It's hard to not feel a little melancholy when you're working on a year-end obit package.

Assembling a list of notables who died during a 12-month time span is like taking stock of how much the world you once knew is disappearing. Although I don't often admit it in the company of non-journos, I (usually) like working on obits. It's challenging work, usually against a tight deadline, and I feel a certain responsibility to do right by the person. I often hear Mrs. Loman's famous command in my head: "Attention must be paid."

In that spirit, here is an electronic chronicle of those who left their mark on the TV biz. 2007 saw the  passing of industry titans the likes of Jack Valenti, Merv Griffin, Tom Snyder  and Roger King; influential hyphenates including Sidney Sheldon, Mel Shavelson, Martin Manulis, Mel Tolkin and Bob Carroll, Jr.; and a local TV news icon in Hal Fishman.

It was a tough year for "Match Game" fans, with Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers heading in to the blank hereafter. And no obit in the pages of Variety this year was more heartbreaking than that of Cartoon Network exec Jennifer Davidson, 38, who was a charter member of the cabler's staff and a mother of three.

(Here's the link to part one if you're just joining us.)

AUGUST

Hal Fishman, 75, news anchor who was a fixture of L.A.'s airwaves for 40 years, primarily on KTLA-TV. Fishman was known for his rat-tat-tat delivery style, his occasional conservative-leaning editorials and his interest in aviation. Here's the tribute to Fishman that ran on KTLA's 10 p.m. newscast on the day Fishman died, Aug. 7.

Merv Griffin, 82, multihyphenate who began as a band singer and died a billionaire real estate mogul. In between, Griffin hosted a popular syndicated talk show for more than 20 years and created two of the most successful shows in history in "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy." Merv, as he was known to all, was one of those ubiquitous entertainers who was seemingly everywhere when I was a kid, as I waxed on about in this remembrance. And here's a fun clip of Merv and Don Rickles going at it on "The Merv Griffin Show" in 1985.

Melville Shavelson, 90, prolific film and TV scribe whose credits include "The Danny Thomas Show." Also a three-time prexy of WGA West. Here's a link to part 1 of his nine-part Archive of American Television interview from 1999.

SEPTEMBER

Alice Ghostley, 81, actress, a Tony-winner best known for her nervous-housewife persona exemplified by her role as the ditsy Aunt Esmerelda on "Bewitched."

Martin Manulis, 92, producer, creative steward of CBS' "Playhouse 90" who was responsible for such landmark TV drama productions as "Requiem for a Heavyweight" and "The Miracle Worker." Manulis was a guy Rod Serling respected, and that's saying something. Here's a link to part one of his 11-part Archive of American Television interview.

Brett Somers, 83, stage actress known for her long stint on "Match Game." She played Oscar Madison's ex on "The Odd Couple" and was Mrs. Jack Klugman for a time in real-life too. Here's a representative clip featuring Somers parrying with "Match Game" host Gene Rayburn.

OCTOBER

Joey Bishop, 89, the stone-faced, cool cat comic who was the last surviving member of the Rat Pack. Bishop made a number of stabs at TV, including a domestic comedy and a bid to challenge Johnny Carson's dominance of latenight with show that ran on ABC from 1967-69. Below are two great clips, and more Nehru jackets than you can shake your love beads at, from the latenight "Joey Bishop Show."

In the first, Sammy Davis Jr. tries to teach Joey to tap dance. The second is a nice long monologue clip that also features Bishop's sidekick, Regis Philbin.

Gary Franklin, 79, L.A. TV reporter and film reviewer for KABC-TV Los Angeles and KCBS-TV Los Angeles, who was known for rating films on his "Franklin scale of 1-10, 10 being best."

NOVEMBER

Mel Tolkin, 94, writer-producer who had the formidable job as head writer on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows." He was a guy who could make Caesar laugh, and corral a room that featured such wits as Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbert, Lucille Kallen and Woody Allen. Here's a link to part one of his eight-party Archive of American Television interview from 1997.

Verity Lambert, 71, pioneering femme British TV exec and producer. Lambert was the first female and youngest exec to work for the BBC in the early 1960s. She also was the first producer of the worldwide cult fave "Dr. Who." Here's a fan video tribute that hits the highlights of her remarkable career.

DECEMBER

Jennifer Davidson, 38, who was one of the first 15 people hired at Cartoon Network in the early 1990w, rising to senior veep of programming and scheduling. She was part of the team that spearheaded the launch of Adult Swim in 2001. Here's a link to a story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution featuring remembrances from family and friends.

