A fuerza de cariño

Life Goes On was pretty much about just that...LIFE. Whoever cast the show did one whale of a job. The Thatchers are a blended family, which includes him (Bill Smitrovich) and her (Patti Lupone), his daughter and their son and daughter. But the Thatchers aren't Ozzie & Harriett or Father Knows Best, they live in the real world and their son, Corky (brillantly portrayed by Chris Burke) has Downs Syndrome. They are torn between protecting Corky and giving him the opportunity to mainstream and live a real life. Unfortunately, the writers weren't up to the task after the first season and started straying from what I thought was a brilliant concept. They turned a first rate series into a soap opera in prime time taking the story line into the life's tragedies (fatal car crashes and HIV), instead of keeping the focus on the day-to-day struggles of raising a family while dealing with a child who is challenged and the effects on each family member as Life Goes On.

But with its shortcomings, it is still better than 99% of what is being offered viewers now. Wish it were still on the air. But, unfortunately, as has been their history, ABC can't deal with a winning series.

This show debuted when I was in the 6th grade, and it quickly became one of my favorite TV shows. I remember feeling bowled-over when seeing the opening credits and theme song for the first time - it was one of the funniest, most realistic portrayals of a regular family I had ever seen. The same can be said for the rest of the show. Being only a few years younger than Becca, and nerdy like her, I completely related to her trials and tribulations. At the time I didn't think the inclusion of a Down Syndrome character was that big of a deal, but looking back I realize how groundbreaking it was for a family show to portray a main character with a mental disability. I enjoyed Corky just as much as Becca.

The first three seasons were great, and it stayed on track as a unique family show that focused on Corky and his challenges going to a regular school and trying to live a regular life. However, the fourth season took a sharp turn as it focused 90% of its time on Becca's boyfriend Jesse, who had AIDS. At the time, AIDS was just starting to become a mainstream cause, though there were still many misconceptions about the disease. I'm glad the show, never afraid of being edgy, portrayed a character with AIDS, but I wish he wasn't the focus. I actually grew tired of Becca and Jesse's constant dramas every week, and wasn't surprised when the show ended. It was kind of depressing for me to see Becca's life constantly consumed by Jesse and his AIDS status, and I wish the writers let her have a bit more fun during the last days of her high school years. The final episode, which wrapped up the Becca/Jesse storyline, was particularly strange and I wish they had went full circle and focused on Corky instead.

I remember watching my first prime time drama at the age of six years old with my mother and younger brother. My mother was a huge fan of "Life Goes On", the show which focuses on the Thatcher Family. She somehow got me so interested in the show that it became the first program I watched on a regularl basis. The story revolves around the two parents who guide their wayward daughter Paige, the blossoming Becca, and Charles, or Corky, their first and only downs-syndrome child. The breakout star of the show became Kellie Martin, whose portrayal of Becca captured the hearts of many awe-struck spectators every Sunday night on ABC. Her first boyfriend, Tyler, dies in a car crash and her second boyfriend was HIV positive. Words (and especially not mine) can not do this show justice. The emotion is just to pure and real that you feel Becca's pain over Jesse and vice versa. It was an incredible show. ABC, of course cancelled it in it's fourth season. "Life Goes On" and "My So-Called Life" will always be my favorite dramas for the 90's and I suppose I will always hate ABC for cutting them down in their prime. You can check out re-runs of the show if you get PAX and see a very different (and blond) Kellie Martin scrubbing for surgery on ER.

Every week I watched "Life Goes On" and it was the best show ever. Kellie Martin was the breakout star; she was great. Her boyfriend, Jesse McKenna, played by Chad Lowe, was wonderful. Corky was terrific. There is only positive about this show. It was great and I wish some network would rerun it now.

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.