Michael Levitt | |
---|---|
Born | Michael E. Levitt 13 March 1968 Roswell, New Mexico, U.S. |
Occupation | Television producer |
Michael Levitt (born March 13, 1968) is an American television producer of award shows, reality shows, game shows and specials. He has produced programs such as Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List , The TV Land Awards , The Scream Awards , Live From the Red Carpet , The Billboard Music Awards , Hollywood Squares , The Teen Choice Awards and Celebrity Duets .
Levitt produced one of the most-watched television events in history, the 2009 Michael Jackson memorial service. [1]
Through the 1990s Levitt helped produce a variety of network and cable television award shows and specials including President Bill Clinton's 50th Birthday Special, the VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards, and the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards . [2]
Under Levitt's leadership, the Billboard Music Awards featured live performances by Aerosmith, Mariah Carey, Metallica, Sting, Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, and Gwen Stefani. [3] Levitt also produced the popular Teen Choice Awards for nearly a decade. [4]
In 2000, Michael Levitt founded his own Hollywood, California-based production company, Michael Levitt Productions.
His first shows under his personal banner were two major network television music specials. Having served as co-producer for the 1993–94 season of The Mickey Mouse Club , Levitt re-teamed with former mouseketeer Britney Spears in April 2000, producing her Fox television special, Britney in Hawaii, which scored a ratings coup for the network. Later that same year, Levitt produced two more specials for Fox: Britney Spears: There's No Place Like Home and The N'Sync N'timate Holiday Special with popular boy band N'Sync. [2]
In 2003, Levitt created the annual TV Land Awards for the TV Land network. [2] The program celebrates classic television, movies, music and pop culture. Honorees have included a who's who of original cast and producers of shows such as M*A*S*H , The Mary Tyler Moore Show , The Brady Bunch , Good Times , E.R. , Desperate Housewives , Grey's Anatomy and countless others. [5]
Co-created and executive produced by Michael Levitt in 2006, Scream honors the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy in film, television, music, and comic books. [6] Recent Scream honorees have included George Lucas, Tim Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Quentin Tarantino, The Dark Knight , and Star Trek . [7]
In 2009, Levitt took over the role as executive producer of Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List. [8] Season Five of the Bravo series included appearances by Bette Midler, Paris Hilton, Paula Deen, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Suzanne Somers [9] and was a ratings high for the network. [10]
In late 2010 Levitt partnered with producer Mark Burnett to executive produce Ask Oprah's All Stars, a primetime talk show format uniting Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, and Suze Orman. [11] The four two-hour specials initially ran the first four Sunday nights of 2011, and were the highest rated on Oprah Winfrey's fledgling OWN network. [12] Two of the specials were moderated by Gayle King, and the other two by Robin Meade. Celebrity appearances included Stevie Wonder, Mario Lopez, Vanessa Williams, Nancy O'Dell, and Winfrey herself. [13]
In 2011 Levitt executive produced the E! Live From the Red Carpet shows for The Golden Globe Awards, The Grammy Awards, and The Academy Awards. [14] These specials, hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic, garnered E! their highest ratings with 1.6 million viewers tuning into the cable network's Golden Globes red carpet coverage. [15]
Partnering with Simon Cowell in 2006, Levitt entered the world of reality competition programming by serving as executive producer of the FOX series Celebrity Duets . [16] Using the American Idol model, Celebrity Duets featured eight stars (among them, Lucy Lawless and Alfonso Ribeiro) singing live with legendary recording artists (including Gladys Knight, Randy Travis, Patti LaBelle, etc.) competing for a charity grand prize. Little Richard, David Foster, and Marie Osmond served as celebrity judges. Wayne Brady hosted. [17]
In 2003 Levitt created and produced Nick at Nite Holiday Special, [18] a throwback to the classic Christmas specials of the 1960s and 1970s. His debut into the world of holiday shows featured a wide array of performers including Natalie Cole, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Sarah McLachlan and Chaka Khan. [18] [19] The show featured a duet of Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy by Clay Aiken and Bing Crosby using rotoscoped footage of Crosby taken from one of his 1960s Christmas shows. [20]
In 2007, Levitt developed and produced Back To The Grind for TV Land, a reality series in which television stars performed the actual job for which their TV characters were known. [21] He was also enlisted to produce the finale of mother/daughter beauty pageant series, Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants , which aired as part of The CW's fall 2007 lineup. [22]
In 2007 and 2008, Levitt served as executive producer of The Producers Guild of America Awards . These two years proved to be the most well-received and music-packed celebrations in the Guild's history with musical performances by Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Cole, Jordin Sparks, Keb Mo and Chris Daughtry. [23]
In 2008, Levitt produced The World Music Awards [24] and The ALMA Awards [25] (both for ABC) and the first annual Spanish-language sports awards show Tecate Premios Deportes for Univision. [26] [27]
In 2009, Levitt was the executive producer of five award shows, including Bravo's pop culture celebration The A-List Awards , [28] the 2009 Game Show Awards for GSN, [29] the second annual Tecate Premios Deportes, The 7th Annual TV Land Awards and Spike TV's annual Scream Awards .
