It's a Living (renamed Making a Living for Season 2) is an American ensemble sitcom television series set in a restaurant at the top of the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon and produced by Witt/Thomas Productions, with distribution rights held by Golden West Television (1985–86) and Lorimar-Telepictures (1986–89). The series is now distributed by Paul Brownstein Productions.
thumb|Season 1 cast
Plot
The show follows the lives of the waitresses at the posh, fictional restaurant called Above the Top, located atop the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, California. At the helm is supervisor Nancy Beebe, the restaurant's maître d’, who sometimes fraternizes with the girls but usually gives orders and demands excellence. The plot often involves the harried waitresses annoying Nancy in some minor way. Adding to the elegant but chaotic working environment is wisecracking pianist Sonny Mann, who makes rude and occasionally sexist comments to the waitresses and receives insults in return. The kitchen is first the domain of Chef Mario, then Dennis Hubner and finally Howard Miller. Howard and Nancy eventually fall in love and marry.
Cast
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Actor
! rowspan="2"|Character
! colspan="8"|Seasons
|-
! 1<br/><small>(1980–81)</small>
! 2<br/><small>(1981–82)</small>
! 3<br/><small>(1985–86)</small>
! 4<br/><small>(1986–87)</small>
! 5<br/><small>(1987–88)</small>
! 6<br/><small>(1988–89)</small>
|-
|Barrie Youngfellow|| Jan Hoffmeyer Gray || colspan="6"
|-
|Gail Edwards|| Dorothy "Dot" Higgins || colspan="6"
|-
|Marian Mercer|| Nancy Beebe Miller || colspan="6"
|-
|Paul Kreppel|| Sonny Mann || colspan="6"
|-
|Ann Jillian|| Cassie Cranston || colspan="3" || colspan="4"
|-
|Susan Sullivan|| Lois Adams || || colspan="5"
|-
|Wendy Schaal|| Vicki Allen || || colspan="5"
|-
|Bert Remsen|| Mario || || colspan="5"
|-
|Louise Lasser|| Maggie McBurney || || || colspan="4"
|-
|Earl Boen|| Dennis Hubner || || || colspan="4"
|-
|Crystal Bernard|| Amy Tompkins || colspan="2" || colspan="4"
|-
|Richard Stahl|| Howard Miller || colspan="2" || colspan="4"
|-
|Sheryl Lee Ralph|| Ginger St. James || colspan="3" || colspan="3"
|}
Richard Kline also appears as recurring character Richie Gray, Jan's new husband, in seasons 3 through 6.
Episodes
The show's two broadcast seasons produced 27 episodes. An additional 93 episodes were produced for the syndication run, making a total of 120 episodes.
Title changes
As with many other sitcoms from the 1980–81 television season, It's a Living felt the effects of the 1980 Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike, which limited the show to just 13 episodes in its first season.
The series was not a ratings success. For Season 2, the cast was largely retooled and the series was renamed Making a Living.
thumb|Paul Kreppel and Gail Edwards at The Hollywood Show - 2019
Broadcast
A partial list of stations the show was syndicated to during its revival in syndication:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! City
! Station
|-
|Atlanta
|WXIA 11
|-
|Baltimore
|WBFF 45
|-
|Bloomington
|WYZZ 43
|-
|Boston
|WSBK 38
|-
|Buffalo
|WUTV 29
|-
|Charlotte
|WSOC 9
|-
|Chicago
|WFLD 32
|-
|Cincinnati
|WCPO 9
|-
|Cleveland
|WUAB 43
|-
|Dallas/Ft. Worth
|KTVT 11
|-
|Denver
|KTVD 20
|-
|Detroit
|WXON 20
|-
|Green Bay
|WGBA 26
|-
|Greensboro
|WNRW 45
|-
|Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville
|WLOS 13
|-
|Greenwood/Greenville
|WABG 6
|-
|Hartford
|WTXX 20
|-
|Houston
|KHTV 39
|-
|Indianapolis
|WTTV 4
|-
|Jackson
|WJTV 12
|-
|Kansas City
|KZKC 62
|-
|Los Angeles
|KCOP 13
|-
|Manchester
|WMUR 9
|-
|Memphis
|WMC 5
|-
|Miami/Ft. Lauderdale
|WBFS 33
|-
|Milwaukee
|WCGV 24
|-
|Minneapolis/St. Paul
|KMSP 9
|-
|Mobile
|WPMI 15
|-
|Nashville
|WZTV 17
|-
|New York City
|WOR-TV 9
|-
|Norfolk/Suffolk
|WVEC 13
|-
|Orlando
|WOFL 35
|-
|Philadelphia
|WPHL 17
|-
|Phoenix
|KPHO 5
|-
|Pittsburgh
|WPGH 53
|-
|Portland, Maine
|WPXT 51
|-
|Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville
|WLFL 22
|-
|Roanoke/Lynchburg
|WSET 13
|-
|Sacramento
|KTXL 40
|-
|San Antonio
|KSAT 12
|-
|San Francisco
|KBHK-TV 44
|-
|Seattle/Tacoma
|KCPQ 13
|-
|Shreveport
|KTBS 3
|-
|Spokane
|KSKN 22
|-
|St. Louis
|KPLR 11
|-
|Tampa Bay
|WFTS 28
|-
|Washington, D.C.
|WDCA 20
|-
|Wilmington
|WSFX 26
|}
International broadcast
In Italy, the show aired on Rai Uno (Rai 1) under the name Nancy, Sonny & Co. in 1988. It was also known as Roof Garden. In Japan, it was broadcast in 1984 on TV Tokyo under the title Restaurant Uproar and ran for two seasons.