Why Were Susan Sullivan and Wendy Schaal Thrown Off "It's A Living"?

I love this thead, if only because the premise assumes that Louise Lasser's firing was self evident.

I feel their pain.

Maggie (Louise Lasser) was such a great addition. Wendy Schaal's character was the essentially the same character of Gale Edward's Dot. So it made sense to lose one of them and Dot was much funnier and had more ways to write for it.

Susan Sullivan and Barrie Youngfellow were also playing the same character essentially so one had to go. This is why the second season renamed "Making A Living" was so much better. The syndicated years were a complete mess, Ann Jillian's Cassie was rewritten and from that of a pushy, man-hungry broad, to a mother-type was horrible, plus Ann physically gained so much weight she couldn't pull it off, if it hadn't changed. Barrie Youngfellow couldn't carry a show (she was also bounced off Blossom) and Marian Mercer, and the guy who played "Sonny" were the only two decent ones on the syndicated years.

Louise Lasser actually looked pretty good on IaL. She had regained some weight after her skeletal appearance in the later episodes of Mary Hartman, and then her weight gain on Taxi. I wonder how well she got along with Marian Mercer, who had been a secondary player on Mary Hartman when Lasser was the star.

I wonder what Youngfellow was like playing Joan Crawford.

Does this show have a snowball's chance in hell of ever being streamed, aired or released on DVD? I see that most of the episodes are on YouTube, but the quality is bad.

Another thread you'll find only on DL, folks, only on DL.

Susan Sullivan proved to be a really good comedienne especially as she got older. She was actually great on "Dharma and Greg", made it watchable despite loony tunes $ciento Baby Huey girl.

[quote]Does this show have a snowball's chance in hell of ever being streamed, aired or released on DVD? I see that most of the episodes are on YouTube, but the quality is bad.

They need to reform US copyright law and the royalty fees regarding music and home media. This is one of the excuses they use to keep the rest of [italic]Knots Landing[/italic] off DVD as well.

[quote] despite loony tunes $ciento Baby Huey girl.

Is that just yours, or something I missed?

Either way it made me laugh.

I'm shocked it hasn't been released on every platform known to man. That show existed only to have every nickel squeezed from it.

Recast, revamped, retitled, revived three years later even though the lead had blown up like a whale, revamped again when the lead departed. It truly was the Zombie Show That Would Not Die. You'd think it was a front for money laundering.

Would someone please explain to me why Barrie Youngfellow had an 'and' credit...oh yeah...and then shit in my mouth?

[quote]You'd think it was a front for money laundering.

You mean the way [italic]Silver Spoons[/italic], whose production company was purchased by Coca-Cola between its 3rd and 4th season, was a front for the CIA selling cocaine and using a guy named "Freeway Rick" to do it? And on that show, Ricky's mother was also Rose's daughter on [italic]Golden Girls[/italic], whose creator, Susan Harris, was for some reason not involved with [italic]It's a Living[/italic] even though she did do Diana Canova's show [italic]I'm A Big Girl Now[/italic] which premiered on ABC the same year, taking her away from [italic]Soap[/italic] and causing that show to unravel.

Thanks, R10, it's mine. Just occurred to me while I was typing that this is who she reminds me of.

Sure she's already been mentioned but wasnt the late great Marian Mercer (?) on this show? I am too lazy to check and more fun to hear from you guys anyway.

Was Marian Mercer on It's a Living, R14?

Is the sky blue????????? Marian Mercer WAS It's a Living.

LOL, sorry, that show fell in the time frame of my college years -- one of those periods were I never watched TV, didn't even have one around. And didn't miss it much either.

But I loved Mercer in everything in which I saw her.

R13 = the gay Alex Jones

The part about the CIA and the drug trade is true. Think about the fact that the CIA influences a lot of the shows we see on TV and the music we hear on the radio.

As for why Susan Sullivan and Wendy Schaal were fired, I can only guess ABC wanted changes. They were known to meddle with shows on a whim, even successful ones. They even made them change the title to [italic]Making a Living[/italic] for some reason.

