Life Goes On

1989
Life Goes On

Seasons & Episodes

  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1

EP1 Bec to the Future Sep 20, 1992

A 40-something Becca (Pamela Bellwood) looks back on the summer of '92. ( In the future, Becca is now married and is a doctor.) Jesse returns, but the reunion is bittersweet. Through most of this episode, Becca is avoiding Jesse to be with her new friends who don't know Jesse is HIV+. They find out when Jesse comes over to their pool party (which he wasn't invited to). They invite him to join them, but he says he has to go to the hospice. Someone asks if he isn't afraid that he might get AIDS. Jesse then tells them that he is HIV+, then lectures Becca about the fact that she didn't tell them about him: there is no break form AIDS. This episode introduces new characters to complement the series star Kellie Martin: Kathy Goodman, an extreme extrovert who wants Becca to get a bigger slice of life; Harris Cassidy, the storytelling boss at the Nevermore Bookstore where Becca and Goodman work; and Eric, the bookstore manager.

EP2 Exposed Sep 27, 1992

Jesse paints a nude painting of Becca. (It is never determined if she posed nude or if the nudity was solely the product of Jesse's imagination.) Becca decides to let it be shown in the Nevermore Bookstore, and this leads to a nice scandal. Endless date proposals on her answering machine are just the tip of the iceberg. See, Drew buys his paper there, and when he sees his daughter's voluptuous body immortalized in paint, he goes nuts, even lecturing Becca at school loudly enough for Becca's French class to hear. Drew tries to buy the painting from Harris, but Harris refuses. Drew, Corky, and Jesse conspire to steal the painting back, but get arrested. ( Corky was the mastermind, inspired by the Pink Panther Film Festival at the theatre.) In a subplot, poor Paige ( still hurting over her breakup with the Crown Prince of Irresponsibility Romanov) shows Becca and Libby a cubist tatoo of MIchael on her shoulder. Now, back at the police station, Harris bails out the three art bandits after

EP3 Premarital Syndrome Oct 04, 1992

Corky and Amanda's ""trial marriage"" gets off to a rocky start. ( or crunchy, as in the crunchy macaroni and cheese: they didn't boil the elbows long enough.) Interviews with couples who have Down Syndrome are interwoven throughout.

EP4 The Whole Truth Oct 18, 1992

Paige fends off an attempted rape by Becca's poetry teacher ( Leigh J. McCloskey). But their accounts differ and Becca, at first, believe the teacher. Corky imagines that a calendar swimsuit model ( Shari Shattuck) has come to life, and this imaginary woman explains how men tend to see only the bodies of women, not what's inside. Libby confronts her memories of a rape during her high school days. Becca confronts the teacher when his story gets a few holes in it.

EP5 Love Letters Nov 08, 1992

Becca and Co. find old World War II letters at the bookstore. (Martin, Smitrovich, and Burke read selected letters while they palyed, respectively, soldier's girlfriend working at a factory, a soldier working a machine gun in a trench, and another soldier reading a letter in a tent.) Eric gets cozy with Becca, and Jesse does the same with a woman from an art gallery named Jill. Becca returns the letters to the woman who wrote them. I think this is where Corky and Amanda got officially married.

EP6 Windows Nov 22, 1992

Amanda's angry parents vow to annul her marriage to Corky and try to regain custody of Amanda. They then run off to a motel, further angering the Swanson's, not to mention their attorney. Amanda's father also falsely tells Corky that Amanda wanted the annulment. Meanwhile, Becca and Jesse are mad at each other. Becca can't come to Jesse's first show at the gallery beacuse of Corky and Amanda, and his recent growing involvement with Jill. Jesse is mad in part because the art show did not go well. Becca and Jill face off; Jill says Becca is too much in control, and acts like the only one who can take care of Jesse, but she'll back out anyway. Jesse talks with Corky about their ""honeymoon"" and Corky makes Jesse happier by interpreting one of his paintings as a window. In the end, the Thatchers and Swanson's go to court, but the judge let's Amanda make the final decision: She will live with Corky. They get Paige's old loft above the garage, while Paige decides to move out.

EP7 Babes in the Woods Nov 29, 1992

Becca, Goodman, Ray Nelson Jr., Jesse and two other students from their English class go on a weekend camping trip, chaperones by Harris. Things get bad when Becca gets sprayed by a skunk, knocks over a kerosene lantern, starting a fire at the barn where they are staying, and worse when they find a note from Harris saying they must fend for themselves. And then it rains! Becca also learns that she tends to want to be in control to much: With Jesse and with Goodman ( she went behind her back to try and get Goodman into high school). Goodman does return to school at the end.

