MAKIN' IT Failed sitcom influenced by the success of Saturday Night Fever 9 episodes 30 minutes duration. ABC Television 1979.

An ABC sitcom that attempted to cash in on the disco craze of the late 1970's, it had a connection to the blockbuster film Saturday Night Fever. But the idea of combining disco music with traditional sitcom shtick didn’t sit well with viewers and the show lasted just eight episodes. Gary Marshall (the man behind such comedy hits as Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy) produced and created Makin’ It along with Mark Rothman and Lowell Ganz.

It centred on the life of Billy Manucci (David Naughton), a Passaic, New Jersey college student who lived at home with his parents and worked during the day at an ice cream parlour called Tasty Treats. At night, Billy hung out with his friends at the Inferno disco. He looked up to his brother Tony (Greg Antonacci), the star dancer at Inferno. At home, Billy dealt with his sister Tina (Denise Miller) and his parents Dorothy and Joseph (Ellen Travolta and Lou Antonio). Billy’s best friends were Al Sorrentino (Ralph Seymour), also known as “The Kingfish” (someone was watching repeats of Amos n’ Andy) and Bernard Fusco (Gary Prendergast); Billy’s girlfriend Corky Crandall was played by Rebecca Balding.

But Billy was in a quandary: Should he strive to become the top dancer at Inferno, or finish college to become a teacher? Makin’ It was yet another of Marshall’s working-class comedies with broad, physical humour, and was a far cry from Saturday Night Fever. Those who expected the grittier ambiance of “Fever” came away disappointed.

The show made its debut February 1st, 1979 in a “sneak peek” after Marshall’s top-ranked Mork & Mindy. The following night, it settled in as a replacement for the variety series Donny & Marie. But viewers stayed away, prompting ABC to give up on Makin’ It; its final dance card was filled March 23rd.

TRIVIA:

Robert Stigwood, who produced Saturday Night Fever, was involved with the development of Makin’ It. Although he managed the Bee Gees, the group never appeared on the series, but the music of the Brothers Gibb was used during the show’s run. In fact, the first episode was entitled Staying Alive–one of the Bee Gees’ hits from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

John Travolta did not appear in the series, but his sister did. Ellen Travolta–who played David Naughton’s mom Dorothy Manucci–was only 11 years older than Naughton in real life!

When Makin’ It made its debut, star David Naughton was best known to television audiences as the star of a series of musical commercials for the soft drink Dr. Pepper (“I’m a pepper / He’s a pepper / She’s a pepper / Wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too?”). The brother of character actor James Naughton, David later went on to appear in the cult classic An American Werewolf In London. He also co-starred in the sitcom My Sister Sam and went on to guest star in such series as Murder, She Wrote; JAG and Seinfeld.

Makin’ It had the distinction of spawning a theme song that was far more popular than the series itself. Written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris (the team behind Gloria Gaynor’s now classic dance/emancipation ode I Will Survive), Naughton sang the catchy vocals over the opening credits; not long after, a single was released by Robert Stigwood’s RSO label. It peaked on Billboard’s Top 100 chart at #5 in July 1979–four months after the series left the airwaves. Makin’ It was also heard in the 1979 Bill Murray comedy Meatballs and the 1999 homage to the band KISS, Detroit Rock City.

Makin’ It wasn’t the only American sitcom that tried to latch onto disco music. In 1978, NBC aired Joe & Valerie, starring Paul Regina as Joe Pizo and Char Fontane as Valerie Sweetzer, a couple who fell in love at a New York disco. This short-lived series also featured a pre-JAG David Elliott as Paulie Barone, a simple minded friend of Joe’s who drove a hearse for a living. Joe & Valerie ran from April to May 1978, and returned with several new episodes in January 1979 before NBC yanked it off the dance floor for good. (Regina would later be part of TV history on the Showtime cable series Brothers by playing Cliff Waters, one of the first gay lead characters on an American sitcom.)

Makin’ It was broadcast for UK viewers on ITV; it ran from April 25th to June 13th, 1979, not long after ABC cancelled the series in the States.