The show had everything going for it. It just seems like nothing fell into place. The show's theme song was great. Love it still. Personally, I loved Disco and still do. People who fell into the "Disco Sucks" craze were sheep.
The title song was written and produced by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris the same duo responsible for "I Will Survive" and "Shake Your Groove Thing".
Garry was more hit and miss than given credit. The Odd Couple, Happy Days, and Laverne & Shirley are classics, Makin’ It and Out of the Blue were tremendous flops, and Mork & Mindy started to show its age very fast.
@@cityhawknot many people get to produce even one classic sitcom, much less four. Marshall was a pretty funny actor, too. Ironically, he arguably had his greatest success in his worst medium, as a film director. (“Pretty Woman” is terrible. Yes, I went there.)
@@purefoldnz3070 As the series went on they got really sloppy with many of the period details. By the end, they didn't even make an effort to give Erin Moran early-sixties hairstyles.
Another 13 week theatre video should be about "Delta house" sitcom that was adapted from the 1978 film National Lampoon`s animal house. Aired 1/18/1979 - 4/21/1979 on ABC.
DELTA HOUSE had the strongest link back to "Animal House", since it had the same setup & a lot of the same actors. About the same time NBC had BROTHERS & SISTERS and CBS had CO-ED FEVER, which was cancelled after its 1 airing when it failed to hold the audience from the network premiere of "Rocky" in Feb. 1979.
I remember it...AND IT SUCKED BIG TIME!!! The main problem with it was that the movie was rated R so it had a lot of raunchy humor and nudity that they couldn't do on TV. I remember reading an interview with one of the writers once and he was saying that was the problem
David Naughton is the younger brother of James Naughton who starred in the Planet of the Apes TV series, which has a 13-Week Theatre episode of its own!
They based this sitcom on the movie Saturday Night Fever which I saw at the theater in December 1977. The Disco lifestyle started losing steam in 1978 and they released “Makin It” in February 1979. No wonder it was cancelled!
I remember around 1987 him being in a new Dr. Pepper ad that year but it didn’t have him singing and dancing. I think he was just walking down a neighborhood while he narrated.
AT EASE (ABC, 1983) could be another candidate for 13-Week Theater, if you don't mind that it lasted less than 13 weeks, David Naughton co-starred with Jimmie Walker, though the alphabetical cast listings don't make them stand out as the stars. It also starred some pretty well-known character actors in Roger Bowen (Henry Blake from the movie "MASH") & Richard Jaeckel. You can see the show's opening credits here at 2:43: th-cam.com/video/eoUaay8lzCQ/w-d-xo.html
The videos on this channel are bringing back such very old memories that were stored in the attic of my memory. They would’ve been long forgotten if these videos didn’t dust them of.
This was interesting for a lot of reasons, but particularly because I've been a fan of the Dr. Pepper song since I was a little kid when it was on the radio and TV all the time, and I'm a music geek who wonders about the origins of these things. This video had a lot of clips where it sounded like he was actually singing the song, but the original version of it that I heard sounds like Barry Manilow, who co-wrote (with Randy Newman) and recorded the previous Dr. Pepper jingle from like '74-75. 'I'm a Pepper' was also co-written by Randy Newman with Jake Holmes, who also wrote the "Be all you can be" song for the Army ads starting around '81 (those were some terrific ads too, unusually emotionally-affecting for military ads) and "Dazed and Confused" which was made famous by some English guys (the heavy-floating guys)
You should do a video on the other VERY short lived disco TV sitcom "Flatbush" (CBS). Joesph Cali ("Joey" from "Saturday Night Fever") was one of the actors in the show. The (then) councilman or Mayor of Flatbush NYC was so offended by the stereotypes, that he used his muscle and had the series cancelled. I think CBS only aired two episodes and the others were never aired.
Feb. 1, 1979 fell on a Thursday. According to Wiki, ABC premiered MAKIN' IT on Thursday, Feb. 1 (after MORK & MINDY, replacing WHAT'S HAPPENING for that night) then put it in its regular time slot on Friday night the next night, Friday, Feb. 2.