EP8 Udder Madness Dec 13, 1992

Ray nominates Becca ( against her wishes) for Homecoming Queen; Goodman nominates a cow in protest of beauty pageants in general. The third contestant is a stuck-up cheerleader. Also, Artie (Paige's supervisor from the steelworks in season 3) and Paige redo the restaurant with a bovine motif. (They formed a partnership called Darlin' Construction, so called because Artie always calls Paige darlin'.)

EP9 Happy Holidays Dec 20, 1992

The holidays take on a whole new meaning for Corky, who's celebrating his first Christmas as a married man-and now how the wishes of a wife and in-laws to consider.

EP10 Choices Jan 03, 1993

Paige finds that she is carrying Michael's baby, and is at first delighted to know this. So's the whole family. But Michael comes back, and decides he does not want the baby. Paige is undecided on whether or not to abort, and Corky and Amanda want to adopt the baby. This all conviently ends with a miscarriage.

EP11 Incident on Main Jan 10, 1993

Gay-bashing skinheads beat up Jesse outside the AIDS hospice. Becca gets his blood on her hands after the beating. She gets tested and comes up negative, but has to get tested again in six months. ( This loose end was left untied, but it is generally assumed that she stayed negative.) Jesse draws a sketch of one of the skinheads, which is displayed at Drew's restautrant. It is trashed by the skinheads after one of them sees it at the cashier. Jesse sees one of them in a lineup as well but cannot, perhaps out of fear, pick him out.

EP12 Lost Weekend Jan 24, 1993

In her quest to get Becca out of her shell, Goodman takes her and Jesse on a double date. But Jesse and Becca get pissed off as Goodman and her date, Norman Bates, get kinky at the table. Jesse and Becca decide to test the limits of their passions and try to have ""safe sex"". But their sleepover at his apartment is more like a slumber party, as Jesse keeps balking at going farther. Becca tells Drew and Libby about that night, that she slept in Jesse's arms, and they get pissed off. Drew tells Jesse that he's concerned the starcrossed couple will go too far. Subplots: Paige, not realizing how much of a need she has for Artie, becomes jealous of an acquaintance of his; Gradma Teresa stays over a night at the Thatchers' due to her husband breaking the furnace, then goes back because someone's gotta keep Granpa Sal's feet warm.

EP13 Visions Feb 14, 1993

Shortly after his 18th birthday, a feverish Jesse collapses in extreme pain at school and is rushed, unconcious, to the hospital. Jesse's AIDS Related Complex has progressed to AIDS. He has dreams which highlight the show: Ray french-kissing Becca at Jesse's funeral, and one where a healthy Jesse and Becca have a toast in an idyllic setting and have really nice clothes on-While Jesse is sick, Ray takes Becca out. Jesse is unable to speak about AIDS to a class, so Becca reads what he wrote for this speech, and it breaks her heart, and Goodman comes over to finish for her.

EP14 Five to Midnight Feb 21, 1993

Jesse's insurance runs out, and he gets transferred to County Hospital (which is like being transferred to the Recieving Hospital in Detroit!)Becca goes with him. Jesse nearly dies of AIDS-related cardiac arrest, and doctors apply the ol' shock therapy at-you guessed it-five to midnight. Becca discovers a haunting self-portrait of Jesse's that he doesn't remember painting. Jesse has a dream where he and Becca plan on going to Paris, but the taxicab stops at the hospital with a tab of $11.55- another interpretation of 11:55.

EP15 Bedfellows Feb 28, 1993

A fellow AIDS patient named Chester (Richard Frank) encourages Jesse to learn to live rather than give up and die. He holds game shows with the other patients, makes fun of the sugar-coated remarks doctors make every time a new patient comes in, and sings, too. Jesse objects to Becca's inclination not to go to Brown University, saying that he would be too much of a burden to her. Chester dies when he races Jesse on the hospital roof.

EP16 Last Wish Mar 07, 1993

Becca and Jesse go to see the ocean, after Jesse says that i's something that he wants to do. Jesse is not exactly on top of the world, however, as he is jealous of Ray, who has been seeing Becca lately. During an arguement, they flash back a few Glen Brook weeks ( not from old episodes, but stuff that would have occurred during the course of other episodes). Ray bought them the plane tickets that they needed to get there. This episode shows the development of the relationship between Ray and Becca.

