Theodore J. Flicker

Theodore J. Flicker is a respected TV and film screenwriter and director best known as co-creator of the critically lauded 1970s workplace sitcom "Barney Miller." Flicker, a former student of London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, initially worked as a stage comedian; as a member of The Compass Theater in the 1950s, he helped pioneer American improvisational comedy with fellow comics Elaine May, Mike Nichols, and Del Close, who would go on to revolutionize American comedy by starting the hugely influential Second City. By the late '50s, Flicker was directing the Broadway musical "The Nervous Set" and promoting stand-up comedy through his hip Greenwich Village venue, The Premise. Flicker transitioned to filmmaking in the '60s, making his directorial debut with the 1964 comedy "The Troublemaker," as well as writing and directing the incisive political satire "The President's Analyst" in 1967. He also wrote one of Elvis Presley's better late movies, "Spinout." But Flicker's most revered work would be for TV, as co-creator with Danny Arnold of the critically-acclaimed police comedy "Barney Miller," which ran from 1975 to 1982.