Some of the best disco songs came from 79. The show failed because it was Saturday Night Fever light. Dancers are very serious people and comedy would be hard to do in that environment .
Sounds like an interesting show.i hope it will be on dvd.thank you for covering this show.please do an episode of the short lived TV series san pedro Beach bums.
Sirius Xm occasionally plays the Makin' It single, and I met David at a convention last year. Nice guy, but I resisted the urge to ask about this show...
In the opening credits, when he leaps over the couch and lands next to his dad, I always wondered "Why would the dad be laying on the very edge of the couch like that?" 😄
Well, if it had gotten renewed, they would have probably taken them out of disco and put them in later seasons at either an “Urban Cowboy”-type bar or something similar to CBGB’s.
i used to watch this show on i can't believe it was this long ago i liked the show, but it got canceled. Quick i also remember. ghis commercials man I'm getting old
We liked and watched this show back then. I was dismayed to find out the critics hated it and called one of the worst comedies ever. I recently watched the only episode of it I could find....the one you highlight in your presentation, "Something For Mama", and I was shocked at how good it was. I recognize some of the characters from other roles. The father was in an episode of Bewitched where he played a monkey turned into a human. "Tony" was in a couple of episodes of The Rockford Files where he played a wannabe mafioso along with another guy. They were going to get their own series, but it was dropped. "Kingfish" was in an episode of LA Law where he played a psycho who wanted to confess to murders he didn't commit. This was just another great show, like On The Rocks, that didn't have time to go find an audience.
The theme song was way more successful than the series it promoted ever did! However, David Naughton saw success teaming up with Mork and Mindy's Pam Dawber for the sitcom My Sister Sam in the Late 1980s.
The dude who talks about breaking down the walls and finding a secret passage would go on to play the punk who stole Pee Wee Herman's bike for Francis in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"
I actually liked the show even though I, too, was pretty sick of disco at the time. I thought it was an improved version of Happy Days. I liked the actors more and it didn't have the whole are-we-in-the-50s-or-are-we-in-the-70s dilemma that Happy Days struggled with. If it hadn't been so closely linked with disco, it could've become a good successor to Happy Days, which had literally jumped the shark at that point.
I'd rather watch that show than 99% of the garbage on TV now. Honestly, I'd travel back 45 years and live my life again. This time as a middle aged older, wiser man instead of a kid.
Your information is incorrect: David Naughton actually was fired from his job as the spokesperson for Dr. Pepper in 1981 when the company found about about his nude scene in An American Werewolf In London.
If the show had been a hit, they would have had to pivot the central music scene immediately, either to new wave or R&B, or leave music alone altogether.
Or turn it into something similar to "Fame" which became a series in the 80s following THAT big screen hit. Naughton's character would have tried to be a dancer on Broadway or an aspiring singer.
James doesn’t read at all as Italian, he’s so throughly Irish American, that must have been a big flaw as well. He doesn’t come off as Jersey either, firmly projects New England roots.
Actually make it was hosted with the t.V.VS Santa fever, the yellow.The brother was named Tony like the John Travolta character.But a question forgot about that too okay bye
Good movie, but it was set in 1976, three years before the song came out. Aside from all the Kiss music, the film makes good use of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” (which actually was from 1976).
Heh, out of curiosity I just did a Web search asking this question. The response came back with no less than 18 theme songs. I won't list all of them, but the theme song for the short-lived sitcom "Angie" is a second example of a theme song that outlived the show.
@@MomLAU The theme song is quite good, I like it a lot. I just bought the album with both the vocal and instrumental versions of it on iTunes for $1.98! The much longer 12’ version is here on TH-cam! I was very surprised and happy to see the song was #5 on the Billboard chart! Hardly anyone remembers the show, but I’m glad some do remember the theme song still. I do plan to watch the one actual episode of the show that’s here on TH-cam but I’m going 😮 and asking myself where the hell that uploader managed to find even that much of it!
