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Louise Lasser was a genuine original who burned bright in the 1970s. The star of the daily, syndicated, soap-comedy Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976 -77), she was probably the first major TV character to suffer a season-long nervous breakdown. Post Nixon, Watergate and Vietnam, she represented what many North Americans were feeling at what was, arguably, an even more chaotic time than today. Lasser, who died at 87 on July 6, went through her own personal termoil in the early ’60s.

Joby Baker might have had a bigger TV career if only he was better at memorizing his lines. The Montreal native, who passed away June 22 at 92, was raised in Hawaii before studying acting in New York. He had only one starring role on television. That was when he was paired with Ronnie Schell in the 1967-68 one season wonder Good Morning World.

In Part II of this two-part conversation, retired Globe and Mail TV columnist John Doyle returns to talk a little bit more about soccer but mostly about our shared fascination with television. The two of us tackle several of today’s biggest TV challenges. For example: are late night talk shows going the way of the western? Does Crave’s Heated Rivalry live up to the hype? Is funding at a crossroads in Canada?

“Canada’s Country Gentleman,” as he was known for decades on CBC, Tommy Hunter pased away peacefully July 2 in the city where he was born, London Ontario. He was 89. Hunter was a friendly face on Canadian television for decades. The tall singer/musician first entered living rooms while still in his teen years on Country Hoedown in 1956. Starting in 1965, through 1992, he enjoyed a 27-year run on the weekly country variety series The Tommy Hunter Show.

Is that our John Doyle making sense of The World Cup in The Toronto Star? The former TV columnist at The Globe and Mail has come out of retirement to help explain why we are all suddenly mad for soccer as Canada continues to kick its way into contention. This isn’t the first time John has turned into a sports scribe. He has reported on three other World Cups as a journalist. Hey, he’s not just another pretty face TV pundit.

Sorry to take so long to post a review of Office Romance but the film left me a bit rattled. This is a slight, amusing in spots, sweet in others, occasionally vulgar, ultimately forgettable, romantic comedy that premiered a few weeks ago on Netflix.

TSN has millions of reasons to cheer on Canada in Sunday’s World Cup match against South Africa. In their Group round games, Canada has been pulling on average around four million viewers. That electric victory over Qatar a week ago Thursday at BC Place in Vancouver drew an average minute audience of 5.2 million viewers, standing as the most-watched World Cup match ever in Canada. The Canadian Men’s team’s opening game resulting in a 1-1 draw pulled 3.2 million viewers.

Yes, TV is Good. ABC declared it back in the ’90s in their press materials. Now Alan Sepinwall has used the slogan as the name of his new podcast, where he is paired with fellow critic Kathryn VanArendonk. I first met Alan back when that slogan was coined at the Television Critics Association’s semi-annual network press tours. He wasted no time establishing himself in what was a competitive room as one of North America’s leading voices of TV criticism.

James Burrows, director of the television series “Partners,” poses on the set of the show on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012, at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) When I was living in LA in the mid-’80s I got to know a technical co-ordinator/assistant director named Rick Beren who worked on Cheers.

There are billions of reasons why, come the fall, CBC will break with tradition and will no longer be carrying NHL games on Saturday nights in Canada. It all comes down to one multi-billion dollar NHL rights deal ending and another just beginning, The old deal, signed in 2013, saw Rogers’ Sportsnet end CBC’s grip on pro hockey by licensing exclusive rights to nationally televised NHL games for 12 years for around $5 billion dollars.