In 2013, he was named executive producer of the 2013 Young Hollywood Awards , [30] which was broadcast for the first time on The CW Network.
In 2014, Levitt produced Cause For Paws: An All Star Dog Spectacular, a prime-time event for the FOX Network, to promote awareness for dog-related issues and shelter rescue. [31] The first of its kind, the program was co-hosted by Jane Lynch and Hilary Swank, and featured celebrities including Miranda Lambert, P!nk, Sharon Osbourne, Paula Abdul, and Betty White, who introduced adoptable dogs to viewers.
In 2002, Levitt partnered with veteran actor/producer Henry Winkler when the pair were approached by King World Productions to revamp and update Hollywood Squares , the company's classic game show. [32]
Levitt continued working with Winkler throughout the 2000s as they reunited the casts of four long-running classic television series for network TV specials.
Winkler, Ron Howard, Garry Marshall and the whole Happy Days gang returned to Arnold's Diner to reflect back on 11 successful seasons for ABC's Happy Days' Thirtieth Anniversary Reunion, the third highest rated television special of 2005. [33]
A trio of CBS tributes to 1980s soaps began with 2004's Dallas Reunion: The Return to Southfork , which was filmed on location at Southfork Ranch in Dallas, where J.R. Ewing and company took up residence for 13 seasons. [34]
In 2005, the cast of the long-running series Knots Landing reunited for the two-hour special Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again . [35]
The following year Joan Collins, Linda Evans, John Forsythe and the rest of the Dynasty cast reunited for Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar . [36] Shot at Filoli, the manor estate which served as the setting for the series, the program was an examination of the series which represented the excess of the 1980s. [37]
In July 2009, Levitt co-produced the Michael Jackson memorial service live from Los Angeles' Staples Center. [38] With more than one billion viewers worldwide, the event also was one of the most watched broadcasts in online streaming history.
Levitt was born in Roswell, New Mexico, and raised in Orange County, California. He resides in Los Angeles, California.
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress and filmmaker. She rose to international prominence for playing Monica Geller in the NBC sitcom Friends (1994–2004) and Gale Weathers in the horror film franchise Scream (1996–present). Her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award, nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
James Mark Burnett is a British television producer who served as chairman of MGM Worldwide Television Group from 2018 to 2022. He created the television shows The Apprentice, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? and Shark Tank, and served as a producer for the reality shows Survivor, The Voice, Beat Shazam, and Generation Gap.
Kathleen Mary Griffin is an American comedian and actress. She has starred in television series, comedy specials and has released multiple comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. She has also appeared in supporting roles in films.
Kimberly LaShaunda Coles is an American actress, comedian and game show host. Coles is known for her roles as a cast member on the first season of In Living Color (1990–1991) and as Synclaire James-Jones on the television sitcom Living Single (1993–1998), which both originally aired on Fox. She was the host of BET's game show Pay It Off in 2009.
Celebrity Charades is a series which originally aired from January to September, 1979 as a syndicated series throughout the United States.