David will always be the Dr. Pepper American Werewolf to me!
Irony is when the theme song for the show was on the charts longer than the show itself was on the air.
I remember Bill Murray dancing to the Makin’ It theme song in the movie Meatballs.
Cool therme song that became a big hit on the radio.
The show had everything going for it. It just seems like nothing fell into place. The show's theme song was great. Love it still. Personally, I loved Disco and still do. People who fell into the "Disco Sucks" craze were sheep.
The title song was written and produced by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris the same duo responsible for "I Will Survive" and "Shake Your Groove Thing".
This song ROCKS
This show is basically Happy Days set in the 70s. Instead of Arnold's being the hangout, it was a disco.
Garry was more hit and miss than given credit. The Odd Couple, Happy Days, and Laverne & Shirley are classics, Makin’ It and Out of the Blue were tremendous flops, and Mork & Mindy started to show its age very fast.
Spot on, Jim. Even the opening credits - with the stars in the middle of a disco ball instead of an old 45
@@cityhawknot many people get to produce even one classic sitcom, much less four.
Marshall was a pretty funny actor, too. Ironically, he arguably had his greatest success in his worst medium, as a film director. (“Pretty Woman” is terrible. Yes, I went there.)
Happy Days was also set in the 70s even though it was supposed to be the 50s.
@@purefoldnz3070 As the series went on they got really sloppy with many of the period details. By the end, they didn't even make an effort to give Erin Moran early-sixties hairstyles.
Love this series. More episodes, please!
I loved this show as a young kid.. still do!
Another 13 week theatre video should be about "Delta house" sitcom that was adapted from the 1978 film National Lampoon`s animal house. Aired 1/18/1979 - 4/21/1979 on ABC.
DELTA HOUSE had the strongest link back to "Animal House", since it had the same setup & a lot of the same actors. About the same time NBC had BROTHERS & SISTERS and CBS had CO-ED FEVER, which was cancelled after its 1 airing when it failed to hold the audience from the network premiere of "Rocky" in Feb. 1979.
I remember it...AND IT SUCKED BIG TIME!!!
The main problem with it was that the movie was rated R so it had a lot of raunchy humor and nudity that they couldn't do on TV. I remember reading an interview with one of the writers once and he was saying that was the problem
@@starey1 I was a little kid then, and loved it because I couldn't see ANIMAL HOUSE, so it was a great replacement for the moment.
The scenes you showed were genuinely funny, especially Naughton's long-suffering frustration with his moron pals. "TWO GUNS, I need TWO GUNS."
When I heard that line, my thought was, "Why two guns? One gun, two bullets."
David Naughton is the younger brother of James Naughton who starred in the Planet of the Apes TV series, which has a 13-Week Theatre episode of its own!
James Naughton is HOT especially when he sings.
They based this sitcom on the movie Saturday Night Fever which I saw at the theater in December 1977. The Disco lifestyle started losing steam in 1978 and they released “Makin It” in February 1979. No wonder it was cancelled!
I have to admit I really loved the theme song.
I’ve got one that’s tailor-made for this series, The Secret Diaries of Desmond Pfeiffer. The train wreck of all train wrecks.
I bring you good news.
@@zombiedodge1426 I saw it, I wasn't disappointed. 😊
He can move! What a Pepper
Just stumbled onto your channel. Very interesting stuff. I will binge watch and subscribe. Keep up the great work.
Sold to ITV - then the sole commercial channel in the UK - appreared in different slots, usually around teatime, in different areas
I remember around 1987 him being in a new Dr. Pepper ad that year but it didn’t have him singing and dancing. I think he was just walking down a neighborhood while he narrated.
Another show I watched when it aired and loved!
I remember seeing this when it premiered. Didn't make a very strong impression, everybody was just like "Hey, it's the Dr Pepper guy."
