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Forget “Dancing With the Stars” or the return of your favorite show stymied by the writers’ strike.

The best show in town will be coming to the small screen soon when live Marco Island City Council meetings debut on Comcast and Marco Cable for subscribers.

Sometime in April, residents should be able to tune into channel 12 of both island cable providers to watch meetings of the council live, as well as meetings of the city’s Code Enforcement Board and Planning Board. The date is not exact yet because Comcast, the company performing the hookup, has not committed to a completion date, city officials say.

City Public Information Coordinator Lisa Douglass said she is pushing for the live feed to be ready by Monday, the next scheduled City Council meeting. During that meeting, council is expected to accept a short list of candidates to consider for the post of city manager, which was vacated by Bill Moss in December and has been occupied by interim managers ever since.

“We’re going to do everything in our power, because that’s an important date,” Douglass said. “I think it would be good for residents to see how the process works of hiring a city manager.”

As of this Monday, Douglass said, Comcast was reporting to the city that it would be within reach to have the feed set up by April 14 at the latest, when the city manager finalists arrive on Marco for interviews with the council.

When the feed debuts, it will take over from the Naples City Council meetings currently airing on channel 12. In addition, people from anywhere can watch the meetings live or after the fact via a link on the city’s Web site. The link will go active once the television feed is available.

Douglass is tentatively calling the station Marco TV. She said that name is subject to change, and could be decided, along with the logo, through a contest. She said she would like to see the logo designed by a local school children.

“I’m just thrilled about this,” Douglass said. “It allows the public to be fully informed of council dialogue and process. The Webcasting is even a better function — people can go back to the Webcast and review it themselves while they’re sitting in their own home.”

It is a development that many council members have been pushing for months — even years — for those very reasons.

“I would have loved it for it to already be in place,” City Councilor Jerry Gibson said. “I think it’s crucial. The more opportunity that people have to see what’s happening in local government, the better it is. It’s one thing to read about it in the paper, but you’re always going to be reading it through somebody else’s eyes.”

Councilor Frank Recker, a major proponent of the action, was vocal at the last City Council meeting in expressing his frustration over the delay in implementing the live feed.

“It’s no secret that I am not and was never satisfied with the way things were proceeding,” Recker said in an interview. “I believe that some people inside City Hall didn’t support the concept for whatever reason and were potentially attempting to avoid it.”

Moreover, Recker said he would like to see all city meetings aired live online and on television. Due to budget constraints, Douglass said, the city is currently able to provide the staff only for those three council or committee meetings.

“It doesn’t take a lot,” Douglass conceded. “The problem is we only have half of an (audiovisual) person to do this.”

The city is required to provide the staff to operate the camera and audio equipment in the community room where meetings occur. The only other concrete cost to the city is a one-time $5,500 fee paid to Comcast to complete the hookup.

However, Recker said he thinks other meetings — such as the city’s Beach Advisory Committee or the Bike Paths Volunteer Committee — should and could be aired as well.

“It’s more than a possibility,” Recker said. “I see it as being more than reasonable to anticipate it should occur almost immediately. I’m not convinced we don’t have the staff.”

Council Chair Bill Trotter agreed that expansion is necessary to widen the net cast by broadcasting public meetings. To his mind, he said, airing any meeting helps give residents exposure to issues, even when they are homebound or simply feel uncomfortable about attending a meeting.

“Anything we can do within budget constraints to expose that whole process is important,” Trotter said. “What we tried to do when we first started is create that atmosphere over the airwaves and in the meetings where people feel comfortable coming.”

Trotter has repeatedly said that — particularly during the budgeting period — the city needs to hold more workshops to gather public input and keep the decision-making process open. Airing the meetings live would open things up even more, he said.

Some council members said they want to see the channel become a vehicle for other types of programming as well. Currently, Douglass said the city is planning on airing public announcements between council and committee meetings.

Councilor Ted Forcht sees an opportunity for original programming, though, including content prepared entirely by residents.

“I’d like to see that — have the city working with the citizens,” Forcht said. “Give them a forum. Everything doesn’t have to be discussed at City Hall.”

He said the channel could become a way for council members to communicate on a more direct and personal level with residents.

“The more that we can get out and be transparent to the people, the less people are going to be mad at us, thinking we’re always trying to hide something,” Forcht said. Councilor Rob Popoff echoed one benefit espoused repeatedly by Douglass — saturation. The more information made easily available to residents, the more easily they can involve themselves in the political process.

“Typically, most residents don’t have 100 percent of the information,” Popoff said. “I just feel that the more information we have out there, the better. It will allow people to stay up to date on the information.”

Besides, as many have pointed out, council meetings can sometimes be a long, hard slog through a multitude of issues before an issue of interest to one individual or group comes up.

“I don’t know whether this is true or not, but the replay of our City Council meetings on Wednesday night, I was told, was the best show in town there for a while,” City Councilor Chuck Kiester said. “I don’t know if that’s going to continue to be true, but I think it’s absolutely important for as many people as possible to tune in. They can even eat their dinner while we’re deliberating. I think it’s absolutely a good thing.”

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Meetings to be aired live on channel 12:

City Council, first and third Monday of the month, 5:30 p.m.

Planning Board, first and third Friday of the month, 9 a.m.

Code Enforcement Board, second Tuesday of the month, 4 p.m.