Hey, I just found this board. My name is Marc Sotkin and I produced 4 years of It's A Living - all the syndicated shows. I wrote 27 of them myself and was head writer on the rest. If you have any questions about the show, I love to talk about it. You can get me here or email me at marcsotkin@yahoo.com
It's great to see that there are people who care about the show. I also was exec producer on Golden Girls and Laverne & Shirley so I can answer questions about those shows as well.

Hey, I just found this board. My name is Marc Sotkin and I produced 4 years of It's A Living - all the syndicated shows. I wrote 27 of them myself and was head writer on the rest. If you have any questions about the show, I love to talk about it. You can get me here or email me at marcsotkin@yahoo.com
It's great to see that there are people who care about the show. I also was exec producer on Golden Girls and Laverne & Shirley so I can answer questions about those shows as well.

That is so awesome, Welcome to Sitcoms Online, I'm Katie.

I do have one question, what was it like working with the cast.
my favorite episodes were any that Richard Kline was on. :)

The cast was great. It was a very relaxed set. Since the show was not on a network but first run syndication, there weren't any network execs giving their two cents or making people crazy. Also, we didn't shoot in front of an audience. Although that is more exciting, you feel like show night is opening night of a play, the cast is much more relaxed without that tension. Everyone loved each other. For me it was 4 wonderful years.
Marc

The cast was great. It was a very relaxed set. Since the show was not on a network but first run syndication, there weren't any network execs giving their two cents or making people crazy. Also, we didn't shoot in front of an audience. Although that is more exciting, you feel like show night is opening night of a play, the cast is much more relaxed without that tension. Everyone loved each other. For me it was 4 wonderful years.
Marc

Oh that's really neat.

Do you have any favorite episodes? If so, what are they?

It's hard to pick a favorite - I wrote 27 scripts. I really liked writing episodes about Howard and Nancy. I also liked episodes where the character of Louie showed up. So if I had to chose it would be "The Nancy and Howard Show" where Nancy finally gets Howard in bed and "The Amy and Louie Show" where Amy dates Louie which drives Sonny crazy. I also loved doing the episodes when Danny Thomas guested. I grew up watching his show Make Room For Daddy and I loved writing for him.
Marc

It's hard to pick a favorite - I wrote 27 scripts. I really liked writing episodes about Howard and Nancy. I also liked episodes where the character of Louie showed up. So if I had to chose it would be "The Nancy and Howard Show" where Nancy finally gets Howard in bed and "The Amy and Louie Show" where Amy dates Louie which drives Sonny crazy. I also loved doing the episodes when Danny Thomas guested. I grew up watching his show Make Room For Daddy and I loved writing for him.
Marc

I remember watching A Very Special It's a Living where Jan went into labor.
That was an excellent episode. It was frightening when they had to do emergency surgery on her, but, Danny Thomas as an angel was great.

Nancy and Howard: I was happy that she finally got him. They were funny together.

Sonny was a fun character to watch. What a wonderful job Paul Kreppel did with his character.

A Very Special IAL was a thrill for me because I also directed the episode. It was the last episode we shot. The reason it was entitled, "A Very Special IAL" is an in joke. We prided ourselves on never doing "A special" episode. Very often when sitcoms do a serious episode, you'll hear a promo like: "Tonight, on a very special According To Jim," as if there could possibly be such a thing. We rarely tackled serious subjects on IAL so this was an exception as well as being the end of our run.
Marc

Welcome to the boards, marcsotkin. I'm ThomasE the moderator for this board. This was one of my favorite shows growing up. Are you working on any other projects now?

Thomas,
I'm not working on any TV projects at the moment. I'm working very hard to finish a novel by the end of the year.
Marc

Maybe you can help me out. Why did Ann Jillian leave "It's A Living" a year after it was resurrected? Also, for what reason was it decided to bill her as star when the show came back? I have wondered about these things for almost 15 years. LOL.

One more question Marc. I noticed some similarities between Golden Girls and It's A Living. I know you wrote for Golden Girls also. I was watching an episode of Golden Girls and realized that there a line that was used from It's Living. It is the line when Amy tell Dot and Cassie that she did not need a man. She just needed something waiting for her at night. Someone to catch a bone when she throw it and to lick her face. Cassie comes in with, "you can get a man to do that." Blanche and Rose have the same conversation. Was that your idea to use that line again on The Golden Girls?

I also noticed that The Golden Girls did a murder mystery episode just like one It's a Living. Sonny was the suspect on It's A Living and Blanche was the victim on The Golden Girls.

A Very Special IAL was a thrill for me because I also directed the episode. It was the last episode we shot. The reason it was entitled, "A Very Special IAL" is an in joke. We prided ourselves on never doing "A special" episode. Very often when sitcoms do a serious episode, you'll hear a promo like: "Tonight, on a very special According To Jim," as if there could possibly be such a thing. We rarely tackled serious subjects on IAL so this was an exception as well as being the end of our run.
Marc

Well, you did a great job, everyone involved with the show did. :)

I have a question. Richard Kline was great as Richie Gray, I'm curious to know, why was he chosen to play this recurring character?