Marian Mercer was a diesel dyke who lorded over the set like Mama Morton.

Susan and Wendy were the only ones who wouldn't munch box, so they had to go.

Ann Jillian, on the other hand, gave her everything she wanted and more. Two words: Anal speculums. But when she gained weight, Marian cut her off cold and her days were numbered.

When Marian tired of your ass, she'd gut you like a fish. She was ruthless.

Was this when Wendy Schaal went to ruin Herve Villechaize's life on Fantasy Island?

^ ^ ^

LMAO, R17!!!!

I always felt that Susan Sullivan getting the "and" credit with a pivot on Falcon Crest was her way of telling the world, "Barrie is not more important than I am!" Constance McCashin got a pivot on Knots in her final season with the show. I'm sure there's some connection.

Valerie Harper hated her step-daughter and got her fired off the show. She could be very petty

Susan Sullivan said it was a blessing in disguise that she was fired, because she was immediately cast on Falcon Crest.

It's A Living suffered the same fate as Facts of Life as both shows wanted to trim the ladies to a quartet.

The Village Voice of all publications loved Susan Sullivan on It's A Living. She was great at comedy and being the Gary Sandy WKRP kind of voice of reason. I thought Wendy Schaal was good too. The show though was gonna be Ann Jillian's as Cassie. That was clear from the get go. Paul Kreppel and Marian Mercer. God what a great cast. Barrie (Who?) Youngfellow was the weak link.

It's A Living Opening

First season where Barrie Youngfellow gets the "and" end credit

Immediately followed by the syndicated version where Barrie is top billed and Marian Mercer gets the "and" end credit

Was that Barrie Youngfellow's episode of "Three's Company," in which she was living with two guys (essentially the flip side of TC), meant to be a stealth spinoff? It seems like they were trying to make her a star, but she just didn't have "IT"!

R29 yes

I remember Barrie Youngfellow in a ton of commercials in the early 70's. I guess she was a stage actress? She did nothing on tv to warrant special billing ala Joan Collins.

Whatever happened to Miss Crystal Bernard??? I loved her in ANNIE GET YA GUN.

Even more amazing that Youngfellow got an 'And' billing in the first of R28's credit sequences, she gets it after Ann Jillian already had one in the MIDDLE of the credits!

Remember the episode where the building was on fire and the gals were trapped and sang "You Are My Sunshine" to stay calm?

My dad has always had the hots for Susan Sullivan and I can understand why.

no love for Sheryl Ralph?

My parents watched the show sporadically until they caught an episode where 4000-year-old actor Regis Toomey showed up, and from then on they never missed an episode.

Viewer feedback after season 1 was that there was confusion whether the waitresses were possibly hookers based on the way they dressed and the title of the show. ABC cleaned it up considerably for season 2 losing the jiggle factor.

Hookers???? Eewwwwww!!!! Who'd pay for Ann Jillian or the others gashes?!!??

Barrie Youngfellow was a poor man's Joyce DeWitt.

[quote]Viewer feedback after season 1 was that there was confusion whether the waitresses were possibly hookers based on the way they dressed and the title of the show.

So people were even dumber than they are now????

Did Ann Jillian really have breast cancer or did she get her tits caught off for publicity to help her career?

I did think the swimsuit tops were a bit much

Also notice how the waitress outfits went from late 70s/early 80s sleaze to mid-80s more conservative?

No. Barrie Youngfellow was a rich man's Joyce DeWitt.

We only serve Pepsi here.

[quote]ABC cleaned it up considerably for season 2 losing the jiggle factor.

Actually by the middle of the first season they changed the uniforms, so every other episode they were in the "standard one," without the spaghetti ties.

It would make sense you couldn't have Louise Lasser (season 2) in that uniform, as she was too old by then.

Still haunts me.

Sorry, what did Valerie Harper have to do with this show, at all, OP?

Was Wendy Shale stepmother for a while.

