The WORST episodes of Life Goes On

Every episode of Life Goes On ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst 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.

Last Updated: 2/9/2024Network: ABC (US)Status: Ended
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Dueling Divas
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#1 - Dueling Divas

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/10/1991

Libby's vivacious cousin Gaby ( also played by Patti Lupone) breezes in from Sicily like a whirlwind, touching everyone's lives-and turning Libby green with envy.

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The Fairy Tale
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#2 - The Fairy Tale

Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/1/1992

Libby writes a fairy tale about Corky, and Corky enters it in a contest. Libby then gets an offer to get it printed as a children's book, but in a rewritten form. Libby turns down the offer, staying true to the story which has so much to do with Corky. (Becca doesn't like this because she would have wanted the money for college.) At the beginning of each act in this episode there is fancy narration and illustration which fades into the scene in "" real life"". There was also a subplot with Paige, Michael and Kenny.

Directors: Michael Lange
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The Blues
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#3 - 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.

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The Wall
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#4 - 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.

Directors: Michael Lange
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The Room
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#5 - The Room

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/9/1992

Becca, Libby, and Paige have entered the ""man zone"". They tear down a wall in the Thatcher house to reveal another room, which is then redone (mainly by Paige) to be baby Nick's new room. Momentos from the old room lead to flashback-type scenes that reveal the changing roles of women in American society: Jesse and Becca as 60's hippies, Libby becoming a 50's Avon lady (with the Thatcher's as a 50's family), et al. Libby decides to leave Jerry's advertising firm to deal full-time with Nick. Paige discovers her true calling after finishing Nick's room-- she also wants to be a builder.

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Jerry's Deli
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#6 - 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.

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Struck by Lightning
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#7 - 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.

Directors: Larry Shaw
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The Smell of Fear
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#8 - 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.

Directors: Michael Lange
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Triangles
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#9 - Triangles

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/1/1991

Corky takes a tumble for the new assistant manager; Becca is torn between Tyler and Jesse: Tyler says that he isn't over her; Becca can't break the news to him because deep inside, she wants to commit to Jesse. Becca helps Jesse search for the girl who infected him with HIV; when they come to the house where she lived, Becca learns that the girl has already died. Becca reveals how she feels about Jesse to him during a very low point in the cemetary.

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Loaded Question
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#10 - Loaded Question

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/24/1991

The thatcher household is burglarized. Suspicions center on an Africa-American welder named Marquis ( another aquaintance of Paige's, he taught her how to weld.) Drew and Libby debate over whether having a gun is the best thing to do. Corky and Arnold are alone watching (what else, a cop show) when Corky hears sounds from outside. He gets the gun, goes outside in that sneaky cop fashion (emulating the show) and fires. Turns out Marquis was returning something, and the family realizes how much they overreacted.

Directors: David Carson
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Invasion of the Thacher Snatchers
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#11 - Invasion of the Thacher Snatchers

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/17/1991

Corky imagines that his family is turning into Venusians after seeing a B-movie called ""Body Snatchers From Venus"". At this time, Paige is learning to be a welder (in Corky's nightmare, she builds a spaceship.)Paige and Becca have a falling out over a malfunctioning answering machine ( in his nightmare, this machine is a LONG- distance communicator).Drew is trying to go on a new diet-and-exercise regimen (when he says to a friend that some new exercise machine ""will make you a new man"", Corky freaks). Becca is appling for college ( the Illinois State University representative calls and says he wants to make Becca ""one of us"", which Corky overhears). After noting that Venusians don't like dairy products or other abnt-acidic material, Corky attacks the family with baking soda and milk.

Directors: Michael Nankin
Hearts and Flowers
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#12 - 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.

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Life After Death
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#13 - 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.

Directors: Larry Shaw
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Sweet 16
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#14 - Sweet 16

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/1991

At 16, Becca retains her innocence-but maybe not for long. Throughout this episode Becca records herself and her birthday party on camcorder for Maxi, who is in Paris. When Corky buys Becca a great looking jacket for her birthday, it is with the new-found power of a checking account. Unfortunately, some bad kids at school find out that Corky has checks and fool him into giving them a $100 check to join the fictitional ""Plebian Club"". At the end, Becca is in front of the camcorder again with a robe on, then opens it to reveal her negligee ( which Maxi sent her as a birthday gift), asking, ""Is this hot or what?""

Directors: Michael Lange
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Armageddon
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#15 - Armageddon

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/13/1991

New roles with Libby as the primary bread-winner and Drew as the homemaker, create new friction in their marriage.

Directors: Michael Lange
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Out of the Mainstream
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#16 - Out of the Mainstream

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/6/1991

Corky is nearly swamped when he tries to help Tyler's younger brother, who also has Down Syndrome, mainstream at Marshall High.

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Hello, Goodbye
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#17 - Hello, Goodbye

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/29/1991

The Thatcher's rise from the ashes of the restaurant: exchange student Becca prepares to take wings for Paris; Paige and Corky go hunting for jobs.

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Toast
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#18 - Toast

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/1991

The Thatcher's toast a third season by reopening their renovated grill, but their dreams go up in smoke. Corky is given more responsibility at the grill, specifically, cooking french fries. When they close one evening, he turns the fryers off, or so he thinkd, but in actuality, he turned the fryers up as high as they go, which was the cause of the fire. He finally tells Drew that he was the cause of the fire at the end of the episode.

Directors: Michael Lange
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Proms and Prams
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#19 - Proms and Prams

Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/5/1991

Expectations run high as Becca awaits Tyler's invitation to the prom, and Libby expects her baby. Patti Lupone sings ""More Than You Know"".

Directors: Kim Friedman
Writer: Liz Coe
Lighter Than Air
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#20 - Lighter Than Air

Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/28/1991

Libby cooks up a great ad for a line of diet frozen foods; Corky and Zoe paly Sherlock Holmes and snoop into Tyler's furtive behavior.

Writer: Dick Lochie
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Ghost of Grandpa Past
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#21 - Ghost of Grandpa Past

Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/31/1991

Drew is having doubts about the restaurant and keeps having conversations with his Grandfather. I think in the end he decides on the new look for the restaurant.

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Windows
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#22 - Windows

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/22/1992

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.

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Last Wish
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#23 - Last Wish

Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/7/1993

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.

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Bedfellows
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#24 - Bedfellows

Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/28/1993

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.

Directors: Michael Lange
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Five to Midnight
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#25 - Five to Midnight

Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/21/1993

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.

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