Mort Marcus

Will Cartman and Kenny be as appealing if their mouths are washed clean of four-letter curse words? Comedy Central thinks so. The cable network has sold rights to sell reruns of "South Park," hoping to cash in on its most popular show, now in its seventh season. If Comedy Central succeeds, it would become one of the few cable channels ever to sell reruns to broadcast television. Until recently, cable channels didn't have the budgets to create broadcast-caliber programming.

Magic Johnson, Queen Latifah, Martin Short, John McEnroe, Megan Mullally, Whoopi Goldberg and Tony Danza all have a common talking point. When it came to hosting a television talk show, they walked the walk, but could not talk the talk. A crew of top comedians -- George Lopez, Wanda Sykes and Mo'Nique -- have just launched talk shows, venturing into a near-saturated field that already includes David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and the struggling Jay Leno, among many others. But as the threesome attempt to establish their own foothold, they have another goal -- avoiding the missteps of previous popular entertainers and sports figures who flopped in making the transition to hosting a gabfest.

Magic Johnson, Queen Latifah, Martin Short, John McEnroe, Megan Mullally, Whoopi Goldberg and Tony Danza all have a common talking point. When it came to hosting a television talk show, they walked the walk, but could not talk the talk. A crew of top comedians -- George Lopez, Wanda Sykes and Mo'Nique -- have just launched talk shows, venturing into a near-saturated field that already includes David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and the struggling Jay Leno, among many others. But as the threesome attempt to establish their own foothold, they have another goal -- avoiding the missteps of previous popular entertainers and sports figures who flopped in making the transition to hosting a gabfest.

Will Cartman and Kenny be as appealing if their mouths are washed clean of four-letter curse words? Comedy Central thinks so. The cable network has sold rights to sell reruns of "South Park," hoping to cash in on its most popular show, now in its seventh season. If Comedy Central succeeds, it would become one of the few cable channels ever to sell reruns to broadcast television. Until recently, cable channels didn't have the budgets to create broadcast-caliber programming.

Mort Marcus has joined Culver City-based Hal Roach Studios as president of a newly formed division, Hal Roach Telecommunications, and as corporate senior vice president. Marcus formerly was president of Colex, the joint venture between LBS Communications and Columbia Pictures Television.

Katie Callahan-Giobbi * Katie Callahan-Giobbi has been appointed director of sales and marketing at the Westin Century Plaza Hotel in West Los Angeles. She will oversee all sales and marketing activities for the 1,046-room hotel. She previously worked at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago. * Mort Marcus has been named executive vice president of sales and development for Go.com, an Internet portal and a division of Walt Disney Co.'s Buena Vista Television unit.

After more than six months of mediocre ratings and backstage difficulties, "The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show," a late-night talk show geared to young urban audiences, has been canceled. Mort Marcus, president of Buena Vista Television, which produced and distributed the syndicated show, said the decision to shelve the program was a painful one.

Wall Street securities analyst Jessica Reif joins Merrill Lynch as first vice president in the media equities research group, where she will follow cable, broadcasting and entertainment. Reif, who moves over from Oppenheimer & Co., succeeds Peter Falco, who retired. Longtime Merrill Lynch first vice president Harold Vogel continues to follow the Hollywood studios. Buena Vista Television has named Mort Marcus as president.

* Bruce Rosenblum has been promoted to executive vice president, television, Warner Bros., Burbank, the company said. He will oversee and coordinate the company's television operations. Rosenblum came to Warner Bros. in 1989 when Warner Communications acquired Lorimar Telepictures, where he was vice president of business affairs for Lorimar Television. * Dennis Davis has been promoted from general manager to president and chief operating officer of Cogent Light, Santa Clarita, the company said.

The young audiences of the two new late-night talk shows, "Vibe" and "The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show," give standing ovations and whoop wildly at the beginning of the programs. But more than two months after the debuts of the two syndicated, urban-flavored shows, TV insiders say neither has much to cheer about. Although they started out strong, both have generated lackluster national ratings since their Aug. 4 premieres. "Keenen" is averaging 2.

Generally, when a big studio sells a popular sitcom into syndication, it sits back and counts the multimillion-dollar fees it collects from hundreds of local stations desperate to air reruns of "The Cosby Show," "Roseanne" or "The Simpsons" in the 7-8 p.m. hour. But with "Home Improvement" and "Seinfeld," the two most popular network shows of the past two years, sitting back and counting the cash is not enough.