Makin’ It

1 9 7 9 (USA)
9 x 30 minute episodes

Screening between 1 February and 16 March 1979, Makin’ It was a short-lived sitcom about Italian-American Billy Manucci, who is obsessed with the disco scene – and the Inferno nightclub.

Billy was played by David Naughton, who sang the Dr Pepper advertisements in the late 70s and went on to star in An American Werewolf In London (1981).

Lou Antonio played his bumbling dad, Joseph, and Ellen Travolta (sister of John) played his mother, Dorothy.

Billy was the middle child – he had a 13-year-old sister named Tina (Denise Miller) and an estranged-from-his-dad older brother Tony Herbert Manucci (Greg Antonacci), who was the star dancer at the local disco.

Billy was trying to do well at Passaic University (he wanted to be a teacher) and had a daytime job at the Tasty Treats ice cream parlour, where he worked for Ivy Papastegios (Jennifer Perito).

His two dimwitted best friends were Al “Kingfish” Sorrentino (Ralph Seymour) – who carried a boom box with him everywhere – and numbskull Bernard Fusco (Gary Prendergast). Corky (Rebecca Balding) was Billy’s girlfriend, who worked as an agent for the William Morris Agency in Manhattan.

The Manucci family lived at 232 King Street in Passaic, New Jersey.

The show was heavily influenced by Saturday Night Fever (1977) and used the music of the Bee Gees in the dance sequences, The theme song became a top-five hit two months after the series had been cancelled.

Billy Manucci 
David Naughton
Tony Manucci 
Greg Antonacci
Tina Manucci 
Denise Miller
Joseph Manucci
Lou Antonio
Dorothy Manucci
Ellen Travolta
Al “Kingfish” Sorrentino
Ralph Seymour
Bernard Fusco
Gary Prendergast
Corky Crandall
Rebecca Balding
Suzanne
Wendy Hoffman
Felice
Diane Robin
Ivy Papastegios
Jennifer Perito

Episodes

Staying Alive | The Art Auction | Big Brother is Watching | Fun, Fun, Fun (1) | Fun, Fun, Fun (2) | Something for Ma | Little Orphan Fusco | Tony’s Homecoming | Friends for Life

Video