Michael R. Fisher, who wrote and produced hundreds of episodes for such popular television series as Starsky and Hutch, Fantasy Island and Mission: Impossible, died December 31, 2009, in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He was 69.

Fisher was born in New York and grew up in the Los Angeles area. His father Steve Fisher was also a writer for film and television.

Fisher began his career writing for westerns like Bonanza, Gunsmoke and The Virginian. He then went on to write for Ironside and Starsky and Hutch.

Fisher was an executive producer on Fantasy Island, and also wrote several episodes. In the 1980s, he was an executive producer of the series Mission: Impossible and True Blue.

He also wrote two novels, Cries from the Darkness and The Nightmare Man.

Fisher is survived by his wife, eight children, nine grandchildren, a sister and a brother.