The BEST episodes of Life Goes On
Every episode of Life Goes On ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Life Goes On!
Meet the Thatchers, Drew, Libby, Becca, and Corky. Corky suffers from Down Syndrome. The show dealt with many issues. Some of which included drinking, sex, and HIV in the third season when Becca started dating a man that was HIV positive. Drew also had a daughter from a previous marriage, whose name was Paige.
#1 - Arthur
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/7/1991
Corky befriends an older man with Down Syndrome who leads a kind of life that Corky would like to lead.
#2 - Pets, Guys and Videotape
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/10/1989
Paige goes to work for a veteranarian who is very kind with suffering animals but kind of insufferable with humans. The vet is divorced and has a child. Meanwhile, Becca videotapes a hectic day in the life of her working mother.
#3 - Corky's Crush
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/14/1990
Becca and Corky (in the same class somehow) do a classroom exercise in which paired students must pretend to be married for a week to investigate issues of marriage and family life. Becca is first paired with Lester Fishbein, then switches to Tyler. Neither works out terribly well. Corky, on the other hand, is paired with the new girl (Shannon Dougherty of 90210), upon whom he develops a crush. She only has eyes for the ubiquitous Russo, though, and Corky has to make peace with only being a friend. Meanwhile, Libby's parents hole up at the Thatchers' to continue their love feud. There's a great scene in which Sal Giordano encourages Corky that the right girl is out there.
#4 - The Return of Uncle Richard
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/4/1990
Drew's younger brother Richard, a lovable family black sheep, breezes in at a time when Corky is beginning to wonder who'll look after him when his parents die. Drew and Richard don't get along, but needless to say, the kids love him. The culmination of Drew's mending relationship with Richard comes when Libby and Drew entrust the care of Corky to Richard if something were to happen to them.
#5 - It Ain't All It's Cracked up to Be
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/4/1990
Becca enters a Miss Teen contest and finds out that she is sharing a room with none other than Rona Lieberman. Scholarship money is at stake in this pageant. Becca gets know Rona a little better after Rona's mother shows up at the pageant drunk and makes a fool of Rona during her piano performance. Drew has problems with the new neighbors because their son has a band and plays loud music. Corky tries out for chorus but doesn't make it because he can't sing. Later the neighbor boy gives Corky his old set of drums and Corky seems to be quite talented at playing them. Drew and the neighbors make peace.
#6 - Pig o' My Heart
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/25/1990
Drew finally gets a chance to own his own restaurant, but it's Corky who brings home the bacon: a huge runaway porker that hogs Corky's affections. Corkt adopted it to fill the void of Paige's leaving ( so this must be when Monique Lanier left the show). How Drew got the restaurant bears discussion. In ""Ordinary Heros"", he tried to but it, but when the brother's who owned it discovered that Corky had Down's, one of them got cold feet about what that would do for business. Then the writers decided instead on the fact that Drew can't get the loan approved to buy the place. When the owner of the pig ( which Corky named ""Jeffrey"", even though it was a girl) finally is reunited with the animal, he mentions something about liking restaurants but having no time to run them. Drew sees his shot and goes for it-- cut to the Grand Opening of the Glen Brook Grill, with cameos by all the friends of the family from previous episodes.
#7 - Becca and the Underground Newspaper
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/1/1990
As a reporter for an underground newspaper, Becca zealously pens an expose of the school janitor's criminal past for the that's the truth- but not the whole truth. The janitor's name was Kominsky. He had a minor criminal infraction years ago when he broke into a house to steal money to feed himself and his wife. Becca reports on this, but never interviews Kominsky for his side of the story. The scandel breaks, and Becca realizes the irresponsibility of her actions ( although she was pushed into it by the pretentios paper editor, who also asked her out on a date). She apologizes to Kominsky and publishes a retraction in the legit school paper. Kominsky gets a job at the Grill.
#8 - Save the Last Dance for Me
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/15/1990
Becca's aged dance teacher (Viveca Lindfors) must enter a nursing home.
#9 - With a Mighty Heart
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/29/1990
Drew is sure that his father, who stops by on his way to join the Peace Corps in the Solomon Islands, isn't telling them the whole story.
#10 - Becca and the Band
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/7/1990
Rona and Tyler break up because Rona lied to him and went to a frat party. Becca becomes manager of Tyler's band and sets up a gig for them at the opening of the new mall with the prerequisite that there has to be a female singer in the band. Tyler asks Becca nad she agrees. At the last minute she backs out and asks a friend to do it and Tyler ends up leaving with Becca's friend, leaving the Bec depressed. Also, Libby is offered a chance to leave the restaurant and return to her old high-pressure, but higher-paying job.
Watch Now:Apple TV#11 - The Visitor
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/30/1990
Libby discovers she's expecting again, and the family fears the consequences of a pregnancy at her age.
#12 - A Thacher Thanksgiving
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/18/1990
Corky pictures the family at the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving; Drew, opening the restaurant for the holiday, meets an old classmate who is homeless.
#13 - Corky and the Dolphins
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/23/1990
While in Hawaii, Corky goes dolphin-riding and Becca falls for a surfer. (Part 2 of 2)
#14 - Ordinary Heroes
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/3/1989
A frustrated Drew decides to quit his construction job and go into the restaurant business; and he joins Libby in counseling a couple whose newborn daughter has Down's Syndrome. As it turns out in the end, the guy who owns the restaurant doesn't sell the restaurant to Drew because Corky has Down's. Also, we learn that the cook at his restaurant makes the best french fries.
