The Life Goes On Semi-finished Episode Guide for Seasons 1 and 2
By Mark Rabinowitz, Shari Feldman, Cindy Camp et al.

LGO SEASON ONE:
  Here are the humble beginnings of the drama: It was to center around
18-year-old Corky Thacher, who has Down syndrome, and his parents' efforts to
raise him. (Note: Chris Burke, who plays Corky, has Down as well, but was born
August 26, 1965 and so was around 24 at this time.) Corky's older sister, Paige,
about 22, is the child of Drew's previous marriage. Becca, 14, is the brainy,
precocious younger sister. Drew is a construction worker at this time.

1. Pilot (9-12-89): 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 a homecoming dance with Rona Lieberman. Corky is accused of
cheating off Rona's paper but it was actually the opposite. Tyler introduces the
Thachers to his brother Donny who also has Down syndrome. Doubts arise over
whether Corky should indeed mainstream as opposed to going into a special-ed
program, or a private school (which the Thachers can't afford). But at a serious
parent-principal 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. -CC, JBM

2. Corky For President (9-24-89): Corky runs for freshman class president with
the help 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 is just joking with him. -CC

3. The Babysitter (10-1-89): Corky gets a babysitting job; his classmates barge
in at the house where he is babysitting. The intrusive folks include Tyler, who
regrets the whole thing, and "Russo," who is basically a jerk/nemesis. -JBM, PS

4. Break a Leg Mom (10-8-89): An episode showcasing the singing talents of Patti
LuPone. a Tony winner for the musical "Evita," actually centers on Corky, for
whom nothing seems to be going right. First, he has an accident in driver's ed.
Moreover, he's not doing well in his remedial arithmetic class, and if he
doesn't pass a minimum-competency test he won't be able to stay in the
mainstream program. What really gets to Corky, though, is the uneasy felling
that his mom gave up a promising show-business career because he came along. As
it happens, Libby has a chance for a comeback of sorts, at the community
college's "Autumn Follies." She wants no part of it.  And Corky doesn't want to
take arithmetic tutoring with kids 10 years younger than himself. But they work
out a deal:  he'll take the tutoring if she auditions for the show. -SF

5. Becca's First Love (10-15-89): Becca falls for the lead singer (Gabe) in a
neighborhood band.  She stays out with Maxine to listen to the band past curfew.
Gabe encourages her to stay late and she gets in trouble with her parents. -CC

6. Paige's Date (10-22-89): Drew sets up Paige with a charmer whose head is in
the clouds; unfortunately his sense of responsibility seems to be mired in
quicksand. -SF

7. Paige's Mom (11-5-89): Paige's mom comes back. They have a great time, and
make plans for a trip to England. Paige's mom winds up living without Paige.  A
lot of flashbacks to when Paige's mom, an actress, originally left. (Paign's mom
had also been married three times.) Tearful ending with Paige calling Libby mom.
-SF

8. Call of the Wild (11-12-89): Drew works on a construction project at an
Indian burial ground. A wolf who mysteriously guards the ground saves Corky from
Dobermans pursuing him in a nearby wooded area. -JBM

9. Corky Witnesses a Crime (11-26-89): Corky tries out for the football team.
The football coach hits a student, one of his former players, and all the team
stands up for the coach except Corky who is compelled to tell the truth. The
coach claims that he was hit first. He cuts Corky from the team, but later when
the team comes out with the truth as well, Corky is allowed to keep trying out.
Shari says Corky was just a water boy, because he can't play football (as shown
in a later episode). -CC

10. Ordinary Heroes (12-3-89): A frustrated Drew decides to quit his
construction job and go into the restaurant business; and he joins Libby in
counseling a couple wholse newborn daughter has Down syndrome. As it turns out
in the end, the guys who own the restaurant don't sell the restaurant to Drew
because Corky has Down.  Also, we learn that the cook at this restaurant makes
the best french fries. -SF

11. Pets, Guys and Videotapes (12-10-89): Paige goes to work for a veterinarian
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. -SF

12. Corky's Crush (1-14-90): 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 first is paired
with Lester Fishbein, then switches to Tyler.  Neither works out terribly well.
Corky, on the other hand, is paired with the new girl in school (Shannen Doherty
of 90201!), 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 Thachers' to continue their love feud. There's a
great scene in which Sal Giordano encourages Corky that the right girl is out
there. -SF, PS

