TelevisionAcademy.com 103that Chris couldn’t say, and some people insisted
that he get it right. That was when we were not at
our best, and the set was not a happy set. It was
usually that someone was pushing Chris too hard.
Needham: It wasn’t always easy for Chris, but
he had this determination. He would tackle
everything. A lot of times when performing with
Chris, you wouldn’t feel that he was connected,
that his focus was elsewhere. But when you saw
the scene on film, there was this magic in his
eyes, and you thought, “I was mistaken.”
Braverman: Chris’s stamina was better than the
adults’. He wanted very much to keep working
and working. He wanted to be in everything. He
was an amazing young man.
The Characters
Braverman: It was important to portray Corky as
exceptional, because not every Down syndrome
child is going to have the same capabilities as
Chris. And it was important to show that not
everything goes right when you have a learning
difference. So Corky accidentally set fire to his
father’s restaurant, and it burned down. The
whole question of that episode was telling the
truth about how the fire started.
We showed that Corky had problems with
math, which is difficult for people with Down
syndrome, because it’s conceptual. But we
wanted to show Corky to be as independent as
he could possibly be. So he became an usher in
a movie theater. We wanted his life to progress.
Marriage might have been a bridge too far, but
we thought, “Let’s give it a try.”
LuPone: My response to my son who had
Down syndrome was being a fiercely protective
mother, whether it was written or not. But I
found the writing lacking. I had a meeting with
the [producers and writers]: “Give me three
adjectives that describe Libby Thacher.” But
nobody said the same thing. I said: “There’s
your problem!” Libby didn’t even react a lot of
the time. She was silent. It was pedantic. It was
mundane.
Braverman: I wanted to make sure we had
working parents. I didn’t want a hand-wringing
mother. I wanted somebody who would do
everything that was necessary. Patti had all of
that strength. I would describe Libby as strong,
resilient and compassionate. Notice that the first
word is strong. Patti can do strong very welI.
Martin: Becca was earnest in the best possible
and worst possible way. She worked hard at
trying to be popular, but she just wasn’t. She was
very smart. Playing that character pushed me
to try to live up to her. Becca ended up going to
Brown [University]. My goal was to go to a school
as good as Becca went to. I was competing with
my own character! How strangely messed up is
that? I went to Yale.
Becca loved her brother, but when faced with
his going to her high school, it was devastating
to her. When we meet her, she’s having to adjust
to her brother interacting with her friends. Becca
was constantly teasing Corky. But God forbid
somebody else teased him! She stuck up for
Corky and protected him with her life.
Bill was such an anchor; the pilot and first
season pivoted around the patriarch of the
family. Drew’s relationship with Corky was so
important. The way Corky looked up to his father
was pretty special.Smitrovich: Drew was fun-loving and hard-
working. This guy would do anything for his family.Memorable Episodes
Braverman: At the time, ABC’s Standards &
Practices person was an ex-nun. She was really
nice, but I would argue with her on the phone for
maybe an hour and a half and then put [director]
Rick Rosenthal on. We’d wear her down, and
that’s how we got most of the stuff we wanted.
In the final season, when we did the arc
about HIV, the issue of how Jesse [Chad Lowe]
contracted HIV went up and back between me,
[coexecutive producer] Michael Nankin and
S&P for a long time. I didn’t believe that it was
fair or proper to skirt over the issue that HIV
was sexually transmitted. To their credit, ABC
ultimately allowed us to proceed with Jesse
contracting HIV through sexual contact. That
was an extraordinarily brave position to take
at that time, especially for a family show in the
primetime-access hour.
All the extras and some of the supporting
actors who were in the HIV episodes actually
had HIV or AIDS and [because of the show, they]
were able to get SAG health insurance. I had told
the crew [I planned to hire people who had the
disease] and asked if anyone had objections. Not
one person abandoned that set.Martin: [The show] wouldn’t let Becca kiss
Jesse on the lips, so I kissed him on the neck.
We hugged and slow-danced. There were a
lot of rules we had to follow, because a lot was
unknown about AIDS. There would be scene after
scene where Becca was crying. Patti taught me
how to cry. She may be the best crier I ever met!
She said she has a suitcase full of sorrows and
just draws on that.Needham: The show was famous for breaking
new ground on subjects that were taboo
and placing them in an ordinary suburban
environment. Paige became pregnant, but the
father wanted to end the pregnancy. Paige wanted
the baby. The universe decided for us, becauseshe had a miscarriage. It was a heavy subject, but
not heavy-handed in the way they wrote it.Braverman: Even though we were doing a family
show, I tried to write as many episodes with music
as I could. Here I had Patti LuPone, a Tony-winning
Broadway star, so why not capitalize on this
magnificent talent? And that’s what we tried to do.LuPone: In a way, I wish I’d been stronger and
said, “You want me to sing? That’ll be extra
money.” But they didn’t pay me to sing. And the
producers didn’t listen to me when it came to the
songs I wanted to sing. That rankled me a little
because they were asking me to do something I
wasn’t hired for.Needham: In one episode, Paige was auditioning
for a musical. She was terrible, but they were
going to give her the part anyhow. So in one
scene, Patti sings and shows me how to do it. It
was one of my more humbling moments.Life Doesn’t Go On
Martin: The show was a critics’ darling, but it
never got high ratings. It always did just well
enough to keep ABC happy. They probably
kept it on because they were proud of it. I was
seventeen when the show ended. I felt my life
was over. Those people I’d worked with for four
years were my family. It was really hard to step
away. I went off to Yale and wrote all my college
essays about Chris Burke. He was a spectacular
person to spend four years with. It took a while
to get my degree, because I kept getting acting
jobs, but I kept thinking: Becca finished her
degree, so Kellie had better finish hers!Braverman: Why the show ended isn’t
something I can get into. Certainly, we released
Patti so she could do Sunset Boulevard in
London. But I think we could have gone on.LuPone: They let me go to do Sunset Boulevard.
Perhaps they knew that the show was up after
four years. I don’t think I was instrumental in
wrapping the show. I think they could have killed
off [my character] or something. Perhaps the
show had run its course, and they knew it — so
they let me go.Smitrovich: When the show ended, I got very
depressed. It was the most gratifying job I ever
had, because it broke barriers and brought down
walls.Burke: I had a good, positive attitude when the
show was over. But I want to go back and do
more work in show business. I really didn’t think
about being famous. I’m not a big TV superstar.
But I learned a lot. I learned one thing, which is
very important to me: it’s just a job.