Another one of these. Veteran TV writer Barry Blitzer has died at the age of 80 from complications relating to abdominal surgery. Barry's career dated back to the fifties. He won an Emmy in 1956 for his work on The Phil Silvers Show, meaning it's been a bad week or two for Bilko writers. He worked on Get Smart, McHale's Navy and many other sitcoms, including Gomer Pyle, USMC. He was a major writer at Hanna-Barbera for years, including work on the prime-time The Flintstones, Top Cat and The Jetsons, as well as dozens of Saturday morning shows, including the Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days cartoons.
I knew him, not as well as I would have liked, from H-B and also from work on various Writers Guild committees and projects. He was a good writer and a good man, and it's sad that we keep losing people like that.