Brian Michael Levant (born August 6, 1952) is an American filmmaker.
Early life and career
Born in Highland Park, Illinois, to a Jewish family, Levant started his career in 1976 as a writer for the TV series Happy Days. He also wrote for, among other TV shows, The Jeffersons, Mork & Mindy and Still the Beaver.
He is best known for directing the films Beethoven, Levant has responded to the criticism with, "I'm making movies for the audience that I was when I was sitting at home watching Garfield Goose and The Three Stooges on WGN...To read those reviews is an act of self-flagellation, but reviews be damned when you're at Blockbuster, and you're seeing family after family grab one of your movies off the shelf on a Friday night. I can't tell you how many times I've seen that."
Filmography
Feature film
Director
- Problem Child 2 (1991)
- Beethoven (1992)
- The Flintstones (1994)
- Jingle All the Way (1996)
- The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000)
- Snow Dogs (2002)
- Are We There Yet? (2005)
- The Spy Next Door (2010)
- Max 2: White House Hero (2017)
Writer
- Leave It to Beaver (1997)
Direct-to-video
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Title
!Director
!Producer
!Story
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|2008
|Beethoven's Big Break
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|2012
|A Christmas Story 2
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|2014
|Sophia Grace & Rosie's Royal Adventure
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|}
Television
TV movies
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Title
!Director
!Producer
!Writer
|-
|rowspan=2|1995
|Problem Child 3: Junior in Love
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|-
|The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space
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|2009
|Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins
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|2010
|Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster
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|2016
|The Game of Love
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|}
TV series
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Title
!Director
!Producer
!Writer
!Creator
!Notes
|-
|1976–84
|Happy Days
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|
|
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|Writer (14 episodes) / Producer (44 episodes)
|-
|1977
|The Jeffersons
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|
|
|
|Episode: "Jefferson Airplane"
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|1978
|Please Stand By
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|
|
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|1 episode
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|1979
|Brothers and Sisters
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|2 episodes
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|1979–80
|The Bad News Bears
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|Writer (2 episodes) / Producer (12 episodes)
|-
|1981–82
|Mork & Mindy
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|
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|Writer (2 episodes) / Producer (22 episodes)
|-
|1983–89
|The New Leave It to Beaver
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|
|
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|102 episodes / Director (21 episodes) / Writer (19 episodes)
|-
|1987
|Married... with Children
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|
|
|
|Episode: "The Poker Game"
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|1988–89
|Charles in Charge
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|
|
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|2 episodes
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|1988–91
|My Secret Identity
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|72 episodes / Writer (Episode: "Pilot")
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|1990
|Poochinski
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|
|
|
|Unsold pilot
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|1990-91
|Babes
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|
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|22 episodes
|-
|1997
|Metropolitan Hospital
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|
|
|
|Unsold pilot
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|2000
|Father Can't Cope
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|Unsold pilot
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|2001
|Grounded for Life
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|Episode: "Eddie's Dead"
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|}