Loosely based on Herff Applewhite (co-founder), and the cult known as "The Two", or the UFO Missionaries. His partner died in 1985, and Herff continued leading the group. Sometime between 1994 and 1996, the group adopted the name "Heaven's Gate". Their theology had changed somewhat by this time since the co-leaders death.
Filmed in 1979, but not aired until 1982.
The main character is based loosely on Heaven's Gate cult leader Marshall Applewhite, who led 38 of his followers to commit suicide in order to transport their spirits onto a spaceship that he believed was following the Hale-Bopp comet.
Robert Pine and Robert Englund appeared on CHiPs (1977).