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MICHAEL LEVITT

Michael Levitt (born 13 March, 1968) is an Emmy-nominated American television producer of award shows, reality shows, and specials including 2009's Michael Jackson Memorial Service and Season Five of the Emmy winning reality series "Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List." 2009:

In 2009, Michael Levitt took over the role as Executive Producer on the Emmy winning "Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List." Season Five of the popular Bravo series has proven to be a ratings high for the network, which has included appearances by Bette Midler, Paris Hilton, Paula Deen, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Suzanne Somers, among others.

In July 2009, Levitt produced the most watched telecast of the 21st Century, “The Michael Jackson Memorial Service” live from Los Angeles’ Staples Center. With more than one billion viewers, the event also set the record for most watched broadcast in online streaming history. For the past fifteen years, Levitt has been on the cutting edge of producing awards shows as creator/founder of Michael Levitt Productions, a Hollywood, California based company. In 2009, Levitt executive produced Bravo’s pop culture celebration The A-List Awards, the inaugural Game Show Network Awards for GSN, the second annual Premios Deportes (sports awards) for Univision, as well as Levitt’s annual celebrations, Scream and The TV Land Awards. Fall 2009 marks Spike’s fourth annual Scream Awards. Created and Executive Produced by Michael Levitt, Scream honors the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy in film, television, music, and comic books. Recent Scream honorees have included George Lucas, Tim Burton, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Quentin Tarantino, “The Dark Knight,” and “Star Trek.” Since 2002, Levitt has Executive Produced the annual TV Land Awards, a show he created. The TV Land Awards celebrates classic television and pop culture. The inaugural show drew 15 million viewers, and stands as the channel’s highest-rated broadcast ever. The seventh annual TV Land Awards aired May 2009. Honorees have included a who’s who of original cast and producers of shows like “M*A*S*H*,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Brady Bunch,” “E.R.,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and countless others. 2002 – 2008: In 2002, Michael 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. Together, Levitt and Winkler completely redesigned the show’s look and feel, and the series flourished, earning five Emmy Award nominations for the 2002-2003 season (including Best Game Show). Levitt continued working with Winkler over the next few years as they reunited the casts of four long running series: “Dallas,” “Happy Days,” “Knots Landing,” and “Dynasty.” Ron Howard, Garry Marshall and the whole “Happy Days” gang returned to Arnold ’s Diner to reflect back on 11 successful seasons for The Happy Days’ 30th Anniversary Reunion, the third highest rated television special of 2005.

A trio of CBS tributes to 1980s soaps began with 2004’s Dallas Reunion: The Return To Southfork, filmed on location at Southfork Ranch in Dallas where J.R. Ewing and company took up residence for 13 seasons. Similarly, Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again and Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar reteamed their respective casts in their shows’ original settings to strong reviews. During this period, Levitt continued his streak of producing innovative and memorable award shows, including The ALMA Awards and The World Music Awards (both for ABC). In 2007 and 2008, Levitt was asked to Executive Produce The Annual Producer’s Guild of America Awards. These two years proved to be the most well-received and music-packed celebrations in the Guild’s history. Partnering with Simon Cowell in 2006, Michael Levitt entered the world of reality competition programming with Executive Producing the FOX series “Celebrity Duets.” 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. In 2007, Levitt developed and produced “Back To The Grind,” a reality series for TV Land in which television stars are required to actually do the job that their characters were famous for doing on TV. That same year, Levitt was enlisted to Executive Produce the finale of The CW’s mother/daughter beauty pageant series, “Crowned.” It aired as part of The CW’s fall 2007 lineup. Levitt also created and Executive Produced 2003’s Nick @ Nite Holiday Special. His debut into the world of holiday shows featured a wide array of performers (Natalie Cole, Amy Grant & Vince Gill, Clay Aiken, Chaka Khan). It was a unique reinvention of the classic Christmas specials of the 1960s. PRODUCTIONS BEFORE 2002: 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 of 2000, producing her Fox television special, Britney in Hawaii, again scoring 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 ‘NSYNC ‘Ntimate Holiday Special. Through the 1990s Levitt helped produce a variety of television award shows and specials including President William Jefferson Clinton’s 50th Birthday Special, the VH1 Vogue Fashion Awards, and the Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards. As Producer of the Billboard Music Awards (FOX), Levitt built the annual awards show into a powerhouse entertainment special. Each year, the show attracted the industry’s hottest acts and, under his leadership, featured live performances by Aerosmith, Mariah Carey, Metallica, Sting, Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, and Gwen Stefani. Levitt produced the Teen Choice Awards (FOX) for nearly a decade. What began as a niche special, grew into an annual ratings bonanza for the network, attracting huge numbers of young viewers. In a relatively short time, the Teen Choice Awards became one of the most talked-about awards shows on the air, thanks largely to Levitt’s innovative approach.

PERSONAL:

Michael Levitt was born in Roswell, New Mexico and raised in Orange County, California. He resides in Los Angeles, California.