Brian Levant

A veteran writer-producer of TV sitcoms and director of Hollywood family-oriented features, Brian Levant began his long TV career at age 23 when he joined the writing staff of ABC's "Happy Days," a faux 1950s sitcom which cashed in on the nostalgia boom initiated by the success of "American Graffiti" (1973). He eventually became a supervising producer on the series and moved on to write, produce and serve as a creative consultant for the show's hit spin-off, "Mork and Mindy" (ABC, 1978-82). Levant enjoyed his greatest success as a producer-his penchant for recycling features and earlier TV programs showed itself in such series as "The Bad News Bears" (CBS, 1979-80), "Hot W.A.C.S." (ABC, 1981), "Still the Beaver/The New Leave It to Beaver" (The Disney Channel and later in syndication, 1985-89).