The leaves begin to change from green to a rainbow of rich colors. Turkeys replace pumpkins as the holiday decoration of choice. The new network shows no one watched vanish from the TV Guide listings.

Ah, November is such a magical month.

CBS announced yesterday “Bram and Alice,” a sitcom starring Alfred Molina and Traylor Howard (“Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place”) about a writer and a fan who turns out to be his long-lost daughter, is the newest series to hit the chopping block. The show followed in the footsteps of Fox’s “girls club” and ABC’s “Push Nevada” and “That Was Then.”

Frankly, it shouldn’t come as a shock that any of these series has already gone off the air – all were rather banal and very formulaic. Not a one between them really stood out as being worthy of remaining on the air.

But the networks just don’t get it. When Fox pulled David E. Kelley’s “girls club,” it was only bringing in a fraction of lead-in “Boston Public’s” rating, another Kelley-created drama. Instead of replacing it with a high-quality and risk-taking show, Fox decided to finish out the November sweeps with the asinine “Funniest Animal Outtakes” and “Funniest Holiday Moments.”

Newsflash to Fox; “Boston Public” was an original concept and that’s why it works. While the show’s school may have a bit more drama than the average high school, it is a good amalgamation of the pressures high school students face in 2002.

The networks never support their best programming. In 1998, ABC debuted “Sports Night,” a half-hour drama that had absolutely nothing to do with sports. The show was marketed as one of the network’s latest sitcoms, so viewers who tuned in expecting the more traditional comedy of “Spin City” or “Dharma and Greg” were grossly disappointed by the show’s sarcastic wit.

Similarly, networks often move their quality shows around, hoping to draw more people in to watch the subpar shows by putting them into a schedule hot spot. ABC killed off the Sela Ward vehicle “Once and Again” by assigning it seven different time slots.

Instead of creating more imaginative programming, the networks churn out carbon copies of more successful shows.

When the WB took a chance on Joss Whedon by airing “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” they were taking a huge risk. After all, the film – from which the show is based – wasn’t a huge critical or financial success. It took Whedon’s brilliant blend of comedy and horror to make the show a true cult smash.

Then came the copycats. The derivative “Dark Angel” and “Alias” are merely reflections of the butt-kicking girl power “Buffy” began with its 1997 debut.

The playfully sarcastic tone of “Seinfeld” also spawned at least one wannabe. In 1999, just one year after Jerry and co. took their last bows, “It’s Like, You Know …” grew from its ashes. During the first show, two of the characters held a discussion about the letter Q and its placement too high in the alphabet. One can almost see Jerry and George sitting in the coffee shop having the same discussion.

Even Kelley’s “girls club” is just “Ally McBeal” times three. The tale about a trio of fish-out-of-water lawyers trying to make a place for themselves among the firm’s other dominant personalities just shows how lazy Kelley has gotten in the past few years.

Instead of relying on a line up of past-their-prime stand-bys, the networks should work of crafting a few more quality shows. If not, VH1 might threaten to take another stab at that “The Osbournes” rip-off known as “Liza and David,” and honestly, that may just bring about the coming of the apocalypse.

Todd LaPlace is a junior in journalism and The Lantern arts editor. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].