13. Thacher and Henderson (1-21-90): At the high school football reunion, Drew
finally makes peace with his best friend after a falling out over a business
deal that caused Drew to lose $10000 after 10 years. Becca watches Paige who is
with her vet boyfriend and then her ex (the motorcycle man) shows up and Paige
has to chose between the 2 of them. Becca gets a crush on one of the football
players sons until Tyler shows up putting her in the same situation as Paige.
-CC

14. The Return of Uncle Richard (2-4-90): 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. -SF, PS

15. Brothers (2-11-90): The Special Olympics, a time for warmhearted competition
and fun, also bring love to Corky and a challenge to Tyler, whose father won't
permit Tyler's Down-syndrome brother to participate. -SF

16. Corky Rebels (2-18-90): At 18, Corky wants out from under his parents' wings
--- even if it just means taking the bus to school. Unfortunately, he ends up
with the bad crowd. The height of this ep comes when "bad boy" Corky auditions
for the community talent show with a hip-hop dance routine to "Fight the Power"
from "Do the Right Thing," the Spike Lee film.  Eventually, after the rough kids
with whom he's been hanging out turn on him, he mends his ways and does a tap
routine with Becca (their "standard" act) in the show instead. -SF, PS

17. It Ain't All It's Cracked Up to Be (3-4-90): 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 to 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. -CC

18. Pig O' My Heart (3-25-90): 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 Cork's affections. Corky adopted it to fill the void of Paige's
leaving (so this must be when Monique Lanier left the show). -SF, TB
  How Drew got the restaurant bears discussion.  In "Ordinary Heroes," he tried
to buy it, but when the brothers who owned it discovered that Corky had Down,
one of them got cold feet about what that would do for business.  Then the
writers decided to focus 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 eps. -PS

19. Becca and the Underground Newspaper (4-1-90): As a reporter for an
underground newspaper, Becca zealously pens an expose of the school janitor's
criminal past 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 scandal breaks, and
Becca realizes the irresponsibility of her actions (although she was pushed into
it by the pretentious 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. -SF, TB, PS

20. Save the Last Dance for Me (4-15-90): Becca's aged dance teacher (Viveca
Lindfors) must enter a nursing home. -TB

21. With a Mighty Heart (4-29-90): 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. -SF

22. The Spring Fling (5-13-90): Becca finally gets asked to the dance by Tyler.
Only she had already accepted an invitation with someone else.  She breaks it
off with the first guy, but then feels guilty and dances with him or
something... -SF

There's just some trouble I have, I don't know if this happened in "Paige's
Date" or "Pets, Guys and Videotape": Paige needs a job, gets a demeaning one as
a Swiss-Miss-type spokesmodel, another bad one selling cosmetics, then takes the
family rabbit (?) to a vet, with whom she fights, then gets hired by, then
starts dating.

LGO SEASON TWO:
  Monique Lanier left the show during season one to have a baby, so the writers
had Paige (now played by Tracey Needham) move out and make visits. During this
season, Patti LuPone had to do likewise; in her place were carefree younger
sister Gina (Mary Page Keller) and Zoe (Leigh Ann Orsi). In the storyline, Libby
was confined to her bed with pregnancy complications.

1. Honeymoon from Hell (9-16-90): Corky wins a raffle prize: a trip to Hawaii.
For Drew and Libby, it's their dream vacation; Becca doesn't want to go but
does. Things turn sour when they get there: Their luggage is lost; their hotel
is a decrepit, lizard-filled horror, and their dining and entertainment coupons
(part of the raffle prize) have expired. Within hours, the Thachers decide to go
home. But Corky runs into famous entertainer Don Ho, who sets them up in a
luxury hotel. Ho introduces them to luaus and a range of vacation adventures.
(continued in the next episode) -SY, JBM

2. Corky and the Dolphins (9-23-90): Corky learns to surf and is asked to care
for the performing dolphins at an ocean theme park. Becca meets Kimo, a handsome
young surfer boy who loses interest in her after meeting Corky. Becca gives him
a piece of her mind in return. Also, Drew and Libby don't get along at all with
two bickering second honeymooners. -JBM, SF

