Terry Louise Fisher (born February 21, 1946) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

former TV screenwriter and producer. During her career, she won three Primetime Emmy Awards from seven nominations.

Early career

Fisher was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

and attended

UCLA School of Law The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...

in 1968. She later worked for the Los Angeles District Attorney's office and moved from that into Entertainment Law. While a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

lawyer, Fisher wrote two novels, both published by the Warner Publishing Company. The first, entitled ''A Class Act'', was published in 1976. The second, entitled ''Good Behavior'', was published in 1979. Both are no longer in print. After ten years in the law field, Fisher decided to pursue her true passion of writing full-time and quit practicing law.

Television career

Early years

She began her television career as a writer and producer for the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

police procedural ''

Cagney & Lacey ''Cagney & Lacey'' is an American police procedural drama television series that aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988. The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very di ...

'' in 1982. Between 1983 and 1987, she wrote for other series and

television films A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

. In 1985, she left ''Cagney & Lacey'', but returned many years later for the series' reunion films ''Cagney and Lacey: The Return'' (1994) and ''Cagney and Lacey: Together Again'' (1995), both of which she co-wrote.

''L.A. Law''

Fisher's most notable series was ''

L.A. Law ''L.A. Law'' is an American legal drama television series that ran for eight seasons on NBC, from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. Created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher, it centers on the partners, associates and staff of a Los ...

'', which she co-created with producer Steven Bochco. She served as a supervising producer and writer for many of the series early episodes. Her writing for the series won her a shared Primetime Emmy Award in 1987, and two additional shared nominations in 1988. In 1988, a legal battle with Steven Bochco led to her departure from the series, when a negotiation for her to take over Bochco's role as the series' executive producer failed, and she was banned from the set. Prior to this, she had also co-created the comedy-drama series ''

Hooperman ''Hooperman'' is an American comedy-drama television series which aired on ABC from September 23, 1987, to July 19, 1989. The show centered on the professional and personal life of San Francisco police Inspector Harry Hooperman, played by John R ...

'' with Bochco in 1987. The series starred

John Ritter Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ...

and ran for two seasons on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. During the time, she had signed a feature agreement (by way of Fisher Entertainment Group) with The Walt Disney Studios in 1987.

Post-''L.A. Law''

Fisher wrote the 1992 short-lived summer series ''

2000 Malibu Road ''2000 Malibu Road'' is an American prime time soap opera television series that aired on CBS during the summer from August 23 to September 9, 1992. The series stars Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Beals, Brian Bloom, Scott Bryce, Lisa Hartman, Tuesd ...

'', which was produced by Aaron Spelling and directed by

Joel Schumacher Joel T. Schumacher (; August 29, 1939June 22, 2020) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and originally became a fashion designer. H ...

. She later took part in the production of a highly anticipated primetime soap opera pilot, entitled ''Daughters of Eve'', which was to star Sophia Loren and premiere during the 1995-1996 television season. However, the series was not picked up.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Terry Louise 1946 births Screenwriters from Illinois American soap opera writers 20th-century American novelists Television producers from Illinois American women television producers Primetime Emmy Award winners Living people American women screenwriters American women television writers Writers from Chicago UCLA School of Law alumni American women novelists Showrunners 20th-century American women writers Women soap opera writers Novelists from Illinois 21st-century American women