#15 - Corky for President
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/24/1989
Corky runs for freshman class president with the help of an unpopular, smart student,Lester Fishbein. He has a crush on Rona and really believes that Rona likes him as well. Rona encourages him to run and Corky doesn't realize she's just joking with him.
#16 - Pilot
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/12/1989
Corky tries to mainstream into the 9th grade, the same grade as Becca. Becca worries that Corky may stop her from getting to the boy she really wants, Tyler Benchfield, a star on the football team. Corky dreams of being King at the homecoming dance with Ron Lieberman. Corky is accused of cheating off Rona's paper but it was exactly the opposite. Tyler introduces the Thatchers to his brother Donny, who also has Down's Syndrome. Doubts arise arise over whether Corky should indeed mainstream as opposed to going into a special-ed program, or a private school (which the Thatcher's can't afford). But at a serious parent-principle meeting, Corky dispels all doubts by reciting ""The Raven"", the famous Edgar Allan Poe poem. Sub-plot: For Libby's 40th birthday, Drew buys her a heart-shaped ring that they can't afford. Paige moves home.
#17 - More Than Friends
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/26/1992
Drew and Libby leave the kids to watch over the house. Becca and Jesse decide to have a party there. Then Tyler and some college frat buttheads crash it and take over the house. Meanwhile Michael Romanov, a suitor of Paige's ( they met at that Steelworks where Paige learned to weld) crashes a stuffy gathering at the country club where she, Kenny and Kenny's parents are. Becca kicks a drunk Tyler out, saying she cannot be friends with him anymore, and he goes to drive off. Corky tries to stop him from driving drunk, but cannot get him to hand over those car keys, so they drive off together. They crash into a tree, leaving Tyler near death and Corky mute with a broken arm. Paige returns with Kenny from the country club disaster to one at home. Kenny proposes to her, but when she hears the awful noise from the house, she goes in and helps break up the chaos. Drew and Libby return, find one last drunk who tells them where their children are, then go off to the hospital. At the hospital, Pa
#18 - Corky's Romance
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/29/1992
Romance blossoms between Corky and a girl with Down Syndrome (palyed by Andrea Friedman who has Down's), but it's nipped in the bud by her parents. Corky and Amanda first meet when Drew runs his truck into the back of Amanda's car. Meanwhile, Jerry sponsors Becca in a need-based scholarship contest, and Becca doesn't now it's need-based until the day before a banquet she's supposed to speak at.
#19 - Hearts and Flowers
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/15/1992
Inspired by her grandparents' upcoming 50th wedding anniversary, Becca proposes to Jesse, and he agrees! But then they think twice. Part of the problem with Jesse and Becca is that one of the guys at the hospice is about to die from AIDS. This guy doesn't want to have any thing to do with his wife- doesn't want her to see him in the pain he's in, etc. Jesse does the same thing to Becca and breaks things off completely, saying she doesn't know what she's in for, and she should live a normal life. The man dies and Jesse talks to his wife, who makes him realize that maybe Becca can handle this. Becca is also worried about handling it, but Libby tells her about finding the strength to raise Corky. They get back together, but marriage is put off. Subplot: Kenny wants Paige to marry him, but Paige isn't so sure. What's more, a remark he makes about Corky ticks her off. Michael acts as psychiatric help.
#20 - The Blues
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/23/1992
Jesse gets hired to work as a waiter at Drew's place, but declining patronage forces Drew to let him go. They become real close because they share a love of the blues, so Jesse is upset when Drew tells him of his decision. In the end, Drew offers the job again, but Jesse declines.
#21 - The Wall
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/16/1992
It's just a graffiti-covered wall that the students are ordered to repaint, but it becomes a symbol of the future for Jesse, who's awaiting his medical test results. Meanwhile Corky feels that finders should be keepers when he finds an abandoned baby in the theatre.
#22 - Jerry's Deli
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/19/1992
Jerry's dad shows up at the ad agency, and starts pushing Jerry around, so Jerry quits and starts to help ""run"" the grill, much to Drew's annoyance. Drew has decided that Corky and he should be closer and that Corky should inherit the grill, so he asks him to work with him at the grill. Corky quits his job at the theatre and helps his dad out. During a converstion with Jerry, Jerry tells him to lead his own life and stop letting his dad make his decisions, a reflection on Jerry's own situation. Corky quits the grill, but finds that his job at the theatre has been given to another guy (a real jerk). Drew persuades the theatre owner to let Corky be the apprentice projectionist. Meanwhile, Jerry's dad dies and Jerry and Corky go to the funeral. Jerry loses his keys in the snow and breaks down in tears. Corky comforts him.
#23 - Struck by Lightning
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/5/1992
The thatcher house is struck by lightening. As a result, Corky predicts the future, Arnold the semi-wonder dog runs away, Becca gets a major static problem in her hair, Drew becomes attracted to another woman, and Paige enchants the boss's son, Kenny Stollmark Jr. Nothing returns to normal until lightening strikes the house again.
#24 - The Smell of Fear
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/15/1991
Christmas brings anxieties to all, but most of all to Becca, who fears the worst when Jesse is hospitalized with pneumocystis pneumonia.
#25 - Life After Death
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/3/1991
Becca is devastated to learn that Jesse has tested HIV-positive, and during a scuffle between him and Tyler, she blurts out in front of everyone that he has AIDS.