Ted Flicker | TV writer and director, 84

Ted Flicker, 84, who co-created the hit TV series

Barney Miller

and directed the cult-favorite political film satire

The President's Analyst

, died Sept. 13 at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. The cause was coronary artery disease, said his wife, Barbara.

In the 1950s he worked with Elaine May and others in the pioneering improvisational theater company Compass Players in Chicago and went on to direct numerous episodes of 1960s and 1970s TV series, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Streets of San Francisco and Night Gallery.

Much of his work as a writer and director was applauded by critics. His 1978 TV movie The Last of the Good Guys was about a police officer with leukemia battling to stay alive long enough to earn retirement benefits for his family. When the officer dies nine days short of his goal, members of his squad come up with a scheme to make it seem as if he is still working his beat.

Los Angeles Times TV writer Cecil Smith called it "one of those rare films that combine stark tragedy with riotous comedy that you never see on television. Rarer still, it works." - L.A. Times