John A. Litvack (May 25, 1945 – March 21, 2015) was an American television producer and media executive who was head of scheduling and programming for The WB Network and was an executive at CBS, NBC,

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

and Disney TV. He was called the "dean of current programming."

Biography

Litvack was born in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...

on May 25, 1945. He received a bachelor's degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1966 and began his television career as a cue-card holder for the children's television series '' Captain Kangaroo''. He worked his way up in the network, becoming a director of TV soap operas such as '' The Edge of Night'', '' The Guiding Light'', '' As the World Turns'', and '' Search for Tomorrow'', becoming director of daytime programs for CBS from 1975 to 1978. He was credited for credited with helping innovate the look of soap operas by making them look more cinematic. From 1979 to 1981, Litvack was head of current programming at MGM Television. He was named VP of current drama at NBC in 1981 and supervised shows such as '' Hill Street Blues'', '' The A-Team'', ''

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'', ''

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'', and '' Remington Steele''. From 1986 to 1987, he worked at MTM Productions. He joined Disney TV as senior VP of current programming in 1989, working with

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and

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. He oversaw the development of shows such as ''The'' ''Golden Girls'' and ''

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'', and helped develop the show '' Boy Meets World''. He also helped start the

Archive of American Television The Interviews: An Oral History of Television (formerly titled the Archive of American Television) is a project of the nonprofit Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, that records interviews with notable ...

during this time. From 1997 to 2004, Litvack was EVP, head of scheduling and current programming at the WB Network. During that time, he oversaw the production of '' Dawson's Creek,

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, 7th Heaven,

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, Felicity, Popular, Everwood'' and ''

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.'' He was credited by ''Variety'' for mentoring

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Joss Whedon Joseph Hill Whedon (; born June 23, 1964) is an American filmmaker, composer, and comic book writer. He is the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions, co-founder of Bellwether Pictures, and is best known as the creator of several television series: ...

, Greg Berlanti how to run television series. Litvack was a co-executive producer of '' Hill Street Blues'', ''

'', and consulting producer of ''Fringe''.

Personal life

Litvack was the father of

Cameron Litvack Cameron Litvack (born 23 September 1980) is an American television producer and screenwriter. Career Litvack was born in Los Angeles, California. As a producer, he has worked on sixteen episodes of '' V (2009)'', sixteen episodes of ''Ugly Bett ...

. He died on March 21, 2015, following surgery complications at age 69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Litvack, John American television producers Columbia College (New York) alumni American media executives CBS people Disney people The WB executives 1945 births 2015 deaths