Cable imitating itself? Copy that

Seen one network, seen ‘em all?

A big problem is brewing for TV programmers, especially on cable: Too many of them are running shows that resemble the same stuff everyone else is doing.

You may say, “Yes, and next you’ll break the story of the invention of the cathode-ray tube.” Isn’t chasing somebody else’s hits just the normal behavioral pattern of television executives?

Maybe, but look at Sunday nights this spring. E! is running “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” which deserves every viewer’s gratitude for addressing the nation’s acute shortage of celebreality shows. On History, you’ll find “Ax Men,” the latest in the real-men-in-danger genre spawned by Discovery’s “The Deadliest Catch.” MTV has “That’s Amore!,” a spinoff of the reality dating show “A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila” -- which is also back for Season 2.

When TV execs wax on about how the proliferation of cable outlets has created more consumer choice, this can’t be what they have in mind. What happened to the programmers’ adage “Put on what’s not on”?

“There’s too much me-too programming on cable networks,” said Evan Shapiro, executive vice president and general manager at IFC.

“Cable was able to steal more than 50% market share from broadcast networks because it was able to do things broadcasters would never do,” he added. “Now you have ‘You Can Pimp My Ride With a House of Your Own.’ ... With the marketplace so crowded, it’s hard to establish a distinct brand.”

Rob Sharenow, senior vice president of nonfiction and alternative programming at A&E;, echoed the point. “The marketplace has gotten more competitive for nonfiction product,” he told me. “A lot of people are trying to cash in on a trend.”

But not his network, Sharenow hastened to add. A&E;, once devoted to fine-arts programming, raised eyebrows when it launched its own celebreality show, “Gene Simmons Family Jewels,” now in its third season. But Sharenow pointed out that the series began its life as a project featuring the truculent rock star on sister network Biography.

Much of the copycat-ism has to do, of course, with the explosion of reality TV since 2000. It’s not hard to figure out why networks like this type of programming. Compared with scripted shows, reality is cheap. Development times are shorter. Episodes can be churned out quickly. The “talent” is readily available. There are no expensive, overscheduled, unionized actors to contend with, no swanky sets to build.

Reality shows often generate huge ratings gains too, especially for cable networks accustomed to drawing fewer than 1 million viewers for a typical show. It’s not lost on A&E; execs that their two highest-rated shows are “Dog the Bounty Hunter” and “Gene Simmons Family Jewels.”

But the benefits come with a big downside for networks looking to distinguish themselves.

“It’s cheap, disposable programming,” Shari Anne Brill, an analyst for New York ad firm Carat USA, said of reality shows. But with a few notable exceptions -- Bravo’s fashion-oriented “Project Runway,” which actually does seek to measure contestants’ talent -- “the shows seem so nondistinct from each other ... [that] they don’t seem to brand a network in any way,” she added.

This isn’t an anti-reality screed, though (for the record, your columnist loves his fair share of such shows, including “That’s Amore!” and Bravo’s “Millionaire Matchmaker”). The rise of unscripted series is really just a signpost of a larger trend as cable nets continue to retool their identities in search of more viewers amid a teeming marketplace.

Viewers of a certain age may remember Bravo B.Q.E. (Before “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”). Back in the late 1980s, the network was devoted to subtitled art films by the likes of Francois Truffaut and Alain Resnais. That was then.

Bravo has since evolved into the gay network that Logo aspires to be. Or take History, which once ran so many World War II documentaries it was dubbed the Hitler Channel. With a show like “Ax Men,” the network is taking a broader view of what constitutes history, since the show is, um, set in the present.

IFC’s Shapiro argues that network evolution is a natural process that happens all the time, whether viewers are aware of it or not. His network, for example, has lately expanded from a relatively narrow focus on independent films to embrace what Shapiro calls “independent culture.”

Thus last week IFC announced its latest foray into original programming, a “semi-scripted” original comedy called “Z Rock,” which follows a real-life rock band. Shapiro hopes “Z Rock” will run against the tide of programming elsewhere. “We’re investing in comedy when other people don’t seem to be,” he said.

The goal is to find the breakout such as the 1960s period drama “Mad Men,” which last summer instantly elevated AMC from its status as a clearinghouse for old movies. “Overnight, it changed the brand of that network,” Shapiro said (AMC and IFC are both owned by Cablevision subsidiary Rainbow Media).

Last summer was in fact kind of a miracle season for basic cable, with large numbers of viewers turning up for new shows such as FX’s “Damages” with Glenn Close and TNT’s “Saving Grace” with Holly Hunter. The results suggested that for building long-term network brands, traditional scripted series with big stars may still be tough to beat.

A&E; isn’t shucking nonfiction programming by any means, but Sharenow was eager to discuss “The Cleaner,” a new drama starring Benjamin Bratt. The show, about a recovering addict who devotes his life to helping others, looks to be a cross between “Highway to Heaven” and “Clean & Sober.”

TV execs like to say that viewers watch programs, not networks. But Sharenow says the heated competition has made it more important than ever for networks to stand out.

“The proliferation of product has brought brand value to an even greater level,” Sharenow said. “With 200 channels and the World Wide Web at your fingertips, no one knows where to go.”

That search probably won’t get any easier in the near future, though. Not when cable networks continue to roll out series like Bravo’s “Step It Up & Dance,” which premiered last week.

Really -- a dance contest on TV! What will they think of next?

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The Channel Island column runs every Monday in Calendar.

Contact Scott Collins at scott.collins@ latimes.com.