Life Goes On is an American television series that aired on ABC from September 12, 1989 to May 23, 1993. Reruns aired on The Family Channel from 1992 until about 1995, FX from about 1995 until about 1998, and PAX from 1998 until about 1999. The show centers on the Thatcher family living in suburban Chicago: Drew, his wife Elizabeth, and their children Paige, Rebecca and Charles, who is known as Corky. Life Goes On was the first television series to have a major character with Down syndrome.
Drew is the husband of Libby Thacher and the father of Paige, Corky, and Becca Thatcher. He is a Special Olympics coach, and formerly worked for a construction company before going into the restaurant business.
Corky is the middle child, and his siblings include older sister Paige, and younger sister Becca. Despite having Down Syndrome, he is high-functioning, takes mostly regular classes in his school. He occasionally struggles, and indicated that mathematics was his hardest subject, but he improves through tutoring sessions.
Becca is the younger sister of Corky and Paige. She is attractive, but quite nerdy. At school she is socially awkward, especially around her crushes such as Tyler and Jesse.
The wife of Drew, mother of Corky and Becca, and Paige's stepmother. She is very supportive of Corky, and has also sung and acted. She is proud that Corky and Becca take part in their church's drama group, and that Becca is in her school's Drama club.
Drew's daughter, and Libby's stepdaughter. The elder half-sister of both Corky and Becca, Paige frequently dates men of whom her father does not approve. She is very caring of Corky, but has a love-hate relationship with Becca.
Recurring
Tommy Puett as Tyler Benchfield:
Tyler was the first boyfriend of Becca in the show, and was Corky's best friend.
The drama featured the Thatcher family, whose son, Charles "Corky" Thatcher, has Down syndrome, while their daughter Becca did well at school but was socially awkward. Tony Award-winning stage actress Patti LuPone played the mother Elizabeth and Bill Smitrovich played the father Drew. Eldest sister Paige Thacher was played by Monique Lanier during the 1989–1990 seasons and by Tracey Needham during the 1990–1993 seasons. Becca's boyfriend and Corky's buddy, Tyler Benchfield, was played by Tommy Puett. Jerry Berkson was Libby's quirky boss. In the last two seasons, Becca's boyfriend Jesse McKenna was played by Chad Lowe. Executive Producer Michael Braverman first cast Chris Burke in the 1987 television movieDesperate, based on Braverman's favorite book, Lord Jim. After seeing Burke's work, ABC executives asked Braverman to create a show around Burke. The show is set in the Chicago suburb Glenbrook, Illinois, which is named after the high school which one of Braverman's children attended at the time. The name itself is a blend of the real suburbs served by the school, Glenview and Northbrook. Each episode's opening credits end with a shot of Arnold, the family dog. Apparently forgotten by the family in their rush to get ready for the day, he sits in the kitchen with his empty food bowl in his mouth and lets it drop to the floor. The show's producers received a constant trickle of letters each week from viewers who thought this was cruel, so in the final episode's opening credits, a bag of dog food spills out of a nearby cabinet.
Early seasons
During the show's first year, the main focus was on Corky. Much of the show examined the challenges of a family whose son had Down Syndrome. The Thatchers sought to have Corky interact with regular society after spending years socializing him amongst other kids with Down syndrome in "special" classes. Indeed, this need to integrate Corky into normal society was the main storyline in Season 1, as the Thatcher family opted to enroll Corky in a regular high school despite the principal's demand that Corky be placed in an alternative program for those with Down syndrome. In addition, during the first three seasons, episodes included Tyler Benchfield, Becca's high school crush, who also had a brother with Down syndrome. Corky eventually got a job as an usher at a local movie theater. He later found a girlfriend, Amanda Swanson, who also had Down Syndrome; they married by the series' end.
Later seasons
By the second season, the writers had begun to expand the show's scope beyond Corky, and the third and fourth seasons centered on Becca and a new character named Jesse. Jesse, a junior, met Becca through the school's theatre department. As the two became friends, Jesse told Becca he was HIV-positive. Tyler became a less prominent figure in Becca's life, and was jealous of Becca's closeness with Jesse. The character of Tyler was soon written out of the show; he was given the memorable sendoff of dying in a car accident with Corky as a passenger. Much to the surprise of those around them, Becca and Jesse began a relationship despite his HIV. The writers began to explore life with HIV through Jesse's character, and the difficulties the disease causes with romantic relationships. The relationship between Corky and Becca, previously portrayed as close, was also explored, as Corky briefly turned his back on his sister for dumping a mutual friend in order to date Jesse. The fourth season's first episode, in which a 40-something Becca tours the house she grew up in while remembering the events of 25 years earlier, establishes that Jesse would ultimately die from AIDS and that Becca would move on to marry a man named David. The series itself ended ambiguously but on an upbeat note, showing Becca five years later, married with a son, named Jesse.
On May 9, 2006, Warner Home Video released Season 1 of Life Goes On on DVD in Region 1. It is unknown if the remaining three seasons will be released. The DVD release has a replacement theme songat the beginning of each episode, with the exception of the show's pilot. The replacement was due to high licensing costs for the Beatles' song "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da." The new song aptly titled "Life Goes On" was written by composer Marc Jackson of MoonLab Music and sung by singer/songwriter Tara Johnston. The song was written specifically for the DVD release.
