It was right about the time when Denise Richards turned her attention to pig sex that I angrily decided to put a pox on any reality TV show pegged to a washed-up and/or marginal celebrity.

I know: By now, we should expect the height of absurdity from this whacked-out genre. Still, I wasn't quite prepared for scenes involving a couple of fornicating hogs (with pixilated private parts!) during an episode of Richards' "It's Complicated" series on the E! cable network. But there they were: Two creatures among the actress's countless pets doing the deed while their owner looked on, all aghast.

The good news is that the pigs were imminently more interesting than the mind-numbingly bland Richards, who, during the course of the series, has had cameras trailing her as she visited the DMV, purchased a barbecue grill, drove a go-kart (very, very slowly) and discussed her brother-in-law's recent vasectomy.

Apparently, this is the price you pay when you become more famous for an ugly divorce from Charlie Sheen than your acting ability. You're sentenced to a reality series in which you're required to prove to America that you can be just as boring as anyone else.

Of course, reality shows involving clueless celebrities are hardly new (I'm still having nightmares stemming from the fiasco involving the late Anna Nicole Smith). But this summer, they have reached epidemic proportions, and now it seems that everyone who isn't

In recent weeks our nation, as if it weren't already beset with enough misery, has been subjected to series involving Dina and Ali Lohan ("Living Lohan"), Kathy Griffin ("My Life on the D-List"), former child stars Corey Feldman and Corey Haim ("The Two Coreys"), rapper Snoop Dogg ("Snoop Dogg's Father Hood") and Tori Spelling ("Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood").

In addition, we have shows this summer that aren't tied to a single celebrity, but multiple celebrities. These include "Celebrity Circus," which has people like "Jackass" daredevil "Wee-Man" Acuna and 50-year-old "Brady Bunch" alum Christopher Knight hamming it up under the big top. And then there's "Celebrity Family Feud," which plops vaguely familiar people like Corbin Bernsen and Vinny Pastore (along with their families) into the age-old game show for our viewing displeasure.

Oh, why do the TV Gods mock us so?

Now, I realize there are some inherent benefits to celebrity TV. It keeps a lot of old has-beens off the streets and out of rehab. It gives them something to occupy their minds. But haven't we had enough? Haven't they had enough?

I suppose the genre does still hold some appeal for the viewer who finds perverse joy in watching the celebrity ego get deflated. But what's in it for the celebrity (besides the money)? Why haven't they been scared off by the televisual train wrecks involving the likes of Paula Abdul, Gene Simmons and countless others?

Clearly, most of them sign up for these shows hoping that they will rekindle some semblance of the intoxicating fame they once possessed. But in most cases, this doesn't really work — or did I miss M.C. Hammer's incredible chart-topping comeback after he appeared on "The Surreal Life"?

No, usually all a reality series does is make the celebrity appear sad, pathetic and/or woefully desperate. Or it exposes some ugly aspect of their lives. Viewers of "Hogan Knows Best," for example, witnessed the marital strife between Hulk Hogan and his wife, Linda. And the famous wrestler has admitted the show "amplified" their problems, which have led to divorce proceedings.

Still, the celebs are hopelessly, shamelessly drawn to the cameras. Pamela Anderson, who has a series — "Pam: Girl on the Loose" — coming to E! next month, recently told Entertainment Weekly that she is not a fan of the reality genre, but admitted she's a hapless exhibitionist.

"Some people are afraid of being filmed," she said. "I'm afraid of not being filmed."

Exactly. And that's why we'll soon be invited to gape at even more camera hogs (humans, not pigs). In the coming weeks, celebs debuting their own reality shows include comedian Margaret Cho ("The Cho Show," VH1), former boxer George Foreman ("Family Foreman," TV Land), Maureen McCormick ("Outsider's Inn," CMT) and former 2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell ("Luke's Parental Advisory," VH1).

"One thing about my life that's a big mystery is: who am I at home?" Campbell said in an interview. "Most people think my life is just T&A all day."

Funny, I would bet that most people never have pondered for a moment the mystery that is Campbell's personal life. Now, isn't it finally time that he and all his delusional peers just "get real"?

Reach Chuck Barney at cbarney@bayareanewsgroup.com. Also check out his blog at www.ibabuzz.com/tvfreak.