The Maury Povich Show

"The Maury Povich Show" (1991)

Review: I'm not too much into TV reviews, but this one I will.

Let me make a point. I hate this show. It's the same thing every time. It's either about, Boot camp for brats, He's Cheating, and Who's the dad. One thing for sure is that this show is mostly driven to hate men. Like the who's the daddy episodes are making the women seem like the innocent victims and the men are pure evil at least 95% of the time. First off, you are at fault for not using birth control and did not consent to safe sex. Second, you are a whore if you do not know who the father is, by means who have to point a finger and administer a paternity test to find out. Just how many guys did you sleep with? Unprotected nonetheless. Stupidity. The dads are also idiots too for not paying 3 dollars to purchase condoms to make sure that a pregnancy does not happen. As far as I'm concerned, both of em got themselves into this situation themselves. The only "victim" here is the child.

This show is based too much on trying to be a glorified Jerry Springer wannabe instead of dealing with issues that need to be taken care of. From the loud crowd to the usual guest taunting the crowd to the unoriginal ideas, Maury Povich is trash TV.

The Last Word: Unoriginal and mean-spirited. At least Jerry Springer does not take themselves seriously. Maury Povich does. Total garbage.

I was a big fan of Maury Povich when he hosted "A Current Affair" back in the late 80's. "A Current Affair" was tabloids TV at its best and Maury was the right guy to host. He kept your interest with these far out, non-six/eleven o'clock reported news stories. Maury as it's host, kicked butt.

So when he got a chance to host his own show, it seemed very promising. Over the years of the Maury show, 'promising' went the route of 'shocking-sensationalism'. That became too sad. In the back of my mind, I've always hoped that Maury Povich would have gone to CNN by the mid 90's and had the chance to shape himself into an anchor that would show the "real" side of news. Instead, he has shaped himself into a perpetrator of stereotypes.

Some viewers actually think Maury's show "helps" people. It only helps place folks deeper into stereotypical behaviors for the world to point at and see/think "I knew it!". It's 2006, and it's a sad commentary on the world.

The Maury Show has gotten into a bind. You know, like some famous old musicians who've been around longer than they should be -- and they try to do something new and the mass buying audience doesn't accept it -- so they get stuck doing the same thing over and over instead of just quitting. Well, this is the same thing that is going on with this show.

Maury has these shows:

1.) Is it a man or is it a woman audience contest show 2.) Disrespectful children to their parents show (boot camp impending!) 3.) Teenage Girls who want babies show 4). Hidden video show 5.) Teens on drugs show 6.) Who's the Daddy Show

The most popular is the "Who's the Daddy Show". At this point, I find that Maury and his producers are the most manipulative folks on this planet with that show. Sure, it provides great entertainment for viewers who want to see women degrade themselves by appearing on the Maury Show numerous times to find the one daddy for their child -- but I've noticed something about all of his shows over the years...

Take a look at whom they choose to place on the shows. It's all stereotypical - no matter how difficult, heart wrenching or ... positive ... the outcome is you see this:

1.) The angry, horrid-slang speaking African American 2.) The trailer trash (or as close to it as they can get) 3.) The fiery Hispanics (usually with tattoos or in gangs)

While this may be harmless entertainment for some, this has been overall perpetrating stereotypes. There is one show he (presumably to show a "softer side") does that I've purposely did not list above and this is what made me think about what this show is doing. This show Maury does is called:

"The Most Talented Kids Show"

Who appears? The stereotypical singing and dancing African American child, yes. The amazing trailer trash child, yes. But only in this show, will you see...the most talented violin or piano playing Asian. Now, that's interesting to think about.

Maury Povich and his producers are seeking the most outrageous, volatile people to keep the show on air and they only have fallen into the groups above, under the themes above. That's tabloid showbiz. But understand that is also viewer manipulation and part of television's contribution to the decline of western civilization. The Jerry Springer Show makes no bones about what they are and whom they appeal to. Maury Povich tries to categorize themselves as "better" but they aren't.