Leyla Milani Khoshbin is a Canadian-American model, TV host and retired actress. Milani was born in Iran and moved to Toronto when she was 4 years old. She led a successful career before meeting her husband Manuchehr (Manny) Khoshbin, Iranian entrepreneur, real estate investor and author.
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List is an American reality television series that aired on Bravo from August 3, 2005 to August 3, 2010. The series follows the struggle of self-proclaimed "D-list" celebrity Kathy Griffin to climb the Hollywood ladder. This often includes scheming for publicity with staffers Jessica, Tiffany, and Tom. Her relationships with her parents and her now ex-husband were also featured.
Poker Royale is a television series on the Game Show Network (GSN), which featured No Limit Texas hold 'em Poker. The first series began on December 7, 2004. The eighth and final series, Poker Royale: Young Bloods II, began airing on December 9, 2005. The series host at its conclusion was John Ahlers, with commentary by Robert Williamson III and sideline reporting by Lisa Dergan.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television game show based on the format of the same-titled British program created by David Briggs, Steven Knight and Mike Whitehill and developed in the United States by Michael Davies. The show features a quiz competition with contestants attempting to win a top prize of $1,000,000 by answering a series of multiple-choice questions, usually of increasing difficulty. The program has endured as one of the longest-running and most successful international variants in the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise.
The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 16, 2007, honoring the best in U.S. prime time television programming at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition. It was also the most recent Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony to be held at the Shrine Auditorium, as it was then relocated to the Nokia Theatre from the following year. The ceremony was hosted by Ryan Seacrest.
Mark Cronin is an American television producer and writer.
Michael Richards is a former American television producer, game show host, and television personality. He was most notably the executive producer of the American television game shows Let's Make a Deal and The Price Is Right from 2009 to 2019, and of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune from 2020 to 2021. Richards has also hosted other television series including High School Reunion, Beauty and the Geek, Pyramid, and Divided, and was executive producer of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2020.
Paris Hilton's My New BFF is an American competitive reality television series in which Paris Hilton searches for her new BFF. It was created by Michael Hirschorn, Stella Bulochnikov and Hilton, who also served as executive producers. The series was produced by Ish Entertainment, in association with MTV, on which it ran for two seasons, from September 30, 2008 to August 4, 2009. It spawned two international versions —Paris Hilton's British Best Friend and Paris Hilton's Dubai BFF— which followed between 2009 and 2011.
Embassy Row is an American television, global-based format, and digital production company based in New York City and a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. It was founded in 2005 by British television producer Michael Davies, entertainment marketer Tera Banks and film producer Chris Moore.
Irwin Entertainment, Inc. is a television production company founded in 2004 by John Irwin. The company is based in Los Angeles, California, and produces entertainment programming that are either scripted, live, or reality television.
Carnie Wilson: Unstapled is an American reality television show, starring game show hostess and singer Carnie Wilson. The show aired on Game Show Network (GSN) from January 14, 2010, to March 11, 2010. Filmed in southern California and produced by World of Wonder, the series chronicles the life of Wilson, host of GSN's The Newlywed Game, as she strives to lose excessive weight gained over the past decade. Wilson had a public fall out with the network after the series was broadcast and was criticized after gaining weight while on a diet featured on the show.
Eli Holzman is an American creator–developer, writer, producer and television executive. He is known for creating or serving as executive producer on a number of reality-based television series and documentaries, such as Project Runway, Project Greenlight, The Seven Five, Undercover Boss, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, Free Meek, Living Undocumented, American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance.
Casey Patterson is an American television executive, producer and director.
Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood is the third installment of the Love & Hip Hop reality television franchise. It premiered on September 15, 2014 on VH1 and chronicles the lives of several people in the Hollywood area, involved with hip hop music. The show features appearances from notable figures associated with West Coast hip hop.
Ugly Brother Studios is an American television production company focusing on unscripted, docs-series and specials. The company is based in Los Angeles and was founded by brothers Mike and Tim Duffy in 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)