Life Goes On

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 Michale'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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Corky befriends an older man with Down Syndrome who leads a kind of life that Corky would like to lead.

Drew confronts his feelings about them having yet another child. He comes through in the end when another woman goes into labor early. Becca makes muck over athlete's unearned grades-only to muddy herself.

Becca does a double flip over her gymnastics coach-as does Gina over a handyman (Michael St. Gerard) several years her junior.

Gina despairs when nothing she does is right in the eye of her mother, and Corky despairs when his special-ed substitute suddenly takes leave.

Corky resolves to enter a 50k bike race despite his father's objections, and makes friends with another biker who is epileptic. He bought a brand-spanking new bike from a guy in the bike store who had a crush on Paige. The bike was stolen, and Zoe, seeing Corky's heartbreak, stole him an almost identical one. The truth wins out, though, and all gets cleared up in the end.

Tension between Becca and Drew isn't helped by the arrival of Libby's sister Gina (Mary Page Keller) and neice Zoe ( Leigh Ann Orsi).

Becca gets a crush on a French student and Maxi with this French guy's friend. They have high hope of getting in with this ""mature"" crowd. She and Maxi go to a bar with these boys and Maxi gets drunk. Becca tells her mom the next morning to get some help for Maxi's hangover. Becca's mom ends up telling Maxi's mother what happened after giving her word to Becca that it was just between them. Becca and Maxi get into a fight and Maxi is in with the mature crowd. Becca ditches school and gets grounded but has to go out that night when she recieves a call from Maxi because one of these guys had left her stranded. She gets caught sneaking back in the house. Side plot: A lady is choking in the restaurant, Corky runs to get Drew who gives the lady the Heimlich maneuver and the two of them become heros. Later the lady sues Drew for $ 25,000 because supposedly he broke one of her ribs.

Halloween scares up a 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.

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.

While in Hawaii, Corky goes dolphin-riding and Becca falls for a surfer. (Part 2 of 2)

Becca finally gets asked to the dance by Tyler. Only 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.

Becca's aged dance teacher (Viveca Lindfors) must enter a nursing home.

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.

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 episode 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's 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 dance routine with Becca (their ""standard"" act) in the show instead.

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.

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.

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.

Drew works on a construction project at an Indian burial ground. A wolf who mysteriously gaurds the grounds saves Corky from Dobermans pursuing him in a nearby wooded area.

Drew sets up Paige with a charmer whose head is in the clouds; unfortunately his sense of responsibility seems to be mired in quicksand.

An episode showcasing the singing talents of Patti LuPone. A Tony winner for the musical ""Evita"", actually centers around 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 feeling 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 ten years younger than himself. But they work out a deal: he'll take the tutoring if she auditions for the show.

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.