Lets see if I can answer all of these questions.
1. Ann Jillian was the "hotest" career-wise when the show came back and so got the staring credit. Because her career was going so well she wanted to leave the show to pursue other opportunities. However, during the year she contracted cancer. I've never worked with anyone braver or stronger. She never complained, never missed a show, this while going through Chemo. At the end of the year it was a combination of her health and other ambitions that led her to leave.
2. Okay, I'm busted. Yes occasionally I steal from myself. But only from myself. Not often, but once in a while. Tom Whedon worked with me both on IAL and Golden Girls. He loved writing mysteries as well as musicals. Same writer-both shows - there's going to be similarities. Tom, by the way, is father of Joss Whedon - Toy Story - Buffy and on and on.
3. Richard Klein, to our delite, was available when we cast the part of Ritchie. He was a pleasure to work with, the cast loved him, he could hit a joke, so we had him back often.

That's so cool. I've heard alot of really nice things about him.

Whatever happened to Marian Mercer, Richard Stahl and Paul Kreppel? Are they still in the business?

Hi Marc,
mind if I ask a technical question? What kind of scriptwriting software did you use, and is there a certain kind that is preferred in Hollywood now?

Btw, welcome to the boards!:wave:

Unfortunately, I haven't kept in touch with the cast. I believe that Marian and Paul are still acting. Marian did a Golden Girls when I did that but I haven't seen her since. Dick passed away a few years ago. He's missed. He was a very funny guy.

I hate to admit this but we did IAL so long ago there wasn't any script writing software. I wrote most of those scripts on a 64K Kaypro and used macros to switch between action and dialogue margins. I think the most popular software today is Final Draft - I use it. I like it. I actually like Scriptware better but it is not as popular so not as easy to share files with others.

That's a shame. :( I enjoyed him on IAL and other shows. I remember him on one of WKRP's first shows. He played Wayne R. Coe, a former listener who was protesting the station's format change to Rock and Roll.

Do you have any stories of behind-the-scenes moments that happened on the set, such as pranks or bloopers and did the cast do anything around the holidays?

I don't think there was a sitcom from the late 60's through the 90's that Dick Stahl didn't appear on. Sorry but I don't have any great IAL stories. This was a very sane cast. We had a great time together but I don't remember anything that was very wacky. Sorry.

I don't think there was a sitcom from the late 60's through the 90's that Dick Stahl didn't appear on. Sorry but I don't have any great IAL stories. This was a very sane cast. We had a great time together but I don't remember anything that was very wacky. Sorry.

Oh well, That's okay. I can't really think of anymore questions.
Thanks for answering the ones I had though. :)

marcsotkin, when the show was coming back for a revival, was there a reason why Louise Lasser and Earl Boen were not considered for another return?

I'm not sure but here are some educated guesses.
1. They may not have been available.
2. The money in syndication was not as good as on the network. They many not have wanted to be tied up.
3. The fact is, although she is (or was) very talented, Louise was a pain in the butt to work with. She had a very complicated process that, although her work looked fine, drove other actors, writers, directors, etc. crazy. It's possible that Witt-Thomas just didn't want the headache.
4. That wouldn't have been the case with Earl. He was a pleasure to work with. I did many times including on Golden Girls.

Okay. I did not know that Mary Hartman had issues. LOL. Earl Boen, I can see you working with because of his E.S.P. (Energy, Smile, Personality. They Like Me! LOL)

I also want thank you for answering these questions and for help bringing some life to this board. I seem to moderate the dead boards. LOL.

1. For the life of me i cant remeber what time and channel IAL aired in the 85 to 89 years. I lived in orange county which would have the same line up as the greater los angless area I assume. I wanna guess it was channel 11 before it was fox at 7:30 on sat night ? how far off am i from that guess. i was only 5 to 8 yeasr old then


2. It's a golden girls question but .... I know the house that was used in GG is a fake house in Florida. But the house looks different in season 1 and partz of 2. I was told that there is a house in the san fernando valley that looks almost idential from it. Is this true or was the set house used from season 1 to 7?

from 85-89 the show was in first run syndication - which means it was on at different times in different markets. It was on for a while at 7:30 Sat. on KNBC channel 4 in L.A. but then was moved to Sat. afternoons - around 4pm. Not exactly prime time.

The stock shot of the GG house is a house in the Valley. I'm not sure if they changed the house after season 1. I worked on seasons 5-7 and didn't pay much attention to the earlier seasons.

paul played mr. burkhart on that 70s show a couple of times in the first season of that 70s show he was great as sonny on its a living and by the way marc you are a great writer ive been a fan of your work for a long time its great having you here

Thank you. It's always nice to be appreciated. As I've said here before, IAL was my favorite work experience so it's great hearing that others enjoyed it as well.

