Do not join this 'Club'

If CBS promises never to rip off bad cable reality shows again, I promise to stop criticizing the network for cloning the crime dramas that overpopulate its schedule.

Apparently, the development process for "Tuesday Night Book Club" (9 p.m., Ch. 2) consisted of watching Bravo's "Real Housewives of Orange County." Which was, in turn, an attempt to turn "Desperate Housewives" into a reality show.

The premise of "Book Club" is simple — cameras are trained on a group of rich, pampered and unhappy housewives who live in upscale Scottsdale, Ariz.

CBS is hoping "Desperate" fans will see the parallels between these women and those housewives on Wisteria Lane. One of the "real" housewives is obviously supposed to be the counterpart to Bree Van De Camp (Marcia Cross) — Kirin is married to a doctor, she tries to make it look like everything in her life is perfect.

Hey, CBS goes so far as to tell us in the press notes that Kirin is "desperate to break out of her day-to-day routine" and that she's "desperate to feel loved."

The other members of the "Book Club" are Cris, 39, the loyal wife of a man with a serious addiction problem; Sara, 26, the party girl who flaunts her sexuality; Jenn, 38, the trophy wife who's completely into herself.

Also, Jamie, 25, the conflicted wife who has had a series of affairs; Lynn, 28, the newlywed who's constantly fighting with her husband; and Tina, 46, the divorced mom who "packs an iron fist in a silk glove."

There's one big difference between "Desperate Housewives" and "Tuesday Night Book Club." No matter how badly behaved the women on the former are, we know that they're fictional characters.

The women in the "Club," no matter how unreal their behavior seems, have no such excuse.

About the only thing we can learn from them is how desperate they are to be on television — desperate enough to make themselves look this bad on national TV.

Not that they don't have a lot of company on a lot of shows, but that doesn't make it any less nauseating.

NOTES FROM AROUND the television dial:

• Cybill Shepherd has signed on for 11 episodes of Showtime's "The L Word" next season — she'll play a college administrator who starts questioning her sexuality.

No big surprise there. The "L" in "The L Word" does stand for lesbian, after all.

And, I suppose, it's nice to see the former star of "Moonlighting" and "Cybill" find work playing something other than Martha Stewart, which she's done in TV movies for both NBC and CBS.