...to auditioning for Steven Spielberg!

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Jeremy Licht talks with John Cato as he takes us behind the scenes of his Hollywood journey, starting with the wild audition that landed him the role on Valerie’s Family—which soon became The Hogan Family. He opens up about the dramatic cast shift when Sandy Duncan replaced Valerie Harper and shares a hilarious behind-the-scenes story about Duncan. Jeremy talks about his close friendship with Jason Bateman, pranks on set, and working with beloved personalities on The Hogan Family like Edie McClurg, Willard Scott, and John Hillerman. He also shares stories from auditioning for Twilight Zone: The Movie with Steven Spielberg, acting with Lindsay Wagner on Jessie and David Birney and Shari Belafonte on St. Elsewhere. Thanks Jeremy, it was a lot of fun!

Hosted by John Cato, actor, voiceover artist, and moderator for over 20 years for the television and movie industry. John's background brings a unique insight and passion to the podcast.


00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:50 Jeremy talks about his crazy audition process for Valerie's Family/The Hogan Family
00:06:58 Jeremy talks about the way Valerie's Family became The Hogan Family
00:14:15 Sandy Duncan takes over The Hogan Family
00:19:01 Jeremy tells a funny Sandy Duncan story
00:22:48 Jeremy's continued relationship with Jason Bateman
00:27:40 Jeremy talks about the cast getting together today
00:30:33 Jeremy talks about working with John Hillerman on The Hogan Family
00:32:27 Jeremy talks about working with Willard Scott, the weatherman
00:33:25 Jeremy talks about pranks on the set of The Hogan Family
00:36:08 Jeremy talks about Edie McClurg
00:38:09 Working with Josie Bissett on The Hogan Family
00:41:46 Jeremy talks about working on Twilight Zone The Movie
00:42:44 Called in to audition for Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante for Twilight Zone: The Movie
00:51:26 Jeremy talks about Bill Mumy and William Schallert
00:57:00 Jeremy talks about working on Jessie with Lindsay Wagner
00:58:12 Jeremy talks about working with David Birney on St. Elsewhere
01:01:25 The other shows shooting on other stages while Jeremy filmed The Hogan Family

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In this exclusive episode of The Jim Masters Show, Jim sits down with TV and film actor and director former child star Jeremy Licht, best known for his roles on The Hogan Family and Valerie, as well as appearances in The Twilight Zone Movie, The Comeback Kid, Father Figure, Seat 23B and together they have a deep dive, heartfelt, revealing and fun conversation and interview.

Jeremy opens up like never before about:
👉 Growing up in Hollywood during the golden age of sitcoms
👉 Behind-the-scenes stories from The Hogan Family & Valerie
👉 What it was really like working on The Twilight Zone Movie
👉 The truth about child stardom — the highs, the pressure, and what comes after
👉 Where life took him after stepping away from the spotlight

If you grew up watching ’80s TV, this is a must-watch conversation filled with nostalgia, honesty, and untold stories you won’t hear anywhere else.

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Jeremy Licht ('Valerie', 'Valerie's Family', 'Hogan Family') interview (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/36444966-jeremy-licht-valerie-valerie-s-family-hogan-family-interview)

He claims that until "Friends" came along a decade later, the cast of 'Valerie' was one of - if not the only - highest paid cast in television back then. The network originally passed on the project after viewing the pilot, but a year later decided to pick it up, never expecting it to be a major hit. He believes Harper was the one who fought for the cast to be the 'highest paid' from the beginning because she knew it would be a hit.

He joined the show at 14, playing one of the 'twin boys' of Valerie Harper, and though it strange they cast a Latino actor to play his 'twin' (Licht (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=+Jeremy+Licht) is not Latino). But the audience bought into it, so the producers seemed to know what they were doing (even though it didn't make sense to the two young actors). He and the other actor (Danny Ponce) are best friends to this day. The two guys keep in touch with Jason Bateman, but they're not really close friends with him.

He loved working with Valerie Harper - absolutely adored her. Said she was one of the nicest actresses he ever worked with and learned a lot from her. No one in the cast knew exactly what was going on when she didn't show up for work at the start of the third season, and there were a lot of rumors. He was called to the set to do new opening shots for the 'credits' and Harper was not with the cast. They were told a few days later she was probably not returning to the show. The cast was shocked when they read a script later on which referenced 'Valerie Hogan' being killed in an auto accident, and 'Aunt Sandy' would be staying with them.

Sandy Duncan joined the cast, and kept telling everyone for quite a while that she was not there to 'replace Valerie', she was there playing a new character because she needed a job to make money. They got along well with her, though she had a different way of doing things than Harper, and they had to get used to it.

He barely saw actor Josh Taylor on the set until the third season when Duncan took over the female lead. He indicated he never really got the chance to 'know him' rather than just 'work with him'.