In the series premiere, Charles "Corky" Thatcher tries to mainstream in a regular high school with his sister, Becca. But his first few days in Grade 9 take a serious turn when he is accused of ...
Encouraged by Rona Liberman, Corky runs for freshman class president with the help of smart, but very unpopular classmate, Lester. Thinking that Rona likes him, Corky doesn't know he was only ...
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. When word gets out, new PTA ...
This was the first television series to have a major character with Down syndrome, "Corky" Thatcher played by Chris Burke who has Down syndrome in real life. See more »
Alternate Versions
The Season 1 DVD omits the Beatles' "Ob La Di" as the theme song -- replaced with an original song written for the DVD release -- to avoid the high licensing fees. The one exception is the pilot episode. See more »
This show ran entirely on Sunday evenings at 7:00pm(6:00 pm CST)and while its ratings always kept it on the cutting block--in fact,it seemed like the show wasn't even going to make it to a fourth season,with the network opting to let it run almost in mid-cancellation--the show's fan base and the general reaction to it was almost always positive. As a sibling to someone with a developmental disability(though not Down's Syndrome),I found it quite edifying that a warm,realistic television show that could be best described as a "dramedy" could be made around a person with a disability. The Thatchers have done well raising down syndromed Corky(the wonderful Chris Burke)into a bright,well-meaning and responsible young man. His struggles are actually often in tandem with the struggles of the parents(Bill Smitrovich and Patti Lupone)and the non-disabled but highly different daughters(Kellie MArtin and Paige Needham),rather than the central focus of. Three strong(maybe more like two-and-half)seasons,followed by a forced last season or so may've diluted the full quality of this show,but it was still a pleasure to follow this story and would be intrigued to see these shows again,probably on cable.
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This show ran entirely on Sunday evenings at 7:00pm(6:00 pm CST)and while its ratings always kept it on the cutting block--in fact,it seemed like the show wasn't even going to make it to a fourth season,with the network opting to let it run almost in mid-cancellation--the show's fan base and the general reaction to it was almost always positive. As a sibling to someone with a developmental disability(though not Down's Syndrome),I found it quite edifying that a warm,realistic television show that could be best described as a "dramedy" could be made around a person with a disability. The Thatchers have done well raising down syndromed Corky(the wonderful Chris Burke)into a bright,well-meaning and responsible young man. His struggles are actually often in tandem with the struggles of the parents(Bill Smitrovich and Patti Lupone)and the non-disabled but highly different daughters(Kellie MArtin and Paige Needham),rather than the central focus of. Three strong(maybe more like two-and-half)seasons,followed by a forced last season or so may've diluted the full quality of this show,but it was still a pleasure to follow this story and would be intrigued to see these shows again,probably on cable.