Lights, Cameras . . . City Council : City Hall: Council members were on their best behavior for the inauguration of a new cable channel that will carry live coverage of proceedings. But stay tuned.

Like children on the first day of school, the members of the Los Angeles City Council came to work Wednesday on their best behavior.

Their hair combed and their manners polished, 11 of the council’s 15 members showed up almost on time for their Wednesday meeting, which featured the inauguration of a new cable television channel that will carry live coverage of all council meetings. The other four showed up very late or not at all.

Nevertheless, Council President John Ferraro, who presides over the sometimes raucous sessions, pronounced himself gratified by the results.

“Council started five minutes early today,” Ferraro beamed at a celebratory luncheon. He heralded the arrival of the cameras as a “new beginning.”

Actually, the 10 a.m. meeting didn’t get rolling until about 10:15, but that’s at least five minutes earlier than the average day, when Ferraro is forced to dispatch the sergeant-at-arms to roust council members from their offices.

At a premeeting press conference, Ferraro predicted that Wednesday would be a “normal day” for the council. “I need a hair cut,” Ferraro said, “but I was afraid to get one yesterday because I didn’t want to be accused of doing something special.”

Nor did his fellow council members, who were studies in nonchalance as the cameras rolled.

With a light agenda and no matters of great controversy before them, the council members had few opportunities to make outraged speeches for the cameras. Nor did they say rude things about each other. Gone was the customary slumping in chairs, reading of newspapers.

Most stayed put at their desks throughout the meeting and appeared to be paying attention. Only a day earlier, Ferraro had scolded the group several times and begged them to stop wandering off and losing track of the agenda.

“They were all so nice today,” said Alisa Katz, an aide to Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky. “It was disgusting. Let’s get back to our usual shenanigans.”

Yaroslavsky, one of the livelier council members, was ill Wednesday and did not attend the meeting.

“I was surprised Zev would be sick on a day like this,” Ferraro said. “Either that or they couldn’t get his good suit out of the cleaners.”

New hairdos were evident Wednesday--on Joy Picus and Joel Wachs--and, inexplicably, all seven male council members who showed up were wearing gray suits and conservative ties.

The four female council members showed up in outfits that, according to longtime observers, they had worn before. Two chose deep turquoise, one wore purple and the other pink. The council meetings will be broadcast live on cable Channel 35 each Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday morning and rerun at 6 p.m. on the day of the meeting.

Eventually, council committee meetings may be added to the lineup, according to Susan Herman, the director of the city’s Telecommunications Department. It is not clear how many of the city’s 500,000 cable subscribers tuned in for the first City Council show, but 12 viewers called in to say they liked the program, she said.

Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who has long been pushing for the televised sessions, said her office also received congratulatory phone calls Wednesday. “I don’t believe we’re going to be rivaling ‘Roseanne’ for the ratings,” Flores said, “but I think our city family will have our share of drama.”