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.