Valerie was ex-Mrs Richard Scaal.

Was Susan fired? I thought she was like, Fuck it I don’t need to work with these hormonal bitches, I got my Tylenol money.

R50 Oh, ok. But, still I don't see why VH would go out of her way to get her former step-daughter fired, when she and RS had divorced in 1978.

Marian Marian Mercer finally got the extra special credit billing season 4 bumping out Barrie youngfellow who was now in first place!

They always dressed Nancy like she was a high fashion model.

Why does Sheryl Lee Ralph get on my last nerves?

R5 Judge for yourself. Here's The Scarlett O'Hara War with Barrie as Joan Crawford starting at 11:33

Sadly, Marian Mercer died from complications of Alzheimer's disease.

LOVE Marian Mercer.

She won a Tony for her one song/scene in Promises, Promises

Here she is with Sammy Davis Jr. in the Stop the World revival

Susan Sullivan gave an interview saying being let go from "It's A Living" was a blessing, because it freed her up to do Falcon Crest

Nancy was too good for Howard.

Susan insisted one day on set that she considered life a charity ball, and Wendy replied, no, I think it's a great big bed of roses.

And that was just it for the network. They were both escorted off the studio in an hour.

Marian Mercer had a hypnotic contralto voice.

OP: For the reason (as anyone who's young and healthy knows) that that's the way the traffic flows.

Season 2 of 'Mary Hartman' is worth watching just for Marian Mercer. She had impeccable comic timing. The episodes where she lezzed it up with the family maid are golden.

I wish they'd put more episodes up on Prime.

I've been watching a marathon of its a living since 12 p.m.. on Antenna TV.

Marian's big song from Promises, Promises.

I hated the character Jan so much, i wish she was murdered!

R66 Thanks for the heads up but I tuned in late and missed the Louise Lasser season which was the best one.

I never saw Louise Lasser look prettier than in the second season of It's a Living.

[quote] Susan Sullivan gave an interview saying being let go from "It's A Living" was a blessing, because it freed her up to do Falcon Crest

I agree with her, Falcon Crest was 10,000,000x better than It's A Living.

It's a Vineyard!

I wish somebody would write a tell-all about this.

So did they come in one day and say to them “Well about that title, it isn’t a living for you any longer girls a bye-bye!”

Susan Sullivan is a goddess. Never "too good" to do "Match Game," and onward and upward from "It's A Living" to "Falcon Crest" to "Dharma And Greg" (for which she shoulda won AT LEAST one Emmy) to "Castle," with a stop at "My Best Friend's Wedding" to boot. Total diva in the very best sense of that word.

[quote] Why Were Susan Sullivan and Wendy Schaal Thrown Off "It's A Living"?

Because life's not the French Riviera.

Believe me: life's not a charity ball!

OP, anyone who is young and healthy knows that that's the way the traffic flows.

What's a Barrie Youngfellow?

Barrie does have a certain resemblance to Our Joanie in that movie.

The gravitas? No. But a resemblance, yes.

God I hate Crystal St. Bernard Dog Face Cunt.

She speaks well of you.

r75 She's a semi-regular on that horrible Tim Allen show and was also on "The Kominsky Method."

She’s still alive? I missed that somehow?

Susan Sullivan was the only reason to watch Castle.

Am I the only one who thought Sheryl Lee Ralph was annoying and is annoying as s***?

No, r86, you’re not alone. She was a poor substitute for Ann “What weight gain?” Jillian.

[quote] Barrie does have a certain resemblance to Our Joanie in that movie.

Joanie BRADFORD, maybe.

Marian Mercer was sexy why was that old Chef not all over her ass???

[quote]Barrie does have a certain resemblance to Our Joanie in that movie.

It was the gowns by Travilla. He also did Crawford's clothes in Flamingo Road.

R79 A very punchable face, she even over-acted when all she had to do was smile!

Sadly, Marian Mercer died from Alzheimer's.