3. The Visitor (9-30-90): Libby begins experiencing nighttime visions of a young
boy shortly before she finds out she is pregnant.  The pregnancy draws a bad
reaction from Becca and Corky, who seem to think that they should have been
consulted about such a big change.  Drew frets that they have trouble making
ends meet with the kids they already have.  Eventually they come around, and the
vision makes one last visit. -TJW

4. Becca and the Band (10-7-90): 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 and 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. -CC, SF

5. The Banquet Room Renovation (10-14-90): Drew decides to turn the back room of
the restaurant into a banquet room in hopes of bringing in more money. He gets
funding from Farmer Jack on the condition that Drew use his son (Teddy) as a
worker. Drew agrees.  Drew and the kid develop a father/son like relationship.
Corky is jealous and tries to help but causes more damage than good, which Drew
blames on Teddy until Corky tells him the truth. Meanwhile, Libby, back at her
old job, tries to dig up a canine star for a gourmet dog-food commercial. (Is
this where Arnold makes his first appearance, or was he there before?) -CC, SF

6. Halloween (10-28-90): Halloween scarres up bad time for all: Libby and Drew
at Jerry's big party, Corky at the school masquerade, and Becca who is home
alone. The horror movies she's watching start to get to her.  The lights go out,
an intruder breaks in-- it turns out to be Tyler.  Confusion abounds. -SF, PS

7. Chickenpox (11-4-90): Becca dreams about figure skating with a man. She wakes
up with the chicken pox and has to stay home sick. Tyler comes to visit her
several times to tell her about his problems with Rona. He and Becca become
closer until Rona shows up (just when they're about to kiss!) and steals him
back from her. Meanwhile, Drew hires a quirky waitress at the grill and comes
down with the pox. Corky also gets sick and thinks Becca got him sick on
purpose. Paige's boyfriend (the Vet) has gone to a conference and then will be
moving back home to take over her fathers practice.  She wants Libby to go to a
spa with her that weekend to get away and think about going with him. The
decision is made for her when she finds out the vet wants to get marriedThe Life Goes On Semi-finished Episode Guide for Seasons 3 and 4
By Mark Rabinowitz, Shari Feldman, Cindy Camp et al.

LGO SEASON THREE:
  Paul got me this info on the whole Paige-Michael-Kenny thing:  Paige starting
working at Stollmark Tubular Products. (Could anyone tell me exactly when?) The
owner's son Kenny started courting her, and Paige, looking for security in her
life, went along with it.  Michael Romanov was a Bohemian-type sculpture artist
who worked with the the garbage strewn outside Stollmark's.

1. Toast (9-22-91): The Thachers 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, so he thinks, 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.-SF

2. Hello Goodbye (9-29-91): The Thachers rise from the ashes of the restaurant:
exchange student Becca prepares to take wing for Paris; Paige and Corky go
hunting for jobs. (Is this where Corky starts working at the movie theater and
Paige starts working at Stollmark? And Maxie was the one who went to Paris,
right?) -SF

3. Out Of The Mainstream (10-6-91): Corky is nearly swamped when he tries to
help Tyler's younger brother, who also has Down syndrome, mainstream at Marshall
High.  This episode introduces Chad Lowe as transfer student Jesse McKenna. -SF

4. Armageddon (10-13-91): New roles with Libby as the primary bread-winner and
Drew as the homemaker, create new friction in their marriage. (Another question:
I remember Drew reopening the place, and he had that nightmare where too many
customers came in at once, but in reality, almost no one comes in. Which ep was
this?) -SF

5. Sweet 16 (10-20-91): At 16, Becca retains her innocence--but maybe not for
long. Throughout this ep, Becca records herself and her birthday party on
camcorder for Maxie, 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 fictional "Plebian Club."  Note
that one of these troublemakers is Ray Nelson!  When Becca becomes involved with
him later, I guess the family forgot all about this little incident with Ray.
At the end, Becca is in front of the camcorder again with a robe on, then opens
it to reveal her negligee (which Maxie sent her as a birthday gift), asking, "Is
this *hot* or what?" -PS

6. Life After Death (11-3-91): 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. -SF

7. Dueling Divas (11-10-91): Libby's vivacious cousin Gaby (also played by Patti
LuPone) breezes in from Sicily like a whirlwind, touching everyone's life -- and
turning Libby green with envy.