If you watch and are entertained by this, understand it IS only entertainment at the expense of promoting stereotypes - and the Maury Show does NOTHING to counteract that. It's all very one-sided. If you are looking for a program that may give you a view on other's lives...this is the program that shows the disturbing parts of those lives, a small percentage, and are not indicative of these folks as a whole.

If it wasn't for the fact that I'm way too lazy to change the channel when I leave the TV on FOX late at night while doing homework, I'd probably have never been exposed to this awful dreck. This show never once strays from one of three premises: Paternity Tests, Rebellious Teens Sent to Boot Camp, and Men Who Beat Their Wives. While this is a little more varied than the "Yet Another Potentially Explosive Love Triangle" theme of every Springer show, this show is a lot less fun because it actually takes itself seriously. Maury tries really hard to look like a sensitive host who cares about his guests, but he's extremely sneaky and manipulative as are his producers/editors who set every scene up to automatically put the blame on one individual and make a saint out of the other one. What a joke!

I've had friends that would appear on these shows and it's almost insane how much of the content is either faked by the individual or invented by the producers. It's impossible to take this sort of show seriously, yet it really tries to go for the gut punch with its seedy manipulation shady and attempts at sentimentality. It makes you wonder what audience they were looking for.

I don't see how they get guests, much less audiences to appear on this show. The one thing I can think that would be more embarrassing than appearing as a guest on this show, would be to have someone recognize you sitting in the audience of booing, easily manipulated morons. If you're a guy and you spontaneously get a free ticket in the mail one day to New York to appear on this show, either rip it up or expect to be completely humiliated for several minutes on nationally syndicated TV.

Every time I have seen this show it has something to do with paternity tests. Sometimes the outcomes are so heartbreaking and crushing. It never is about anything other than humiliation of the "guests." The audience shouts for more and laughs and mocks the misfortune of others. For instance, I saw a man humiliated by his wife and found out that it was possible that the baby he knows as his own may not be his. sometimes the baby is as old as 4! It is the most disgusting crap I have ever seen. I am surprised that Maury and the rest of the crew hasn't moved on to more hideous episodes such as "DNA tests on aborted fetuses," and "rapists tell all," or "lets humiliate the victim of rape" and "which family member is the molester, lie detector tests show?" This show hurts me to watch, and whether it is real or contrived, it is the most despicable, degrading, and morally reprehensible show I have seen on T.V.

Update: I think I am wrong about this creep being an alumnus of Harvard. I did see his show again today and I am convinced this show is made up. A woman came on and "told all" to her husband about cheating on him with his cousin. Well, it turned out neither was the father. Sounds like a low-rent conspiracy to me. Aren't there some racketeering laws regarding this sort of thing?

A previous poster couldn't have said it better when he said "The Maury Povich Show" now just called "Maury" these days is an insult to men everywhere.If you are a man expect to be dragged out as some deadbeat dad,some suspected teen father forced to take a paternity test,some controlling husband or boyfriend,or some guy who hasn't seen some girl who looked like nerd in her school days but now must show off her wares to this guy who "called me names and taunted me at school" in one of these"you called me a nerd but look at me now" segments.It is all too much really with Povich with his raspy New Yorker voice smiling at this mess he started and hoisted upon the viewing audience. It is a doublestandard when these sad sack women start crying their eyes out to Maury about their problems and then when the cause of their problems comes out,a man of course,he is booed relentlessly by the studio meat puppets Povich has gathered to watch his travesty unfold. Men ,themselves,aren't the only targets of Povich's bull sessions,kids are too.A mother will cry that her kid is a bully,or dresses like a whore,or beat her up and now we have a show that is called"My Violent Teen Needs Boot Camp!"The kids are huddled off to these camps and are humiliated and scared into civility where when they come back on the next day they have flowers and kisses for their talk show oppressor Maury. Better to send these parents off to boot camp since they can't raise their kids properly than have them used by creeps like Povich.It is sad that television talk shows,a long time ago,used to be conversations about topics of the day concerning the general public.Now they are public embrassments of innocent men and others at the hands of Povich.The fact Maury Povich can run his game with a national TV audience watching no less,tells me what sad shape the country is in right now.