AT EASE (ABC, 1983) could be another candidate for 13-Week Theater, if you don't mind that it lasted less than 13 weeks, David Naughton co-starred with Jimmie Walker, though the alphabetical cast listings don't make them stand out as the stars. It also starred some pretty well-known character actors in Roger Bowen (Henry Blake from the movie "MASH") & Richard Jaeckel. You can see the show's opening credits here at 2:43: th-cam.com/video/eoUaay8lzCQ/w-d-xo.html
I saw it. It seemed like the 80s version of Sgt. Bilko. I liked the concept and casting, but I found the writing to be mediocre.
I actually remember this. Can't vouch for its quality, but nine-year-old me liked it.
The videos on this channel are bringing back such very old memories that were stored in the attic of my memory. They would’ve been long forgotten if these videos didn’t dust them of.
This was interesting for a lot of reasons, but particularly because I've been a fan of the Dr. Pepper song since I was a little kid when it was on the radio and TV all the time, and I'm a music geek who wonders about the origins of these things. This video had a lot of clips where it sounded like he was actually singing the song, but the original version of it that I heard sounds like Barry Manilow, who co-wrote (with Randy Newman) and recorded the previous Dr. Pepper jingle from like '74-75. 'I'm a Pepper' was also co-written by Randy Newman with Jake Holmes, who also wrote the "Be all you can be" song for the Army ads starting around '81 (those were some terrific ads too, unusually emotionally-affecting for military ads) and "Dazed and Confused" which was made famous by some English guys (the heavy-floating guys)
But! Ellen Travolta finally got to pivot for the opening credits for a sitcom. She did it with such zing.
I knew David was a top shelf actor and had a nice voice but I had zero clue of his credentials ...pure dynamite just fan-damn-tastic
Yeah, he's really down-to-earth. You wouldn't necessarily guess that he's.an Ivy Leaguer who studied at the London Academy.
Basic question for Friday 8pm timeslot back then - "how will it do on school lunchboxes?" The popular Friday shows were for kids.
Why does every TV intro from that time involve mishaps with food?
Been waiting on this video for a while
In all my time I’ve only found one complete episode and the opening credits. Not even a promo with footage. So this one took a while.
This is a damn good channel!!
Thank you.
Midnight madness is one of my favorites
He also went on to play Elaine's alcoholic boyfriend who fell off the wagon on an episode of Seinfeld
One of the few disco songs I actually like
The show was s bomb, but the theme song hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
I remember the theme song. The show . . . Not so much.
I got through the song longer than I did an episode of the show. What does that tell you?
It was “The Heights” of 1979.
Of note in the cast is Greg Antonacci, who later (much later) was a key player in the last years of The Sopranos as Butch DeConcini
Wow, that is cool to know! Greg lived on the LES of Manhattan in the 70's which is how I knew him and his son.
You should do a video on the other VERY short lived disco TV sitcom "Flatbush" (CBS). Joesph Cali ("Joey" from "Saturday Night Fever") was one of the actors in the show. The (then) councilman or Mayor of Flatbush NYC was so offended by the stereotypes, that he used his muscle and had the series cancelled. I think CBS only aired two episodes and the others were never aired.
Feb. 1, 1979 fell on a Thursday. According to Wiki, ABC premiered MAKIN' IT on Thursday, Feb. 1 (after MORK & MINDY, replacing WHAT'S HAPPENING for that night) then put it in its regular time slot on Friday night the next night, Friday, Feb. 2.
My mistake.
Some of the best disco songs came from 79. The show failed because it was Saturday Night Fever light. Dancers are very serious people and comedy would be hard to do in that environment .
Didn't stop Eddie Mekka on Laverne & Shirley.
Sounds like an interesting show.i hope it will be on dvd.thank you for covering this show.please do an episode of the short lived TV series san pedro Beach bums.
This channel is awesome!!
Man I only knew him from An American Warewolf in London never knew he sang but than again I was born in 89 so missed all the commercials
Sirius Xm occasionally plays the Makin' It single, and I met David at a convention last year. Nice guy, but I resisted the urge to ask about this show...
Back in the day, I was so into Diff’rent Strokes, I wasn’t even aware Makin’ It existed.
I’m pretty sure a number of people are envious of that.
