“The Hogan Family” Star Jeremy Licht Says Jason Bateman Was an ‘Older Brother’ on Set, Even If They ‘Fought and Argued’

Victoria EdelFri, June 12, 2026 at 8:33 PM UTC

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Jeremy Licht as Mark Hogan (left) and Jason Bateman as David Hogan in 'The Hogan Family'Credit: Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty -

Jeremy Licht reflected on working with Jason Bateman in The Hogan Family

Licht and Bateman played brothers on the series, which ran from 1986 to 1991

Licht said Bateman was "great," even if they "fought and argued" from time to time

Jeremy Licht and Jason Bateman did some serious sibling bonding on The Hogan Family.

Licht, a former child star, opened up about his time working with Bateman on the series. The Hogan Family was initially titled Valerie and followed Valerie Harper as Valerie Hogan, a mother juggling raising three sons, her job at an auction house and her marriage to an absent pilot husband (Josh Taylor). The three brothers were played by Bateman as David, Licht as Mark and Danny Ponce as Willie.

After two seasons and a salary dispute, Harper left the series, and Sandy Duncan joined as Sandy Hogan, the boys' aunt who moved in and became their surrogate mother. The show was called Valerie's Family: The Hogans for its third season, and then The Hogan Family for seasons four, five and six. The show ran from 1986 to 1991.

From left: Jeremy Licht, Jason Bateman and Valerie Harper in 'The Hogan Family' (titled 'Valerie' at the time)Credit: Ron Batzdorff/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Licht, 55, told Remind Magazine in an article published June 12 that when the series premiered, he was 14 and Bateman, now 57, was 16. "I have in real life a younger brother, so all of a sudden I had an older brother," he said.

He added of his costar, "Jason was great, unbelievable professional, knew so much about, especially sitcoms." Bateman had been a working actor for years, with roles in Little House on the Prairie, Silver Spoons and It's Your Move.

"I had never really done a sitcom. I'd done an episode of something before, but never a sitcom and all of a sudden I'm booked on this show and he just knew timing," Licht said. "To this day, his timing is good. His cadence in everything is just amazing."

Working with Bateman was mostly a positive experience. "Was it always easy? No," Licht said. "We had three boys who were pre-and actively pubescent and of a certain age. And were there times that we fought and argued? Absolutely. Were we always showing up to rehearsals and professional? Absolutely."

"Because we experienced five years together, there can also be brutal honesty when things are challenging," he said. "I love Jason and all of them, and my experience was all good." During The Hogan Family, Bateman also directed his first episode, at the time setting the record for the youngest director in the Directors Guild of America.

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The cast of the series is close to this day. "We still end up going to lunch every six months or so when we can all get our acts and schedules together," he said.

Clockwise from top right: Josh Taylor, Jason Bateman, Luis Daniel Ponce, Valerie Harper, and Jeremy Licht on 'The Hogan Family' (at the time titled 'Valerie')Credit: Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Back in September, Bateman said he was "hazed" when he joined the cast of Little House. He played James Cooper Ingalls, the second adopted son of Caroline and Charles Ingalls, in the show's seventh and eighth seasons.

During an episode of Hot Ones, Bateman was asked whether or not it was true that "the older kids in the cast played an April Fool's joke on you by telling you that your character had died."

"Untrue," Bateman replied. "What they did do is they pinned me down on the ground, straddled me with knees on my shoulders and gave me noogies or whatever they call it on my chest."

He said they "knocked on my chest like I was a front door," but he got his revenge when he had the makeup artist create fake bruises on his skin. "And then I went to their parents and I said, 'Look what your kids did to me.' And that was good. I got them in trouble," he said.

Melissa Gilbert, who starred on the series as Laura Ingalls Wilder, defended Bateman on Instagram at the time, writing, "Who? Who did this to you?!?! I will kick their tush….no one smacks down my little bro!" She added, "#iwillcutabitch."

Bateman went on to find more success as an adult, in shows like Arrested Development and Ozark. In film, he's starred in movies including 2011's Horrible Bosses, 2018's Game Night and the Zootopia series.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”