Roger King, 63, leader of King World Prods. and one of the most successful entrepreneurs in TV history. King World prospered with enduring hits, "Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show," that spurred the growth of the first-run syndie biz in the 1980s and '90s. As King World grew, so did Roger's reputation as a master salesman with an encyclopedic knowledge of TV stations and local markets. Here's a link to part one of his three-part Archive of American Television interview, and here are links to the remembrances posted here in the days after his death. 

Stu Nahan, 81, longtime broadcaster and sports reporter for various L.A. outlets who earned the nickname "Skipper Stu" after hosting a kidvid show of the same name early on in his career.

Floyd Red Crow Westerman, 71, actor and activist, Westerman was a passionate advocate of Native American causes and filmmakers and recognized for his work on "Dances with Wolves" and "Northern Exposure," among many other movies and TV skeins. Here's a video interview with Westerman from 2004 that illustrates the depth of his intelligence and dedication to advancing the cause of Native Americans in all fields.

"He was my partner in everything," Michael King said on Sunday morning, his voice catching every so often as he spoke of his older brother, Roger King, the industry titan who died unexpectedly on Saturday at age 63.

The brothers worked shoulder to shoulder for nearly 30 years to build King World Prods. into the preeminent syndie distrib of the 1980s and '90s as the home of power hitters "Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and more recently "Dr. Phil" and "Rachael Ray."

Roger King knew just about everyone in the broadcasting biz, but Michael knew Roger in a way that only a brother and trusted business partner could. (Michael is pictured at right, Roger at left.)

"The King brothers always hung out together, before there was a King World, back when we lived on what was basically a farm on the Jersey shore. Our whole family always did fun stuff together, and we were always talking about the business we revered and how we were going to grow in it," Michael said.

As Roger was always quick to state, the King clan's success was rooted in the lessons they learned from their father, Charles King, who also worked in radio and TV sales. Charles preached integrity and honesty to his six kids (two other brothers, Robert and Richard, and two girls, Diana and Karen), and the importance of always looking out for the long-term relationship over the short-term gain. Charles' fortunes in showbiz never matched that of his sons, but he was "a great salesman. So entertaining. He had a big laugh," Michael recalls.

"My dad said, 'Make a deal that both parties can walk away from smiling, and then give 'em a little more. You will do business with them your whole career.' He said you have to remember that you come in to the room with your integrity and it's the only thing you leave with. Taking every dime off the table in a deal is bad business. It's really short-sighted. We learned from that."

His favorite song was "Rags to Riches." That sez a lot about Roger King, the sui generis TV exec who died Saturday at 63.

His death, coming a day after he suffered a stroke Friday morning at his home in Boca Raton, Fla., was a shock because of the sheer huge-ness of his husky 6-foot-4 presence and gravely, Rodney Dangerfield-esque baritone. He hadn't been ill of late, though he had lived with diabetes for years.

Remembering him on Saturday, friends and colleagues gently referenced that he'd live the high life and the hard life, and that was surely true. In Vegas and other gambling meccas, Roger would wager coin in $50,000 and $75,000 increments without blinking. (I almost threw up while observing this during a NATPE confab many moons ago.) His carousing in the mid 1980s and early 1990s landed him in mild legal trouble (an arrest for cocaine possession and for stealing, briefly, a taxi cab) and a stint in rehab.

But as much as he liked to play, Roger was at heart a businessman and a tireless worker. Long after he and his company King World Prods. had made billions and changed the landscape of the TV biz with hits like "Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy" and, of course, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," he stayed on the road making sales calls to TV stations in markets large, medium and small. People marveled that Roger spent so much time on the road, making personal calls on station owners in markets that had less overall ad coin than King World's annual revenues. Roger did it because he loved the game, the thrill of the hunt, and he had real affection for the broadcasting biz and the people in it.

He knew every TV station general manager from San Diego to Paducah, Ky., and all points in between, and he always blew away his sales targets with the depth of his knowledge of the competitive picture in each market. He prided himself on his mental Rolodex. He came in with a casual "Hi howya doin' attitude" and a slap on the back (which would often make the recipient airborne) and then launch into a relentless but sophisticated sales pitch with hurricane-force wind.

It's not for nothing that Merv Griffin was famously quoted as saying: "Roger King is without a doubt the greatest salesman in the history of anything, and I don't even limit him to just television. He could sell you anything."