Sure, Geraldo, Oprah and Donahue are the...

Sure, Geraldo, Oprah and Donahue are the rage now. But could they be replaced by Zev, Joy and Marvin?

Not for a while, because the start of cable telecasting of Los Angeles City Council meetings has been postponed at least until August.

You know how difficult it is to get cable hooked up.

The General Service Administration says the problem is converting a room above the chamber into the council control room, from which workers will direct the camera work.

So viewers will have to wait until the fall season to see their triweekly dose of council drama--Robert Farrell and Richard Alatorre sprinting back and forth from their seats to a telephone in the corner during sessions; Zev Yaroslavsky occasionally tossing a tennis ball into the air to kill boredom; President John Ferraro’s jokes; members sometimes dozing.

Then there are the celebrity guests such as Roger (Peanut Man) Owens, the Dodger vendor who flipped a bag of goobers behind his back to every council member the day he was honored.

Oddly enough, considering that Hollywood is within their jurisdiction, the future performers have indicated that they’re a bit camera shy. Several council members, in fact, have said they want “a trial period” during which meetings will only be broadcast inside City Hall. Dress rehearsals are expected to last from 30 to 60 days, depending on the early reviews.

You’ve got one of those cars with a lot of number and letters in its name; you’ve got the cellular phone inside (hooked up to an answering machine), as well as the fax machine. But somehow something’s missing. . . .

Of course. You’re lacking a synthetic holiday wreath that attaches to your grill. No problem. Geary’s of Beverly Hills is offering one this year for $18.50 (pine cones included).

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich learned Tuesday that he had survived a recount paid for by rival Baxter Ward.

Antonovich had been quietly confident inasmuch as the first count gave him 64% of the vote. But it was a strange campaign.

Noting that Ward had earlier contributed $250 to him as a publicity ploy, Antonovich said: “This is the only time I’m aware of where your opponent made a monetary contribution to (your) campaign and after losing by nearly 200,000 votes asks for a recount.”

Incidentally, Antonovich picked up an additional eight votes the second time around.

So, Prime Minister Ciriaco De Mita of Italy shows up at City Hall and is greeted by a band laying . . . Dixieland jazz?

“My rule of thumb is I always select American music,” said Bea Canterbury Lavery, chief of protocol for the mayor’s office. De Mita, she noted, “gets the best of Italian music in Italy.”

Occasionally, Lavery said, she plays requests when such dignitaries are coming to town.

When the Duke and Duchess of York scheduled a visit, the British Consulate advised Lavery: “Think young.”

Lavery had the Latino rock group Los Lobos play for the royal couple. “Andrew and Fergie loved it,” Lavery said. “They rushed over to shake hands with them.”

An individual with a June 15 lottery ticket worth $4.7 million missed Tuesday’s deadline for cashing it in, officials said. So the money will go to the lottery’s education fund. The ticket, purchased at a Hawthorne liquor store, represents the largest unclaimed prize yet. Do the numbers 1, 10, 17, 20, 32 and 40 sound familiar to anyone?

The Freeway Crazy du Jour: KMPC traffic broadcaster John McElhinney reported that a motorist had disembarked from his car on the Harbor Freeway downtown and was attempting to remove guard-rail posts. “With the holidays coming up,” McElhinney said, “I guess maybe he was getting some fire wood.”