Marc, I gotta ask about Crystal Bernard. You got to work with her very early on in her career. What was she like???

You're right, Crystal was a baby. She'd done a few Happy Days but not much more. She was great to work with. She was fearless, by that I mean she was willing to try whatever we suggested comedically. She also studied acting while she was doing the series. It was great watching her grow as an actress during that time. It was also fun writing for "Amy", one of the more honest, yet still funny portrayals of a born again Christian. Crystal had a lot to do with that, protecting her character's integrity if we tried to go astray. Professionally she was great. Personally, I love her. I don't understand why she doesn't have series right now.

Marc, thanks a ton for that reply. I'm a huge Wings fan, so any Crystal stuff is great. The Wings writers said the same, she's real headstrong and suggestive of how to make a character real.

On The Laverne and Shirley set did Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams achually feud if so what would they say to eachother when they would get in arguements

The early disagreements between Penny and Cindy are well documented. A big part of the problem was Cindy feeling out numbered by Marshalls. Penny, Garry, Tony (their father who was a producer) and Ronny Halin (their sister who worked on the show as well). I went on the show at the end of season two when Cindy was unhappy with the way her character was being written. I, along with Chris Thompson and Judy Askins (she was Judy Ervin then), was brought in to work on the last 4 episodes of that season. We wound up staying for a number of years. Paula Roth was also a key member of that writing staff. Over the years, Penny and Cindy were never that close, but I never saw them fight. I think they respected each other's work and, without a doubt, they had great chemistry. For my money, they were one of the greatest comedy teams ever and never got the credit from the industry that they deserved. The audience loved them and the show was #1 or #2 during it's hayday.

okay thanks for that story you done great work on the show it's one of my all time favorates a copule of years ago on ABC they had a reunion with the cast and they had a little skit challenging Penny and Cindy to act out their characters and do the same physical comedy they did for a number of years did you take part of that

Nope. I live in Colorado now and don't get back to L.A. that often. I believe that was written by Judy Askens and directed by Chris Thompson the two I mentioned in the previous post.

oh well they did a good job

Hey, Marc! Since "The Golden Girls" is my favorite television show of all time, I am familiar with your name from the beginning/end credits. Bea Arthur is absolutely the funniest television actress. When you wrote for the show, was her facial expressions written in the script or was that Bea showcasing her talent for ad lib comedy?

Also, do you know who sang the theme song to "It's A Living"? Was that Ann Jillian?

Nermal

As to Bea's acting prowess, it's a little of both. Firstly, she's brilliant and brings so much to the table. There were countless times that she'd take a good joke and make it great through her reactions. All four of the ladies were able to do that. On the flip side, when I'm writing for a specific actor, I anticipate what they're going to do with a line. I know what Bea will probably do - and it's something I know is funny. The magic is when she does something else, surprises ever one and makes it all the more special. Ann Jillian did not sing the IAL theme song but I don't remember who did. Sorry.

As to Bea's acting prowess, it's a little of both. Firstly, she's brilliant and brings so much to the table. There were countless times that she'd take a good joke and make it great through her reactions. All four of the ladies were able to do that. On the flip side, when I'm writing for a specific actor, I anticipate what they're going to do with a line. I know what Bea will probably do - and it's something I know is funny. The magic is when she does something else, surprises ever one and makes it all the more special. Ann Jillian did not sing the IAL theme song but I don't remember who did. Sorry.


Are you the same Marc Sotkin who was a writer on the first season of Charles In Charge? If so, I just wanted to say that you wrote some of my favorite episodes.:) What was it like working on CIC?

Are you the same Marc Sotkin who was a writer on the first season of Charles In Charge? If so, I just wanted to say that you wrote some of my favorite episodes.:) What was it like working on CIC?
Yes, that's me. To be honest, CIC was not one of my favorite work experiences. I didn't think the show was especially funny and it wasn't the best working environment. I liked the cast. I knew Scott Baio from when I was doing Laverne and Shirley. Happy Days shot on the adjacent stage and so the people on both shows knew each other. My guess is you were young when you were watching it. Kids seemed to like it - they often like to watch shows with other kids in them. For adults, it just wasn't that good.

Yes, that's me. To be honest, CIC was not one of my favorite work experiences. I didn't think the show was especially funny and it wasn't the best working environment. I liked the cast. I knew Scott Baio from when I was doing Laverne and Shirley. Happy Days shot on the adjacent stage and so the people on both shows knew each other. My guess is you were young when you were watching it. Kids seemed to like it - they often like to watch shows with other kids in them. For adults, it just wasn't that good.


Yeah, I was very much a kid. When CIC dubuted in October of 1984 I was only eight years old. Infact, it was one of the very first shows that I ever watched. Well, not counting cartoons that is.:lol: I still really like it as an adult though, especially the first season. I think Michael Jacobs did really good with shows with young characters. He later did Boy Meets World. I am sorry to hear that it wasn't a good experience for you. I really do like the episodes that you wrote. It seems like maybe I like them more then you do.