Life Goes On (TV series)

• Bill Smitrovich as Andrew "Drew" Thatcher:

Drew is the husband of Libby Thacher and the father of Paige, Corky, and Becca Thatcher. He is a Special Olympics coach, and formerly worked for a construction company before going into the restaurant business.

• Chris Burke as Corky Thatcher:

Corky is the middle child, and his siblings include older sister Paige, and younger sister Becca. Despite having Down Syndrome, he is high-functioning, takes mostly regular classes in his school. He occasionally struggles, and indicated that mathematics was his hardest subject, but he improves through tutoring sessions.

• Kellie Martin as Rebecca "Becca" Thatcher:

Becca is the younger sister of Corky and Paige. She is attractive, but quite nerdy. At school she is socially awkward, especially around her crushes such as Tyler and Jesse.

• Patti LuPone as Elizabeth "Libby" Thatcher:

The wife of Drew, mother of Corky and Becca, and Paige's stepmother. She is very supportive of Corky, and has also sung and acted. She is proud that Corky and Becca take part in their church's drama group, and that Becca is in her school's Drama club.

• Tracey Needham as Paige Thatcher:

Drew's daughter, and Libby's stepdaughter. The elder half-sister of both Corky and Becca, Paige frequently dates men of whom her father does not approve. She is very caring of Corky, but has a love-hate relationship with Becca.

• Tommy Puett as Tyler Benchfield:

Tyler was the first boyfriend of Becca in the show, and was Corky's best friend.

• Chad Lowe as Jesse McKenna:

Jesse was the second boyfriend of Becca.

• Alan Cumming as Dave Benchfield: Tyler’s Dad
• Joan Cusack as Grace Benfield: Tyler’s Mother
• Andy Dick as Sherman Lewis

During the show's first year, the main focus was on 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 him 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, as the Thatcher family opted to enroll Corky in a regular high school despite the principal's demand that Corky be placed in an alternative program for those with Down syndrome.

In addition, during the first three seasons, episodes included Tyler Benchfield (Tommy Puett), Becca's high school crush, who also had a brother with Down syndrome.

Corky eventually got a job as an usher at a local movie theater. He later found a girlfriend, Amanda Swanson (Andrea Friedman), who also had Down Syndrome; they married by the series' end.

By the second season, the writers had begun to expand the show's scope beyond Corky, and the third and fourth seasons centered on Becca and a new character named Jesse (Chad Lowe). Jesse, a junior, met Becca through the school's theatre department. As the two became friends, Jesse told Becca he was HIV-positive. Tyler became a less prominent figure in Becca's life, and was jealous of Becca's closeness with Jesse. The character of Tyler was soon written out of the show; he was given the memorable sendoff of dying in a car accident with Corky as a passenger.

Much to the surprise of those around them, Becca and Jesse began a relationship despite his HIV. 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, was also explored, as Corky briefly turned his back on his sister for dumping a mutual friend in order to date Jesse.

The fourth season's first episode, in which a 40-something Becca (Pamela Bellwood) tours the house she grew up in while remembering the events of 25 years earlier, establishes that Jesse would ultimately die from AIDS and that Becca would move on to marry a man named David. The series itself ended ambiguously but on an upbeat note, showing Becca five years later, married with a son, named Jesse.