There were some other late 70s sitcom shows that didn’t make it either. m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gafI33FeJHg.html Co-Ed Fever being the worst one that lasted only one episode out of the other 5 episodes. They aired the rest in Canada though until they ended for good Lolol
lot of people tend to trash this.. and yeah it may have only aired like 9 episodes... but for nearly 40 years it seemed to be rather remembered for a show that did not last long.
Makin' It aired between February-March 1979 on ABC for 9 episodes. It was created by Garry Marshall and Robert Stigwood (best known as producer of Saturday Night Fever). David Naughton is the brother of actor James Naughton (Knots Landing), David starred in My Sister Sam with Pam Dawber from 1986-88, Ellen Travolta (older sister of John), went onto another Garry Marshall series, Joanie Loves Chachi. Denise Miller was on a couple of seasons on Archie Bunker's Place. Greg Antonacci was married to actress Annie Potts from 1978-80, he passed away in 2017 at age 70.
I remember David Naughton from all of the Dr. Pepper commercials from back in the 70s & 80s. Plus he played on two short lived shows, one of being a show based off of a hit song of his in the 70s called Making It....sort of a cross between Happy Days and Saturday Night Fever, and in 1983 to 1984, another show called At Ease!...which was a short lived military sitcom. Great talented actor that never got a big break in the business. Last time I seen him on TV...he was on an episode of Seinfeld, playing a drunken heckler to Jerry Seinfeld, who finally sobers up in the end.
There's a time there when everyone got wild with the whipped cream in the opening credits to a sitcom. Also, a spinning chair or turn to the camera in a circle. Still awesome. I'm proud to be a 70s kid!
J.P. Wing I remember when this came on. my friend Martin who was an iraq veteran would sing this cheesy disco song he was a good friend father husband son brother soldier. we miss him every day RIP
As a kid I saw the cool opening credits to these type of sitcoms, and remember wishing I lived in the cities where they were set. I was sad because there were no sitcoms set in Connecticut
@@haydennault2706 I had forgotten that Soap was set in Connecticut. You are correct on that - thanks! Amazingly enough, Katherine Helmond was on both shows in question.
Just like Police Squad! I watched all 9 episodes when it originally aired on ABC. Funny that I knew the song already hearing it in the local San Francisco disco's at the time.
This brings back some great memories. I couldn't get this song out of my head when it was on the charts. I miss the days when opening credits lasted longer than 15 seconds.
Every time I see the opening credits to these type of classic sitcoms especially short lived ones, when the cast members were being introduced, they smiled and showed their personalities, which to me is still really cool 😎 to this day.
Correct! who ever created the show would have had a better sitcom by following ppl to disco's and just filming them dance and talking and listening to the music...that would have been a way better storyline!
I wish that I could go back to 1978 seeing how that’s when I was born and with my eyes today, relive the world at that time. There’s something about this song that makes me melancholy about the days past. Simpler days, simpler times, what in the hell has happened to the world today?!
I remember this show only for the scene where he jumps over the couch. Mind you I was only 3 at the time! Gotta love those 70s and 80s theme songs where the cast were introduced like, "hey what are you doing here camera?" That and each scene has action and then it's like the characters freeze!
There's something so charming about this. It reminds me of my carefree days growing up in California suburbia in the 70's and 80's. Also: Gary Prendergast is in an Mystery Science 3000 movie. Look up: Being From Another Planet.
That cast intro seems like Happy Days set in the present. Happy Days simply just had the cast members just standing there and smiling, while this had them spinning around, except for Denise Miller.
Great point! It goes a bit beyond that though. "Makin' It" was essentially the "Happy Days" formula applied to the contemporary pop culture of the day. Billy's relationship with his parents was similar to Richie's interactions with Marion and Howard and his group of cronies could've been ripped right from the pages of a "Happy Days" script. In fact that whipped cream scene seem in the intro seems to have been written for Potsie and Ralph.
Never seen the show but I do remember the song featured in the movie Meatballs in 1979 when it reached no. 5 on the hot 100 charts. It was recorded by the star David Naughton, who went on to bigger things.
At nearly two minutes long (!), this had to be the longest TV sitcom intro of its time. (Of course, a long intro ensures that the show itself was that much shorter...)
I'll bet it's not on DVD due to the use of Bee Gees songs as background music during the dance sequences, given the show's obvious connection with _Saturday Night Fever_.