Since Logo got rid of this show I have to catch some episodes on Antenna tv and put up with deplorable commercials for “Trumpie Bear” and the mypillow guy’s book from “crackhead to ceo”.....deplorables will buy any stupid shit lol

Anyway on todays show Michael Feinstein was on and he was gorgeous. Time has not been kind to him.

It's on streaming! How did I not know this?

I didn't like the chef (and still get a little creeped out when I see him in other shows) but otherwise I liked everyone here, even Barry Longfellow.

There were three chefs.

I was referring to Bert Remsen, R95.

When will they remake THE ANN JILLIAN STORY?

The world has waited long enough!

R97 Was that Lisa Hartman playing Ann? I could see ScarJo, in her most difficult role to date, finally getting the Oscar starring in the remake.

Meryl Streep IS the brilliant Ann Jillian in, "Where Are My Boobs?"

[quote]R98 Was that Lisa Hartman playing Ann? I could see ScarJo, in her most difficult role to date, finally getting the Oscar starring in the remake.

What is the world coming to?? That was the one and only ANN JILLIAN herself playing Ann Jillian in the searing “The Ann Jillian Story!”

(Two years later she at last got to play a different person in “Labor of Love: The Arlette Schweitzer Story”.)

[quote]R99 Meryl Streep IS the brilliant Ann Jillian in, "Where Are My Boobs?"

The front office is interested, but wonders if it can be called [italic]The Dingo Ate My Boobs.

Fuck Meryl. Fuck her right in the ass!

I can nail the rousing closing number.

R100 So she lived? The story just doesn’t have the same arc if she didn’t die, I was thinking this was like a Brian’s Song for the women. Did the original cast of the show play themselves in the TV movie, or were there other actors playing them? And Dinah Manoff as “and Barrie Youngfellow!”

Dinah auditioned, but was ultimately rejected due to her inability to due a full pivot.

Neither the series It's a Living nor the Broadway musical Sugar Babies are mentioned in The Ann Jillian Story telepic. And by the way, apparently life IS a charity ball for Ann--here she is at one for the Thalians in 2018.

[quote]I wonder what Youngfellow was like playing Joan Crawford.

She's good as Joan. There is a surface resemblance, and once the hair and makeup people were done with her, she looked very much the part. That episode of "Moviola" is on YouTube, it's the one called "The Scarlett O'Hara Wars."

She looks terrific, R105.

Thanks for the tip, R106, I've wanted to see that for a while.

Barrie Youngfellow was the poor man's Bonnie Franklin.

I think she’s more like a poor man’s Linda Lavin.

Who sang the theme song? Part of it sounds like Ann Jillian.

This whole thread screams MARY!

They're showing season two again with Louise Lasser.

I'm also watching all the Mary Hartman's on youtube.

Here is Louise's rare movie she wrote and starred in called Just Me & You with Charles Grodin.

Very funny.

Did Louise have a breakdown?

I always thought Donna McKechnie played Cassie.

HER NAME IS CARRIE!!!

It’s disturbing so many of us remember this show!

Has Susan Dey commented yet?

When they changed the title to "Making A Living" for season 2, did they keep the same theme song (which contains the words "it's a living"?)

R116 Logo was airing it until a few months ago. seems trannies were complaining about a “transphobic” episode where Sonny dates a woman that used to be a man and dated Nancy. Now it’s on Antenna TV.

[quote] Did Louise have a breakdown?

Yes. Her life.

[quote]did they keep the same theme song (which contains the words "it's a living"?)

Yes, but they re-recorded the last line to match the new title.

"We're maaaaa-king a living."

Is that true, r119? I LOVED watching "It's a Living" everyday on Logo. I was wondering why they abruptly stopped showing it.

[quote]Did Louise have a breakdown?

Louise was the second Mrs. Woody Allen. You'd have a breakdown to if you had to live with him.

I don't think it was canceled because of trans complaints, Antenna TV acquired it and started showing it at the very beginning of this year. Apparently Antenna has a few episodes that are complete and not syndication cuts.

[quote] This whole thread screams MARY!