EP17 Life Goes On (and On and On) May 23, 1993

The series finale, it leaps 4 years into the future to see Becca and Jesse marry, and 10 years when Becca, now about 27 ( and still played by Kellie Martin) tells her son a story about what happened after graduating from high school. Corky doesn't graduate, but says, ""I'll be back."" Ray was the valedictorian of Becca's class. Jesse leaves for Europe, breaking Becca's heart, but returns four years later. It is not determined whether Becca's son was fathered by Jesse or not, but Becca expresses a desire to have Jesse's baby, saying that new treatments could make it possible. The question of who fathered this child is hard to answer as Becca says the final words of the series: "" I love you, Jesse.""
7.1| 0h30m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 12 September 1989 Ended
Producted By:
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Life Goes On is a television series that aired on ABC from September 12, 1989, to May 23, 1993. 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.

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S.R. Dipaling This show ran entirely on Sunday evenings at 7:00pm(6:00 pm CST)and while its ratings always kept it on the cutting block--in fact,it seemed like the show wasn't even going to make it to a fourth season,with the network opting to let it run almost in mid-cancellation--the show's fan base and the general reaction to it was almost always positive. As a sibling to someone with a developmental disability(though not Down's Syndrome),I found it quite edifying that a warm,realistic television show that could be best described as a "dramedy" could be made around a person with a disability. The Thatchers have done well raising down syndromed Corky(the wonderful Chris Burke)into a bright,well-meaning and responsible young man. His struggles are actually often in tandem with the struggles of the parents(Bill Smitrovich and Patti Lupone)and the non-disabled but highly different daughters(Kellie MArtin and Paige Needham),rather than the central focus of. Three strong(maybe more like two-and-half)seasons,followed by a forced last season or so may've diluted the full quality of this show,but it was still a pleasure to follow this story and would be intrigued to see these shows again,probably on cable.
jessicad-1 This show was a GREAT show, it was about a middle class American family who had to deal with a great deal of different "drama's" that life threw at them to include everything from business problems (they owned a restaurant) to marital problems, to coping with mainstreaming their son w/ down syndrome, to their daughter being in love with a man who has HIV / AIDS and then eventually what he had to deal with and what they as a couple had to deal with.It was a great show, i was just a kid when it was on, but i just loved it and my family greatly related to it in many ways, my father having a sister who has down syndrome, and us coming from a regular middle class American family who've seen the ups and downs this glorious ever evolving and continuing life has brought us.It wasn't always easy to watch. It wasn't always hard. But it was always consistently a caring, warm, relatively honest depiction of middle class American life at that time.
Greedywhitedevii Well, it wasn't always BLAH.... In fact, ABC had propelled itself far ahead of the trendiness of NBC or the cultural prehistorics of CBS programming with this groundbreaking show. Corky, a 19 year old kid with Downs is admitted to freshman level of high school thanks to a controversial decision made in public schools in the late 80's known as "mainstreaming". There, he wings his way through a world of playful jocks, cynical smart kids and mean-spirited cheerleaders. His only help is Becca, his 14 year old sister and Tyler Benchfield, star athlete, all around nice guy who protects Corky from being teased all the while harboring the secret of having a disabled brother himself. "Life Goes On" was in fact the first show to center around a retarded (Downs is a form of retardation, so back off P.C. ers.) main character as well to feature one as the star of the show. Chris Burke did a superb job and is not blamed at all for why the show went BLAH.... First of all not every show centered on Corky. No. Usually it was the pathetic ideals that his ex-hippie baby-boomer parents pushed on us Sunday viewers. Or how older sister Paige rejects men resembling Wall Street traders for lowly artists. And who could forget Becca, the true star of the show for not being so shallow as to end her infatuation with Tyler for the AIDS-stricken Jessie who loved to paint her nude and help out in her anti censorship marches on the local record store. Meanwhile Corky was always left doing something childish that pretty much took away from his story of struggling to be normal. "Life Goes On" was a platform for the producers to launch their liberal views on an unsuspecting audience waiting to see the "ABC Sunday Night Movie" which usually was "Star Trek II". Oh blah dee BLAH BLAH!!
suessis When I saw Chris Burke's smiling face on the screen for the very first time, I knew that I was seeing a barrier being broken down. At last someone had gotten the great idea of portraying the life of the Developmentally Disabled on screen and the sacrifices that parents all over the world make daily to keep children in their families and try to give them as normal a life as possible.The only thing that I didn't like as the series moved on was that it left the focus of life with Corky Thatcher to life with Becca Thatcher, portrayed by the more popular actor. It lost out on what could have been some very interesting story lines by doing that. The only thing that rather redeemed that switch was the storyline that dealt with Corky getting married.Otherwise, the producers of this show are to be congratulated. Without this series there may not have been movies like "The Other Sister" or a hero for so many of the Developmentally Disabled named Chris Burke, who proved that what so many of them want could be done.