By Elizabeth White

   It looks like next year’s original programming on cable won’t be so original after all.
   The new shows that the cable networks announced last week at the Television Critics Association press tour look a lot like what has been appearing on broadcast networks over the past year. 
   Lined up so far for cable are reality shows, animated series, game shows, and a healthy dose of crime dramas.
    Indicative of this copycat trend is VH1’s "Bands on the Run," yet another reality-game show series that follows music groups on the make. 
    Only this time it’s three unsigned bands competing on a road trip for a $50,000 cash prize. Along with ABC’s "Making the Band" and the WB’s "Popstars," these series should guarantee that no subtlety of the music industry will be left unturned.
   But just in case VH1 is also developing "Signs of Life," a half-hour scripted drama about the travails of a struggling rock group. That way the script writers, should a strike be avoided, can create any conflicts among the fictional characters that the reality shows happen to miss.
   And there’s even more reality in development for other networks. USA has picked up the extreme survival race, "Eco-Challenge Borneo," from Mark Burnett, the creator of CBS’s "Survivor."
   TNN is developing some odd reality-fiction blends.
     "Small Shots" is a series in which ordinary people become actors and perform short parodies of popular movies.
    In "Lifegame," an improv theater group acts out the life story of an audience member. The play-at-home versions will challenge viewers to untangle the reality from the fiction in these weird series.
   Now that animated series can be found during primetime on three different broadcast networks, cable networks are also rolling out some new animated programs. 
    Fox Family is producing "Braceface," a show about a young girl’s experiences in junior high school. Alicia Silverstone will executive produce and voice the lead character. And VH1 will debut "Animal Trax," an animated parody of the music business set in the animal world.
    VH1 also has an entry in the traditional game show format, "Name that Video," the long overdue evolution of "Name that Tune."
   And picking up on the success of CBS’s "C.S.I." and NBC’s "Law and Order" franchise, USA has four crime shows in production for the fall. 
   The planned shows include "Thoughtcrimes," a series about telepaths, "Mob Wives," a series about mobsters, "Ms. Tree," a series about a female detective, and "Daylight Robbers," a series about housewives who sideline as criminals.
   What’s left to see is whether or not these unoriginal original series will continue to lure viewers from broadcast to cable.

-Elizabeth White is a staff writer for Media Life.

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