I was an elementary school teacher. When my school would have a dance during the school day, each grade would go out to the Gym during the Specials Time (Art, Music, PE, etc.). I was my school's Science Lab Teacher, which made me a Specials Teacher. That meant that I'd be out in the Gym to help monitor the dance. One of the PE coaches would set up a laptop and projector to show dance videos he'd find online on one of the Gym's walls. The kids would dance to the music. David Naughton sang this song and made a music video from it. I thought the kids would like an old retro dance tune, so I had the coach pull it up. The kids did like it... at first. But then they saw that David was a white guy, and they all stopped dancing and milled around in discontent. You see, I taught at a school that was 99.99% black. Since I was white and the kids liked me (my Science Lab was very popular), I thought they wouldn't care that the singer of this song was white. My mistake. Sigh.
Unfortunately, i never got to see this sitcom, because it was up against "Diffrent Strokes"---I discovered the song in 1984, and I now regret what I didn't get to see!
the other problem was it was 1979...the disco backlash had begun. but the show was at the full market overkill of disco. disco toys, commercials, make up, and more. still a great 12 inch dance version.
Yeah! Disco backlash began once the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive"-era stuff started showing up on the radio every 5 minutes in the late '70s. People were just sick of the overkill.
Disco especially hit overkill when KISS decided to release "I Was Made For Lovin' You" as the first single from their 1979 Dynasty album. Those were tough times. LOL!
I assume the girl at 0:52 is an extra, but she’s the best actor in the whole thing. You really feel that eyeroll and that “I have to pretend to like these people and it’s killing my soul” mood
@@alandale2182 I don't believe so. The actors as was customary of this period of weekly episodic sitcoms were playing characters slightly younger than they actually were. But no I don't think they were supposed to be the contemporaries of the "teenagers" on "Welcome Back Kotter" for example who weren't exactly teenagers either of course.
hell the song was the AT40 charts longer than the tv show was on the air, the song was in top 40 for 16 weeks peaking at #5, the tv show aired just 6 episodes and is #12 on the top 50 worst tv shows of all time. But I loved the song!
It did started out as a theme of a short lived TV show, but by the time it got released as a single, it was put in the soundtrack in the movie Meatballs. Either way, the song was a true pop and Disco classic, and a big hit.
Lou Antonio was in Cool Hand Luke with Paul Newman, and he was also in the Star Trek epsode with Frank Gorshin in which he was being pursued for having a half black/half white face.
The short-lived 1979 TV sequel to "Saturday Night Fever"- the theme later became a hit because it was featured that summer on the soundtrack of the theatrical movie "Meatballs"....
I know the song was on the Meatballs soundtrack, but did this sitcom appear before or after the song? I probably know this, thankfully my memory has misplaced it deep in the recesses to prevent sanity loss.
The producers of this show did a lot of the other comedies from that time on ABC. Clearly, they liked the same opening. Compare this opening to the one from another show of theirs - Angie. Both have stars not being able to handle dairy products well (no, I'm suggesting lactose intolerance), and they both have the ubiquitous sight of most of the stars having their backs to the camera and then spinning around.
It seems that popular movies beget equally unpopular TV versions whether directly descended or rip-off. This was not exactly a real spin-off, but close enough. "MAKIN' IT" was pleasant and entertaining. David Naughton, the self-proclaimed Pepper, was a likeable lead. However, in the long list of disco sitcoms, personally I liked "JOE & VALERIE" even more.
Similar to the arms folded across chest, head rise-up to the camera that we see today on the openings of many reality shows like Pawn Stars, etc. It's desirable to have movement in short clips like that. It draws the eye to the subject quickly and keeps a rhythm. By contrast, imagine if all the actors just stood there smiling. It was appear very creepy. ;) Action shows would just use clips of the stars in action and freeze (or not) on that, displaying a graphic of their name. Think any cop show like Starsky and Hutch, Charlie's Angels, etc.
David Naughton starred in this show and sang the theme song, he was in American Werewolf in London. Feb 1 - March 23 only 9 shows were made. I never saw this show and don't really think I want to . It looks really dumb.
I remember Naughton from the Dr. Pepper commercials. There was a 2nd guy who replaced him in the commercials. He was in a Cheer detergent commercial. He made a documentary about himself called "Life on the A List" . (he documented his struggle with AIDS. it was the mid 1980s.)
This show was made by the same people who did Happy Days and other shows. This was going to be the Happy Days of the 70's but it didn't do well because disco in 1979 was on the decline ever before Disco Demolition Night.
There were once two movies Xanadu and You Can't Stop the Music. When those movies were in production disco was still cool.But by the time they were released (the summer of 1980) They became old hat.
