DBWI: What if the TV sitcom "Makin' It" didn't make it?

It was 28 years ago this month that the ABC TV sitcom "Makin' It" ended its successful 4 season run (1979-1983).

"Makin' It" was the TV show that launched the career of its star David Naughton who previously was known for singing in the Dr. Pepper TV commercials. Naughton also sung the show's title song which went all the way to number one in the USA and several other countries.

Naughton portrayed Billy Manucci who in the show's first season was a college student who lived at home in New Jersey with his parents, his older brother and younger sister. Billy had a part time job at his father's pizzeria and attended Columbia University with the goal of becoming a school teacher.

Billy often spent his free time hanging out with his friends Al "Kingfish" Sorrentino and Bernard Fusco, or with his girlfriend Corky Crandall.

By the end of the show's run, Billy went from teaching math in high school to becoming a professor at Rutgers University. Having married Corky, they are parents of a baby boy.

Billy's older brother Tony went from a star dancer at Inferno and failing to hold a job at the start of the show to becoming a firefighter with the FDNY.

Billy's younger sister Tina married Kingfish in the show's final episode. And Billy's parents, Joe and Dorothy, sold the pizzeria and decided to move to a retirement community in Florida.

Bernard Fusco, with a reputation as a ladies man, moved to Las Vegas in the middle of the show's run and has a well paying job as a full time caddy to a famous golfer.

And everybody lived happily ever after.

I read an article that the original premise for "Makin' It" was to liberally base the show off of the movie Saturday Night Fever and capitalize on the disco craze. Fortunately, that idea was scrapped and more emphasis was placed on the Manucci family. Also, Naughton was considered for the movie American Werewolf in London but he was contractually tied to the TV show (what a flop that movie was).

What would happen if this show bombed in 1979? Would Naughton have had a successful career as a singer, movie star and director?
 
David Naughton? Oh, the Dr. Pepper guy, would be a typical response.

He would have just been another B-movie actor and maybe had a supporting role on another sitcom. He was friends with Pam Dawber. Maybe she could have got him a role on My Sister Sam. That's about as far as he would go. Maybe he'd go back to the stage and make a decent living there. In OTL of course, he spun his fame from Makin' It into a pretty big film career, brought back the movie musical when he switched being a director, and is now known as the producer and head judge on the current live TV show IDOLS! I kinda like the UK version of IDOLS! better, that Simon dude cracks me up.

Of course for saying this I will probably be flamed by all the Naughton fans who will say his rise to fame could not be stopped. But seriously, the muses of fame are fickle. One show gets canceled and he will be known mostly as the "Dr Pepper Guy" by nostalgic 40-somethings who make comments on Youtube.
 
David Naughton? Oh, the Dr. Pepper guy, would be a typical response.

He would have just been another B-movie actor and maybe had a supporting role on another sitcom. He was friends with Pam Dawber. Maybe she could have got him a role on My Sister Sam. That's about as far as he would go. Maybe he'd go back to the stage and make a decent living there. In OTL of course, he spun his fame from Makin' It into a pretty big film career, brought back the movie musical when he switched being a director, and is now known as the producer and head judge on the current live TV show IDOLS! I kinda like the UK version of IDOLS! better, that Simon dude cracks me up.

Of course for saying this I will probably be flamed by all the Naughton fans who will say his rise to fame could not be stopped. But seriously, the muses of fame are fickle. One show gets canceled and he will be known mostly as the "Dr Pepper Guy" by nostalgic 40-somethings who make comments on Youtube.

David Noughton would definitely by the Doctor Pepper Guy.
 
Well, you'd butterfly away 25 years of Thursday night supremacy for ABC. That pretty much started when they moved Makin' It to 8 pm Thurs. in 1980-81, then started rearranging some of their other long-running hit sit-coms like Three's Company, Bosom Buddies and Taxi alongside it.

And then, of course, when ABC was looking to fill the schedule after Naughton went off into movies, Carsey & Werner pitched The Cosby Show to them, they took it, and the rest is history.

So, without that, well... maybe Cosby Show goes to CBS, or, heck, even NBC. I wonder if it would have been as successful on NBC? Probably not, Tartikoff pretty much destroyed all of their other shows during that timeframe, trying to bring NBC back from the dead. Look at what happened to such great shows as Family Ties (whatever happened to Michael J. Fox?), Cheers, It's Your Move and Saturday Night Live. In TTL, ABC follows the same path as NBC...
 
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Actually I think most folks remember David Naughton as actor who portrayed the protagonist who turned into a wolf (and got some hot Jenny Agutter action ;-) ) from American Werewolf In London.

I missed the sitcom actually although I don't remember it. I'm assuming it was 'spun off' if you will from the song of the same name which was pretty much one of those disco one-hit wonders of the late 1970's sung by Mr. Naughton (IIRC it was on the soundtrack for Meatballs).

I think it might have made a pilot which went down the tubes but I don't remember seeing it on ABC during those years if you're referring to OTL. During those years you pretty much had Laverne and Shirley, Benson, Mork & Mindy, Barney Miller, Three's Company, Bosom Buddies and Soap making up the primetime lineup for ABC sitcoms on Thursday night primetime.
 
What would happen if this show bombed in 1979? Would Naughton have had a successful career as a singer, movie star and director?

Of course. One TV show does not change a man's talent. Naughton would probably have entered the Hollywood film scene earlier. His career would butterfly into something unrecognizable, surely, but a man of Naughton's standing would probably still be Oscar-worthy. Just like he is in OTL.

I doubt he'd get that role on American Werewolf. Without Makin' It to stifle his movie career, he'd probably be working on some other film when late 1980 rolls around.
 
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