MARY! called to say this thread is full of the faggiest fags who ever fagged.

It's full of the cockiest cocksuckers, too.

You bitches made me search this crap out on Amazon Prime. Season one is on there. I hadn’t seen it since it aired. What a pile of crap this was.

R127 season 1 sucked.

I loved this show with all my heart when I was a kid. I just never understood why they would get fully dressed up to go to work when they just had to put on uniforms. I mean, Jan would show up in a blazer, skirt, sweater vest, blouse with a pussy bow, pearls and boots and then take it all off to put on her uniform. All that crap just for the car trip to work and in the elevator?

Just because I have always been a huge Louise Lasser fan (my inappropriate mother used to wake me up at 11:30pm every night so I could watch Mary Hartman with her when I was in elementary school,) I am attaching my favorite of all her work, a creepy little TV movie called "Isn't it Shocking" with Alan Alda and Ruth Gordon. Alda and Lasser appear to be having a great time improvising a lot of this. Also scared me to no end when I saw it as a kid.

R129 Maggie was my favorite and Amy (her replacement) my second favorite too bad they weren’t in a season together. I hate Jan and Ginger.

When IAL premiered in 1980 The Village Voice praised Susan Sullivan's comedic timing, and Ann Jillian. Wendy Schaal not so much.

Sullivan’a character ( I don’t even recall her name) was a completely basic/nothing character.

So cast the reboot, we know already that it will need to be a diverse cast and though it will cause a meltdown here at least one trans character. I suppose Laverne Cox could play the hostess to great effect? I always liked Thora Birch and could see her as the not wanting to be there older cynical return to work after a divorce or husband’s death character, but who is secretly the mother hen of the younger girls.

R133 The “Sonny” character wouldn’t work nowadays. Although I always laugh at the scene where he tricks Amy to go back to his place and chases her around the pull out couch and throws himself at her until Amy punches him and closes the couch with him inside it and leaves lol

In Woody Allen's recent book, he referred to Louise multiple times as a promiscuous nutjob.

Louise Lasser is troubled but was so well liked that some people who had trouble with her on the infamous SNL episode still said she was very nice and they liked her. Woody Allen can go fuck a light socket.

[quote]In Woody Allen's recent book, he referred to Louise multiple times as a promiscuous nutjob.

Pot, meet kettle.

r128 is either Sheryl Lee Ralph, Louise Lasser, or Crystal Bernard, Earl Boen, or Richard Stahl.

Season 2 was the funniest.

Louise Lasser's character had the only lines I ever LOL'd to.

But at times it seemed like she was in an entirely different show from the rest of the cast.

What would have the show been like if Mrs. Edna Garrett had gone to work there and threw around her “Girls! Girls!” speeches all the time?

I guess I’m outnumbered. Funny, but the Lasser year was the one I dislike the most. She didn’t fit in, to me. The theme song says that at least they’re “young and healthy.” Even as a kid, Lasser struck me as being neither young nor healthy. I liked the dynamic of Ann Jillian, Crystal Bernard, Gail Edwards and Barrie Youngfellow (“as Jan”) best. Richard Stahl was the best of the chefs. Even as a boy, I thought Marion Mercer was so glamorous and witty. She remains my favorite part. And, young gay me loved Sonny! I thought he was wildly sexy.

But, I just couldn’t warm up to Lasser. I still have a soft spot for Ann Jillian. I loved Susan Sullivan on Falcon Crest and adore Wendy on American Dad. Nonetheless, Season Three of IAL was my favorite.

And, r140, Charlotte Rae is always a welcome addition to anything as far as I am concerned.

A confession: I often sign emails to my elderly parents “...and Barrie Youngfellow as Jan.” They find it amusing.

No love for me?

I have 275 IMDB credits, bitches! I didn't need this shitty show.

The Village Voice praised Susan Sullivan and Ann Jillian when It's A Living premiered. They saw that Susan GOT her role - =the seemingly put together wife and mother surrounded by nut jobs.

