Television viewers: Stop with the reality shows, already!

? In the eyes of viewers, reality television is not only a misnamed genre. It’s a format wearing out its welcome.

Four out of five Americans say they think too many reality shows are on the air, according to an AP-TV Guide poll. Only 4 percent of respondents said there were not enough.

Few people believe there’s much reality in reality TV: A total of 82 percent said the shows were either “totally made up” or “mostly distorted.”

“They pick the personality types to fit a role. I don’t think it’s really real,” said Brenda Sobol, a 42-year-old homemaker from Susanville, Calif. “It’s kind of bogus. I think they pretty much know what the outcomes are going to be or they wouldn’t do the programs.”

Other poll findings:

¢ Half of Americans believe there are too many crime shows on television. The longtime staple of TV dramas has proliferated with the success of franchises such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “Law & Order.”

¢ Of all the new shows introduced last year, “CSI: New York” has the most people looking forward to its return. “Desperate Housewives,” twice as popular with women as it is with men, came in second.

¢ People watch more TV as they get older. The median number of hours that people over 65 say they watch is 14.7 per week. For those 18 to 34, young people that TV advertisers are desperate to reach, it’s nine hours.

Television’s new season officially begins next week, a relief to viewers after a lackluster summer. Broadcast networks threw many new reality shows on the air. Among angry chefs, Tommy Lee’s college escapades and a rock band searching for a new singer, the only one to catch on was ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

Starting primarily with the CBS game “Survivor” and encompassing pop culture favorites like “The Osbournes,” “reality” is a TV genre that has grown to rival sitcoms and dramas. It doesn’t hurt that most are cheap to produce.

The poll results could be daunting news for Martha Stewart, who joins Donald Trump with her own edition of “The Apprentice” on NBC next week.

“You can get a reality show about anything,” said Michael Russell, a 27-year-old construction worker from Cleveland who admits to getting a charge out of Bravo’s “Being Bobby Brown.” “Anyone can do it.”

Joseph Passmore, 66, a retired computer systems analyst from Oklahoma City, said he enjoyed “Survivor.” But there’s little real about it, he said.

“I think most of them are fake,” he said. “Even ‘Survivor,’ they just show you the parts they want you to see, and it’s been messed with too much. They have too much – what do you call it? – editorial control.”