Life Goes On (TV series)

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

Overview
It was a drama about the Thatcher family, whose son Charles "Corky" Thatcher (played by Chris Burke) had Down syndrome, while their daughter Becca (played by Kellie Martin) was gifted but socially awkward with her fellow classmates. Tony Award winning stage actress Patti LuPone played the mother and Bill Smitrovich played the father. Eldest sister Paige Thatcher was played by Monique Lanier during the 1989-1990 seasons and by Tracey Needham during the 1990-1993 seasons. However this character initially had relatively little involvement in the plot of the show and was infrequently seen for the first two seasons. Jerry Berkson (Ray Buktenica) was Patti LuPone's quirky boss.

Executive Producer Michael Braverman first cast Chris Burke in the 1986 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 fictional Chicago suburb of Glen Brook, Illinois, which is named after the high school attended at the time by one of Braverman's children.

In the opening credits of each episode, Arnold, the dog, sits forlornly in the kitchen with his bowl in his mouth, apparently forgotten by the family. 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 couple of years, the focus mainly was placed upon 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 Corky 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 of the series, as the Thatcher family opted to enroll Corky into a regular high school despite the principal's demand that Corky be placed in an alternative program for those with Down syndrome. Corky eventually got a job as an usher at a local movie theater. He later found a girlfriend, who also had Down syndrome, and whom he married by the end of the series.

Later seasons
By the beginning of the second season, the writers had begun to expand the scope of the show beyond Corky, and in the third and fourth seasons the show's focus centered on Becca and a new character named Jesse (played by Chad Lowe). Jesse was a junior and met Becca through the school's theatre department. As the two became friends, Jesse told Becca he was HIV positive as a result of unprotected sex he had with a one-night stand. Despite his HIV, Becca and Jesse began a relationship much to the surprise of those around them. 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, also was explored as Corky briefly turned his back on his sister for dumping a mutual friend in order to date Jesse.

The first episode of the fourth season, in which a 40-something Becca (played by Pamela Bellwood) tours the house she grew up in while remembering the events of twenty five 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 up-beat, showing Becca five years later, married, and with a son named for her true love, Jesse.

Awards and nominations
The show won two Emmy Awards, one for Chad Lowe ("Jesse") in 1993, and one for Viveca Lindfors in 1990.

DVD release
On May 9, 2006, Warner Home Video released Season 1 of Life Goes On on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. It is unknown if the remaining three seasons will be released at some point. The DVD release of Life Goes On, Season 1, 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 Zoo Street Music and sung by singer/songwriter Tara Johnston. The song was written specifically for the DVD release.

Internationally
The series was broadcast in South Africa, dubbed in Afrikaans, under the title "Môre is Nog 'n Dag" (Tomorrow is another day).