Maurizio

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.

"The Maury Povich Show" can be considered quite odd, even for a talk show. While it isn't as down-and-out sleazy and exploitive as many other talk shows, it is by no means wholesome entertainment. For example have B&W reenactments (ooh, arty!) of people naked and/or having sex that can't be there for any other reason than to titilate, since the guests and/or Maury could EASILY just SAY what happened with just a few words!

Of course, the topics that are chosen for the show can be considered exploitation. Even when it's about a real and serious problem (overweight babies), it comes off as exploitive. For example, whenever they do overweight toddlers, they are almost always brought into the show just in a diaper to emphasize their weight. The "I have a secret" episodes (which almost all the guests are there to confess to a loved one they cheated on him/her), even though they give guests a way to reveal their secret, still get you irked that Maury is showing, in front of millions, hearts being ripped apart.

And then, of course, we have the paternity tests. OVER AND OVER AND OVER! It seems like every other episode focuses on paternity tests! As others have pointed out, there seems to be an anti-male vibe to these particular episodes (as well as some other non-paternity episodes), with the men made to look like scum whether they are the fathers or not. In fairness, some men right from the start come off as decent (and the audience does show their approval to them), and the men who insult the women certainly aren't being forced to do so. Still, you sense a lot of bias. For one thing, during the lie detector shows, how come it's ALWAYS the MAN who is accused of cheating and is being tested - why doesn't Maury ever do any shows when it's the WOMAN who is being accused of cheating by the man?

What really makes the show odd, however, is the way Maury reacts to what he covers. We see him comforting upset guests, he offers various kinds of help to his guests, he tells rude guests they can't act that way, and he regards just about everything with utter seriousness. The way he acts is indeed warm and likable, but you cannot tell if Maury REALLY cares for his audience or not (unlikely, give this IS a talk show!) In fact, I would say that this attitude of Maury's - phony or not - is probably one of the big reasons for its success and long run.

Why is this show still on? Can people not get enough images of naughty teens in boot camps or crying women or guys finding out they are fathers or not? Oh well. I at least give Maury props for doing shows on physical abnormalities like fat babies, midgets and those people with the gigantic heads and eyes that age too fast. *shivers*

Connie Chung seems to be the dumbest, least appealing woman in her field so I suppose it's appropriate she's married to the dumbest, least appealing man in his field. I want to punch Maury in the face every time I see his retarded, smiling mug. His voice is so annoying. Note the part of the show where he says "promotional consideration provided BY..." That "by" is the single most annoying syllable ever recorded by man....

Seriously, what else can expect from a guy named "Maury".... Sheesh..

This has become the worst piece of Crap on TV!! I watch the KTLA morning news every morning here in LA and I sometimes catch the first few minutes of this show if I don't change the channel in time and every morning its the same garbage "Who's the father" I remember over a decade ago when Maury fist came on and like Sally they were all Oprah clones yet they at least tried to do more respectable and hard hitting subjects but as we all know Jerry Springer changed all that and Maury fallowed him down the garbage path.

Its sad to see a once respectable Journalist stoop to this kind of a low where all you do is bring 7 black guys on and try and figure out who is the father of a girl who had sex with all of them around the same time.

No redeemable qualities at ALL!

GARBAGE!!!