by John Carman
If you watch Life Goes On tonight and hate it, you may as well abandon all hope for the new TV season. In a nonvintage year, this ABC family drama is as good as it gets.
Taking its title from the Beatles tune, Life Goes On (10 p.m. on channels 7, 11 and 13) will attract early attention mostly because of the presence of Christopher Burke in the cast.
Burke, 23, is a fledgling actor from New York who plays Corky Thacher, the 18-year-old son of Drew and Libby Thacher Bill Smitrovich and Patti LuPone.
Corky has Down's syndrome, a genetic disorder characterized by mental retardation, a flat nose bridge, slanted eyes, a protruding tongue and soft muscle tone. So does Burke.
If that makes Life Goes On a challenge to film - Burke admits he has trouble remembering his lines and his real father, a retired police inspector, guesses his educational level is about fifth grade - it doesn't show in the finished product.
A Joy to Watch
Quite simply, Burke is splendid. He brings an affecting directness to the role that's a joy to watch. Corky Thacher becomes the most guileless hero on TV, and you'll love him for it.
The story line in tonight's pilot episode revolves around the decision by the middle-class Thacher family to "mainline" Corky by enrolling him in a public high school, to the initial embarrassment of Corky's sister and classmate, Becca Thacher (Kellie Martin).
Meantime, Libby frets about her 40th birthday, and the eldest of the three Thacher children, Paige Monique Lanier moves back home after splitting with her boyfriend.
It's a full plate dramatically, but not a heavy meal. Life Goes On is a pleasure to watch. It's full of good humor and even offers a lick of fantasy, as viewers hook into scenes from Corky's lively imagination.
ABC is taking the unique precaution of running the same episode twice in one week, tonight and at 9 p.m. Friday, before the show settles into a tough time slot at 7 p.m. Sundays. That's when a long line of shows have died of ratings strangulation on ABC's schedule.