Life Goes On (TV series)

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 (now Ion Television) 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. (Corky is played by Chris Burke, who has Down syndrome in real life.)
Cast and characters.
Main.
Drew is the husband of Libby Thatcher and the father of Paige, Corky, and Becca Thatcher. He is a Special Olympics coach who formerly worked for a construction company before going into the restaurant business.
Drew's wife, Paige's stepmother, and Corky and Becca's mother, who has been a singer and actress. She is very supportive of Corky and proud that Corky and Becca take part in their church's drama group and that Becca is in her school's drama club.
Corky is the middle child: younger brother of Paige and older brother of Becca. Despite having Down Syndrome, he takes mostly regular classes in high 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 nerdy but attractive; at school she is socially awkward, especially around her crushes, such as Tyler and Jesse.
Overview.
The drama featured the Thatcher family, whose son, Charles "Corky" Thatcher (played by Chris Burke), has Down syndrome, while their daughter Becca (played by Kellie Martin) did well at school but was socially awkward. Tony Award-winning stage actress Patti LuPone played the mother Elizabeth ("Libby") and Bill Smitrovich played the father Drew. Eldest sister Paige Thatcher 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 (Ray Buktenica) 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 movie "Desperate", 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 (billed as "Arnold the Semi-Wonder 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. The need to integrate Corky into normal society was Season 1's main storyline, as the Thatchers opted to enroll Corky in a regular high school despite the principal's demand that he be placed in an alternative program for those with Down syndrome. 
In addition, during the first three seasons, episodes included Tyler Benchfield (Tommy Puett), 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 (Andrea Friedman), who also had Down Syndrome. They married by the series' end.
Later seasons.
By the second season, the writers began to expand the show's scope beyond Corky, and the third and fourth seasons centered on Becca and a new character, Jesse (Chad Lowe), a junior who met Becca through the school's theatre department. As they become friends, Jesse told Becca he was HIV-positive. Tyler became less prominent in Becca's life and was jealous of Becca's closeness with Jesse. His character was written out and he was given the memorable sendoff of dying in a car accident with Corky as passenger. 
Much to the surprise of those around them, Becca and Jesse began a relationship despite his HIV. The writers explored 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 to date Jesse.
The fourth season's first episode, in which a 40-something Becca (Pamela Bellwood) 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 and 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.
Broadcast history and U.S. television ratings.
In Canada, the show aired on Crossroads Television System.
The Family Channel reran the series on weekdays from 1992 until 1993, at which point the show was relegated to weekends. In October 1993 the weekday telecasts were replaced with Punky Brewster.
Home media.
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 song at 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.