow-up episode in 1989 in which Tina is near death. This second script, "Someone to Love", was written in consultation with some of the groups that protested "After It Happened" and was much more favorably received.

Director: Mimi Leder

Writer: N/A

One of Jack's regular callers ""witnesses"" a murder in her apartment building while talking to Jack on the phone. She isn't believed by the authorities because she is blind and there is no evidence that a crime has been committed.

Director: Robert Singer

Writer: N/A

A man claiming to be Jack's father shows up and Jack is not exactly warming up to him. And Devon finally has it out with her father which doesn't end well.

Director: Robert Butler

Writer: N/A

Jack receives a call from a hospice. Tina Cassidy's battle with AIDS is near the end. As Jack goes to her, he reflects on their time together.

Director: Robert Singer

Writer: N/A

A young runaway, forced into prostitution, turns to Jack via his radio show for assistance in breaking away from her pimp who is involved in the white slavery market.

Director: Robert Singer

Writer: Robert Singer

The convicts demand Jack broadcast their side of the story via KJCM, Deacon gets an interview with the prisoner on the outside, and Jack meets up with the prisoner with a bone to pick.

Director: Eric Laneuville

Writer: N/A

Jack continues to be haunted by the night of Rusty's death. This time he has to help out Rusty's son, Ethan, who has run away from home and calls Jack to tell him so.

Director: N/A

Writer: Paul Robert Coyle

As the second season ends, Killian's behavior is definitely out of the ordinary... he can't seem to care about anything. A heart-to-heart intervention with Deacon and Zymak reveals that Jack is mourning Tina as her birthday approaches, but Devon needs him back to normal, for other reasons.

Director: Robert Singer

Writer: Robert Singer

Jack Killian retires from the San Francisco Police Department after accidentally shooting his partner, Rusty, in a crossfire situation. He's drawn back to the world of the living by an offer to be a late night talk radio host. A serial killer begins calling Jack, explaining the assassinations and Jack's inadvertently pulled back into the crime fighting world.

Director: Thomas Carter

Writer: N/A

Jack, Devon and Billy are forced to examine their belief in capital punishment when they are invited to broadcast the final hours of a death row inmate's life.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Jack struggles with his opinion of deadbeat dads and with giving his ""Little Brother"" a positive start with his father who is making an effort to reform himself.

Director: Win Phelps

Writer: N/A

KJCM's security guard is charged with murdering his son. Jack gets involved because the guard is suing KJCM for the advice he claims he received from Jack in how to deal with the drug problem in his family.

Director: Philip Sgriccia

Writer: Chris Carter

Devon is stalked by a man who targets her during a traffic jam. She and Jack are forced into a situation that causes them to contemplate moving their relationship from platonic to something more.

Director: Colin Bucksey

Writer: N/A

Closing in on the answers to Sonny's death leads to connections to the candidates and the issue of the homeless, which in turn causes Jack to become the target of an assassin.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

The season finale deals with the issue of gun control, and a citizen's right to bear arms. A neighborhood convenience store owner misinterprets Jack's caution to protect himself, ends up killing a man and places partial blame on Jack for the idea.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

An abandoned young boy seeks refuge within a modern day band of street thieves with similarities to the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist.

Director: Randall Zisk

Writer: N/A

Jack's friend from childhood is too close to the hostage situations around the world; his brother is one of many on a hijacked plane. In retaliation, he kidnaps an official from the country claiming responsibility. He keeps regular contact with Jack via the radio show, alluding to his location.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Nikki shows who's the new boss by insisting Jack cover a prison riot near San Francisco. Jack arrives at the prison and becomes part of a chosen delegation to go inside and witness the atrocities the convicts are rebelling against. Unknowingly, Jack becomes the target of one of the inmates, who has a personal score to settle.

Director: Eric Laneuville

Writer: N/A

Jack recognizes a woman who has been missing for years and in his pursuit of her he uncovers that she intentionally disappeared to avoid beatings from cop husband.

Director: Betty Thomas

Writer: N/A

Jack receives a phone call from a kidnapper who informs Jack that he has taken a suspected murderer into his personal custody so he won't hurt any more women. He continues to use Jack's show as a forum for his demands. A supposed suicide is revealed to be an elaborate murder cover up.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Jack gets involved with a retired cop's search for the man who killed his partner years ago. And it seems that Devon's father was a person of interest.

Director: Bradford May

Writer: Robert Singer

Assisting an ill man on the street, a young doctor is faced with every mother's nightmare when her infant daughter is abducted by a young woman whose grasp on reality is failing. Jack uses the show as a forum to track down the kidnapped child, who, on top of everything, is desperately ill and will die without her medication.

Director: Eric Laneuville

Writer: N/A

Devon struggles with the sale of KJCM, wanting to ensure that her employees are well taken care of. She and Jack continue to lock horns, until push comes to shove in the delivery room! Jack has to decide whether to stay on at KJCM or move on to greener pastures.

Director: Rob Bowman

Writer: Robert Singer

A frequent caller to the show witnesses a murder; however no one believes her because the crime scene is cleaned up before the cops get there. She turns to Jack for help, protection, and comfort.

Director: Eric Laneuville

Writer: David Braff

As Jack's luck would have it, he goes into a bank to cash a cheque and finds himself a hostage in a bank robbery. The media and the police wait out the negotiations, all with a personal interest in Jack's well-being.

Director: Michael Zinberg

Writer: N/A