The task of converting the enthusiasm into a program on the air falls to Rick Kaplan, 42, the program's executive producer.

Rick Kaplan is identified by critics as a liberal because of his friendship with Bill Clinton.

Rick Kaplan served as president of CNN from 1997 to 2000.

"Anything and everything we do, like licking stamps," said Rick Kaplan, one of the group's two artistic directors.

"He wanted to go, but he just couldn't get it together," said Rick Kaplan, Camby's business manager.

"Marcus is taking every step possible to get through this mentally and emotionally," Rick Kaplan, the manager, said yesterday.

Even Rick Kaplan, the show's executive producer, had distanced himself from identification with it.

"He's probably not coming back this year," said Rick Kaplan, who is Camby's business manager.

The two will succeed Rick Kaplan, who resigned last week as the network's president.

"He's 100 percent sure that he wouldn't be able to contribute," Rick Kaplan, Camby's business manager, said.