In the opening credits, when he leaps over the couch and lands next to his dad, I always wondered "Why would the dad be laying on the very edge of the couch like that?" 😄
I just found out about Joe and Valerie, Which was another show about disco. Can you review that one?
That was an odd one. Got revived briefly after Saturday Night Fever became a hit.
TV version of Saturday Night Fever. Glad this didn't have a 4-5 year run. It would've been dated by 1981 or 1982.
Well, if it had gotten renewed, they would have probably taken them out of disco and put them in later seasons at either an “Urban Cowboy”-type bar or something similar to CBGB’s.
104 out of 114 shows. I'm curious what show 114 was.
#114 was NBC's "Harris and Company." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_and_Company
@@PabSungenis Why am I not surprised that it would be an NBC show?
Garry Marshall was the Norman Lear of ABC if you think about it. Garry Marshall shows had much more lighter fare than Norman Lear shows.
There was room for a couple of quick jokes around that time like "Makin' it" didn't make it...."Checking in" checked out! Haha!
i used to watch this show on i can't believe it was this long ago i liked the show, but it got canceled. Quick i also remember. ghis commercials man I'm getting old
It was a good show. Set in Yonkers, I forgot about it.
in the opening credits, it says Passaic
I use to watch this show and danced the theme song.....
We liked and watched this show back then. I was dismayed to find out the critics hated it and called one of the worst comedies ever. I recently watched the only episode of it I could find....the one you highlight in your presentation, "Something For Mama", and I was shocked at how good it was.
I recognize some of the characters from other roles. The father was in an episode of Bewitched where he played a monkey turned into a human. "Tony" was in a couple of episodes of The Rockford Files where he played a wannabe mafioso along with another guy. They were going to get their own series, but it was dropped. "Kingfish" was in an episode of LA Law where he played a psycho who wanted to confess to murders he didn't commit.
This was just another great show, like On The Rocks, that didn't have time to go find an audience.
David was a 1 hit wonder with this song.
The theme song was way more successful than the series it promoted ever did! However, David Naughton saw success teaming up with Mork and Mindy's Pam Dawber for the sitcom My Sister Sam in the Late 1980s.
Lesson: You chase a trend, you’ll get slaughtered.
this is why they had mass burnings of disco records by the end of the 70s.
Barry Manilow wrote some iconic jingles.
I'm surprised Dick Clark didn't mention Dr. Pepper by name since it was a major American Bandstand sponsor.
Denise Miller! She was on Archie bunkers place after the failure of the show
and was on Fish prior
Fun fact: "Be A Pepper" and "Dazed and Confused" were written by the same guy.
That IS a fun fact!
The dude who talks about breaking down the walls and finding a secret passage would go on to play the punk who stole Pee Wee Herman's bike for Francis in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"
David Naughton was talented and charming. He never got his propers.
I actually liked the show even though I, too, was pretty sick of disco at the time. I thought it was an improved version of Happy Days. I liked the actors more and it didn't have the whole are-we-in-the-50s-or-are-we-in-the-70s dilemma that Happy Days struggled with. If it hadn't been so closely linked with disco, it could've become a good successor to Happy Days, which had literally jumped the shark at that point.
I'd rather watch that show than 99% of the garbage on TV now.
Honestly, I'd travel back 45 years and live my life again. This time as a middle aged older, wiser man instead of a kid.
Your information is incorrect: David Naughton actually was fired from his job as the spokesperson for Dr. Pepper in 1981 when the company found about about his nude scene in An American Werewolf In London.
Sounds like an excuse to get rid of him.
@@cityhawk It was the moral majority era of the 80s that shouldn't surprise anyone.
Any Sugar-Free Peppers out there? I know since they stopped making it, you're "all blue"...! ;)
Everything is timing. So many shows never got a decent chance because of passing trends.
If the show had been a hit, they would have had to pivot the central music scene immediately, either to new wave or R&B, or leave music alone altogether.
