Real world article
(written from a production point of view)
James Schmerer (14 June 1938 – 4 October 2019; age 81) was an American television writer and producer. Schmerer wrote the Star Trek: The Animated Series first season episode "The Survivor".
He produced the TV shows Chase, The Delphi Bureau, and The High Chapparal. He also associate produced The Silencers and Daniel Boone. When he became the producer of The High Chaparral in 1969 at the age of 31, he was reputedly the youngest producer of a prime time US television series at the time.
Schmerer also wrote or co-wrote several episodes of CHiPS, Vegas, Fantasy Island (starring Ricardo Montalban), T. J. Hooker (starring William Shatner), and MacGyver (1985-86, starring Richard Dean Anderson).