Maury

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..

whenever it is on and I'm not working, I'm compelled to watch it for a half hour or so, only to be revolted at myself for watching this trash.

Like all the other reviews have said, there are basically three types of shows. The first is the show that's on every other episode, the one that tries to find out who is the father of the poor kid fathered by some nasty whore. It always starts out the same, where the woman is angry that the father would deny he's the kid's father. The father will then call her every nasty name in the book on a minute video or so, to get the crowd against him. It really feels scripted, to be quite honest. The guy will come out, get booed, and the two will exchange words that you can't hear because have of them are beeped out. Povich will give the results, and half the time the guy is the father, and half the time he isn't. If he is, the woman will berate him for a minute and he will make some half hearted comment about how he will be a real father, when you know this poor kid will grow up to be a criminal or a stripper, never really given a good chance in life. If he's not the father, he will do a little dance, berate the woman for a minute who has gone backstage crying, while Povich will make a vain attempt to console her. The subset of this show is whores who have cheated on their boyfriend of the week, and want to take a test to make sure the child they had together is really his. Another subset of this show is 'cheating' boyfriends, which usually involves a 'sexy decoy' (read: some whore Maury paid off to flirt with the guy) flirting with a guy caught on camera, much to the girlfriend's chagrin. The 'sexy decoy' whore will come out and berate the guy, probably for violating her high moral standards or something. The girlfriend will then leave the guy, only probably to go back to him when she can't make her trailer home payment or when the project she lives in kicks her out of her house.

The second show is sending kids to boot camps. South Park make a perfect parody of it already. The most amusing part of this is seeing this angry black guy, Dee West, come out and scream for five minutes or so. The kids go to boot camp or juvi or whatever, and are all magically reformed and all go to thank the glorious Povich for his sage wisdom. A subset of this show is the abusive husbands who also get yelled at by West or whoever and are sent to jail and amend their ways, all nicely in an hour.

The third show is kind of a grab bag, usually either animals, overweight babies (which is the one that truly disgusts me), people afraid of condiments, guessing whether a tranny is a man or a woman, and tall fat people who are dating short skinny people, because that's just funny.

I'll confess, maybe I watch this show to make my pathetic self feel better compared to the wastes of humanity that are on this show. That being said, I wonder how much of the show is scripted because it all sounds the same. Still, it brings out the worst stereotypes of all their guests. Then again, it brings them out in blacks, whites, and latinos, so I guess Povich is an equal opportunity basher. No Asians though, I wonder if Connie put the nix on that.

Povich himself is absolute slime. Say what you want about Jerry Springer, but that guy knows and admits he is scum. Povich portrays the attitude like he's actually doing humanity some sort of service, which is bizarre. That being said, I'm watching the show right now and listening to that Dee West guy berate a bunch of husbands who proudly proclaim they beat up their low self esteem wives, so I can't say the show is horrible. Still, like I said before, I watch it partially due to the train wreck factor, and partially due to the fact that I feel better about myself after watching it.

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.

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.

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?