8. Invasion of the Thacher Snatchers (11-17-91): 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 applying for college (the Illinois State
University representative calls and says he wants to make Becca "one of us,"
which Corky overhears). After noting in the film that Venusians don't like dairy
products or other anti-acidic material, Corky attacks the family with baking
soda and milk.

9. Loaded Question (11-24-91): The Thacher house is burglarized. Suspicions
center on an African-American welder named Marquis (another acquaintance 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.

10. Triangles (12-1-91): Corky takes a tumble for the new assistant manager (at
the theatre?); Becca is torn between Tyler and Jesse: Tyler says 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 this girl has already died.
Jesse, walking through a cemetery during a particularly low point, asks Becca,
"Do you know that no matter how much I want you, I can never have you?" and
Becca answers, "YES! Yes, I do! Because I feel the same way about you!" 

11. The Smell of Fear (12-15-91): Christmas brings anxieties to all, but most of
all to Becca, who fears the worst when Jesse is hospitalized with pneumocystis
pneumonia.

12. Struck By Lightning (1-5-92): The Thacher house is struck by lightning. 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 lightning strikes the house again.

13. Jerry's Deli (1-19-92): 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 asks him to work with him at the grill. Corky
quits his job at the theatre and helps his dad out. During a conversation 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. -DH

14. The Room (2-9-92): Becca, Libby and Paige have entered "the Man Zone". They
tear down a wall in the Thacher 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 '60s hippies, Libby becoming a '50s Avon
lady (with the Thachers as a '50s 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.

15. The Wall (2-16-92): It's just a graffiti-covered wall 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 theater. -SF
     
16. The Blues (2-23-92) 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. -SF

17. The Fairy Tale (3-1-92): 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 a subplot with Paige, Michael and Kenny, but
I forgot what happened there.

18. Hearts and Flowers (3-15-92): 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 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 the 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 she needed 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. -SF

19. Corky's Romance (3-29-92):  Romance blossoms between Corky and a girl with
Down syndrome (played by Andrea Friedman, who has Down), 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 know it's need-based until the day before
a banquet she's supposed to speak at.

20. More Than Friends (4-26-92): 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 the 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, Paige tells Kenny that she will marry him; Michael, who is
spying on them, is dejected. Becca, baring her guilt over Tyler's plight, sees
Tyler for the last time on life support.

21. Confessions (5-3-92): Corky, somehow rendered mute by the accident, does not
speak up until Becca bares her soul to him. Then Corky says that Tyler tried to
swerve around a boy on a bike. Becca still feels guilty over Tyler's death as
she and Jesse place flowers at Tyler's grave. (There should have been more
mention of the fact that Tyler drove drunk, as Tyler could have had better
reflexes to stop before hitting the boy on the bike. Without that, it sounded
like, as Shari put it, "a cop-out".) Also, Paige and Michael get locked in a
refrigerated room for wedding cake storage (she was looking for a cake for her
and Kenny's wedding).

22. Consenting Adults (5-10-92): Paige has a great heart-to-heart with Drew
about her upcoming marriage with Kenny.  Drew takes matters into his own hands
and convinces Michael to get Paige.  Then behind both their backs, he hires
Michael's band to play at the wedding. Paige and Kenny break up at the altar;
Paige runs off with Michael instead. Corky proposes to Amanda. Jesse leaves for
Arizona with his mom, but later comes back, saying that Becca is his family now.

  Note: "Consenting Adults" could be interpreted as an attempt at a series
finale, as LGO did face cancellation in 1992. It got a major reprieve when "Day
One," the Forrest Sawyer newsmagazine, failed to get off the ground and needed
an overhaul.

LGO SEASON FOUR:
1. Bec to the Future (9-20-92): A 40-something Becca (Pamela Bellwood) looks
back on the summer of '92. (In the future, Becca is now married and is a
doctor.) Jesse returns, but the reunion is bittersweet. Through most of this
episode, Becca is avoiding Jesse to be with her new friends who don't know Jesse
is HIV+. They find out when Jesse comes over to their pool party (which he
wasn't invited to).  They invite him to join them, but he says he has to go to
the hospice.  Someone asks if he isn't afraid he might get AIDS. Jesse then
tells them he is HIV+, then lectures Becca about the fact that she didn't tell
them about him: There is no break from AIDS. This episode introduces new
characters to complement series star Kellie Martin: Kathy Goodman, an extreme
extrovert who wants Becca to get a bigger slice of life; Harris Cassidy, the
storytelling boss (owner?) at the Nevermore Bookstore where Becca and Goodman
work; and Eric, the bookstore manager.