Or turn it into something similar to "Fame" which became a series in the 80s following THAT big screen hit. Naughton's character would have tried to be a dancer on Broadway or an aspiring singer.
James doesn’t read at all as Italian, he’s so throughly Irish American, that must have been a big flaw as well. He doesn’t come off as Jersey either, firmly projects New England roots.
How about joe and valerie?..... That was a short lived disco sitcom on NBC
How ironic that a show called “Makin’ It” just didn’t live up to its name.
I wonder is there at least 9 lost episodes to Makin it
BBC blocked the episode about "coupling" outside the US maybe, I`m in Mexico and the video is blocked in my country.
I’m fighting it now.
Hold my disco skates.🛼🎶
Looks like Denise Miller had a longer career stint than other cast members. Was Billie in Archie Bunker’s Place. Mild crush on her.
Greg Antonacci's career was pretty good too. He was in The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire.
This and The Heights in the early 90s are classic examples of the theme song being more popular than the show itself.
And S.W.A.T.
Actually make it was hosted with the t.V.VS Santa fever, the yellow.The brother was named Tony like the John Travolta character.But a question forgot about that too okay bye
The show could have done better, but it came out right about the time disco died.
Its shows like this made some people in the 70s say disco sucks.
I was never a fan of Gary Marshall shows outside of the fantastic "Odd Couple" and the very early episodes of "Happy Days"
SweptAway529 Although I did love Soapdish, which is an insanely underrated movie with a terrific cast.
@@cityhawk Soapdish was cute, although it's been years since I've seen it!!
I love Garry Marshall. Laverne & Shirley is my favorite show of his.
@@ilovethetampabaylightning92 I like Laverne & Shirley but not love. Lenny and Sguiggy were absolutely hilarious on the show.
Damn ! Well put !!! Thanks!!!!
But really, early Laverne & Shirley has the early Happy Days sincerity. Always enjoy the early HD eps. Just perfect.
Every time I hear the theme song to this show, I think of the 1999 movie Detroit Rock City. Underrated movie, the show, not so much.
Good movie, but it was set in 1976, three years before the song came out.
Aside from all the Kiss music, the film makes good use of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” (which actually was from 1976).
The theme song was making it , the show was faking it !
The disco backlash did a lot to kill this show.
Oh sure, the show tanked, but has any other TV show had a theme song that later became a Top 40 hit?
“The Greatest American Hero.”
Heh, out of curiosity I just did a Web search asking this question. The response came back with no less than 18 theme songs. I won't list all of them, but the theme song for the short-lived sitcom "Angie" is a second example of a theme song that outlived the show.
He was magnificent in the movie American werewolves i beautiful nude body
I found an episode of this online. It had barely any disco and it wasn't that funny. Not terrible, just generic. The theme song was great through!
Aiber Lane i have the 12” in my collection but have no idea how i acquired it!
I saw 1 episode back in the day, and even then, I thought it was corny. The song is sooooo catchy, though!
@@MomLAU The theme song is quite good, I like it a lot. I just bought the album with both the vocal and instrumental versions of it on iTunes for $1.98! The much longer 12’ version is here on TH-cam! I was very surprised and happy to see the song was #5 on the Billboard chart! Hardly anyone remembers the show, but I’m glad some do remember the theme song still. I do plan to watch the one actual episode of the show that’s here on TH-cam but I’m going 😮 and asking myself where the hell that uploader managed to find even that much of it!
Oh I hate those be a pepper commercials!
I saw the show ONCE. I didn't hate it, but I didn't laugh, either.
I couldn’t get through the first five minutes of it.
This show wasn't MAKIN IT. LOL
Well, the comedy writing sure didn't help.
Sorry the flop of this tv show was during the disco peak february 79 before the demolition night july 79. This show obviously sucks, Disco still rules
Poor writing killed its chance.
This was a bad show. If it had come out a month AFTER Saturday Night Fever it might have lasted three weeks, but it was a VERY bad show.
I watched an episode of Makin' It. Totally unfunny.
Garry Marshall- the Adolf Hitler of bad sitcoms.