I wish I could recall who the VV's TV critic was then - he was hilarious. He skewered the last season of Charlie's Angels and signaled out Gary Frank playing a thug, 'he used to wear sweaters and act sensitive on Family' .

To directly answer part of OP's question...

Apparently Susan Sullivan was too "uptown."

From March 1981:

^^^Did Billy Joel write that song about her?

Ann Jillian was very excited about the changes. Which included renaming the show "Living It Up" because the network wanted to be more "positive."

(Until they changed it again to "Making a Living")

From May 1981:

R144 They weren’t wrong. Watching the first season I wondered why this woman would put up with being a wasitress. The other characters made sense as Jan was a law student, Dot and Vickie were stupid and Cassie was a pretty whore from a small town.

One of them was a whore? I don’t remember that? Was she doing johns in the toilet or the walk in freezer?

An October 1985 preview article when the show came back for syndication:

Producer Tony Thomas said, "It should never have been canceled. I know for a fact the network wishes it had the show back."

ABC wouldn't give them a second-season renewal unless they went a little "quirkier" with the characters. Hence, Louise Lasser, who wasn't asked back for syndication. "She did a great job, but it wasn't what we felt our show was."

Susan Sullivan was devastated by being fired and had to seek psychiatric help!

From an interview she did in 1983:

On a side note, R144's clipping mentions a Pointer Sisters pilot in the works after they were on Love Boat. Wonder what happened.

R151 Maybe they didn’t jump at the chance?

I think "written by series regular Ted Lange" is your major clue, R151.

R153 Must have had a “slow hand”

R151 They were to busy doing the neutron dance.

I loved Earl Boen! He had been on a ton of sitcoms prior to this, like "Soap" and "MASH." I practically grew up with him. Actually, I could say that about almost everyone in the cast, except Paul Kreppel who didn't have a lot of credits.

Oh hey, I watched the Moviola episode "The Scarlet O'Hara War" and Paul Kreppel is in it in a tiny role as a delivery boy!

Falcon Crest ran a good long time and Susan was its heart as Maggie. When she got the chance to call out Angela's b.s. it was always good.

I seem to get gayer and gayer every time I open this thread.

I would've happily replaced Susan Sullivan, just like I did on Falcon Crest.

They actually introduced two new uniforms after the swimsuit top as the first season went on: A Sophia Loren off-the-shoulder grape-stomping ensemble (below), and an early version of the slutty maid outfits they later wore in syndication.

Louise Lasser was looking for the exits almost immediately

Season 1 is on LOGO right now, if anyone's interested.

I'm watching it right now, r163.

Logo heard our prayers. I'm so happy, I'm crying as I type..... Tears of joy!

R164, it's only on until Noon. Then we're cursed with Married . . . With Children. Ugh!

I didn't watch when it first came on, apparently. I thought the show started when Crystal and Sheryl Lee were the waitresses. I love the theme song!

"It's A Living" is back on Logo. Early mornings, at least for the next few days. Enjoy!

R166 most episodes are easy to find on youtube also.

Wendy Schaal should play Valerie Harper in her Lifetime story.

Anyone else have trouble telling Susan Sullivan and Mariette Hartley apart?

R39 Miss. Barack “Barrie” Youngfellow looked more like Faye Dunaway playing Joan Crawford than Joan Crawford. Odd, since “Moviola” / aka “The Scarlett O’Hara War” was televised prior to “Mommie’s” release.

Ms. Jillian was sublime in a white slavery, made for television gem, as Marilyn, the seasoned good time girl who shows Jennifer Jason (“my dad was decapitated”) Leigh the tricks of the trade.

R170 The girl in red is the true and only Hollywood Barrie.

You know, enduring star of screen and stage (well, “screen”) Morgan Brittany WAS Scarlett, not Barrie; and Morgan Brittany WAS Baby June in “Gypsy.” Although that big-titted Ann Jillian tends to get all the credit, she was merely Dainty June.

And of course, r173, she was the MAME to end all MAMES!