2. Exposed (9-27-92): Jesse paints a nude painting of Becca. (It is never
determined if she posed nude or if the nudity was solely the product of Jesse's
imagination.) Becca decides to let it be shown in the Nevermore Bookstore, and
this leads to a nice scandal. Endless date proposals on her answering machine
are just the tip of the iceberg. See, Drew buys his paper there, and when he
sees his daughter's voluptuous body immortalized in paint, he goes nuts, even
lecturing Becca at school loudly enough for Becca's French class to hear. Drew
tries to buy the painting from Harris, but Harris refuses. Drew, Corky and Jesse
conspire to steal the painting back, but get arrested. (Corky was the
mastermind, inspired by the Pink Panther Film Festival at the theater.) In a
subplot, poor Paige (still hurting over her breakup with Crown Prince of
Irresponsibility Romanov) shows Becca and Libby a cubist tattoo of Michael on
her shoulder. Now, back at the police station, Harris bails out the three art
bandits after selling the painting to the proprietor of a biker bar (!). Drew
comes to terms with the fact that Becca is, in fact, sexy, and Paige agrees to
have that tattoo removed. 
  Ray Nelson Jr. returns. He had a list of guys who wanted to pay Jesse to have
their girlfriends painted nude. He makes the mistake of saying, "Jesse, you've
got HIV. What could happen (in terms of sex)?". 

3. Premarital Syndrome (10-4-92): Corky and Amanda's "trial marriage" gets off
to a rocky start. (or crunchy, as in the crunchy macaroni and cheese: they
didn't boil the elbows long enough.) Interviews with couples who have Down
syndrome are interwoven throughout. -SF

4. The Whole Truth (10-18-92): Paige fends off an attempted date rape by Becca's
poetry teacher (Leigh J. McCloskey). But their accounts differ and Becca, at
first, believes the teacher. Corky imagines that a calendar swimsuit model
(Shari Shattuck) has come to life, and this imaginary woman explains how men
tend to see only the bodies of women, not what's inside. Libby confronts her
memories of a rape during her high school days. Becca confronts the teacher when
his story gets a few holes in it.

5. Love Letters (11-8-92): Becca and Co. find old World War II letters at the
bookstore. (Martin, Smitrovich, and Burke read selected letters while they
played, respectively, a soldier's girlfriend working at a factory, a soldier
working a machine gun in a trench, and another soldier reading a letter in a
tent.) Eric gets cozy with Becca, and Jesse does same with a woman from an art
gallery named Jill. Becca returns the letters to the woman who wrote them. I
think this is where Corky and Amanda got officially married.

6. Windows (11-22-92): 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 Swansons, 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
because of Corky and Amanda, and resent his 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 Thachers and Swansons go to court, but the judge
lets 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. 

7. Babes in the Woods (11-29-92): Becca, Goodman, Ray Nelson Jr., Jesse and two
other students from their English class go on a weekend camping trip, chaperoned
by Harris. Things get bad when Becca gets sprayed by a skunk, knocks over a
kerosene lantern, starting a fire at the barn where they were staying, and worse
when they find a note from Harris saying they must fend for themselves. And then
it rains! Becca also learns that she tends to want to be in control to much:
With Jesse and with Goodman (she went behind her back to try and get Goodman
into high school). Goodman does return to school at the end. -SF

8. Udder Madness (12-13-92): Ray nominates Becca (against her wishes) for
Homecoming Queen; Goodman nominates a cow in protest of beauty pageants in
general. The third contestant is a stuck-up cheerleader. Also, Artie (Paige's
supervisor from the steelworks in season 3) and Paige redo a restaurant with a
bovine motif. (They formed a partnership called Darlin' Construction, so called
because Artie always calls Paige darlin'.)

9. Happy Holidays (12-20-92): The holidays take on a whole new meaning for
Corky, who's celebrating his first Christmas as a married man --- and now how
the wishes of a wife and in-laws to consider.

10. Choices (1-3-1993): Paige finds that she is carrying Michael's baby, and is
at first delighted to know this. So's the whole family. But Michael comes back,
and decides he does not want the baby. Paige is undecided on whether or not to
abort, and Corky and Amanda want to adopt the baby. This all conveniently ends
with a miscarriage.

11. Incident on Main (1-10-93): Gay-bashing skinheads beat up Jesse outside the
AIDS hospice. Becca gets his blood on her hands after the beating. She gets
tested and comes up negative, but has to get tested again in six months. (This
loose end was left untied, but it is generally assumed that she stayed
negative.) Jesse draws a sketch of one of the skinheads, which is displayed at
Drew's restaurant. It is trashed by the skinheads after one of them sees it at
the cashier. Jesse sees one of them in a lineup as well but cannot, perhaps out
of fear, pick him out.

12. Lost Weekend (1-24-93): In her quest to get Becca out her shell, Goodman
takes her and Jesse on a double date. But Jesse and Becca get pissed off as
Goodman and her date, Norman Bates, get kinky at the table. Jesse and Becca
decide to test the limits of their passions and try to have "safe sex". But
their sleepover at his apartment is more like a slumber party, as Jesse keeps
balking at going farther. Becca tells Drew and Libby about that night, that she
slept in Jesse's arms, and they get pissed off. Drew tells Jesse that he's
concerned the starcrossed couple will go too far. Subplots: Paige, not realizing
how much of a need she has for Artie, becomes jealous of an acquaintance of his;
Grandma Teresa stays over a night at the Thachers' due to her husband breaking
the furnace, then goes back because someone's gotta keep Grandpa Sal's feet
warm.

13. Visions (2-14-93): Shortly after his 18th birthday, a feverish Jesse
collapses in extreme pain at school and is rushed, unconscious, to the hospital.
Jesse's AIDS-Related Complex has progressed to AIDS. He has dreams which
highlight the show: Ray French-kissing Becca at Jesse's funeral, and one where a
healthy Jesse and Becca have a toast in an idyllic setting and have really nice
clothes on... While Jesse is sick, Ray takes Becca out. Jesse is unable to speak
about AIDS to a class, so Becca reads what he wrote for this speech, and it
breaks her heart, and Goodman comes over to finish for her.
        
14. Five to Midnight (2-21-93): Jesse's insurance runs out, and he gets
transferred to County Hospital (which is like being transferred to the Receiving
Hospital in Detroit!). Becca goes with him. Jesse nearly dies of AIDS-related
cardiac arrest, and the 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.

15. Bedfellows (2-28-93): 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 other patients, makes fun of the sugar-coated remarks the 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.

16. Last Wish (3-7-93): Becca and Jesse go to see the ocean, after Jesse says
that it's something 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
argument, 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 they needed to get there. This episode shows the
development of the relationship between Ray and Becca.

17. Life Goes On (And On And On) (5-23-93): The series finale, it leaps 4 years
into the future to see Becca and Jesse marry, and 10 years when Becca, now about
27 (and still played by Kellie Martin) tells her son a story about what happened
after graduating from high school. Corky doesn't graduate, but says, "I'll be
back." Ray was the valedictorian of Becca's class. Jesse leaves for Europe,
breaking Becca's heart, but returns four years later. It is not determined
whether Becca's son was fathered by Jesse or not, but Becca expresses a desire
to have Jesse's baby, saying that new treatments could make it possible. The
question of who fathered this child is hard to answer as Becca says the final
words of the series: "I love you, Jesse."
  Note with regard to the series finale: The producers, not wanting to give
false hope to HIV/AIDS carriers, said in Entertainment Weekly that Jesse McKenna
did not father the child.
 
  Final notes: I still have summaries which could use more detail than what TV
Guide listed; I would prefer that they all had detailed summaries. I would
otherwise call this guide complete. 
  Maybe if I had missed that "Sweet 16" episode, I may have missed the whole
four years. Anyway, please help me finish the job. I hope Kellie is impressed.
-- 
Mark Rabinowitz  ***  The Internet's #1 Kellie Martin Fan
All replies forwarded to mdr714@freenet.fsu.edu