Maury (1991–2022) User Reviews

The Show is Like a Train Wreck

[nate505 · 5/10 · 8 December 2006]

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.

Entertain, redundant and trashy

[ThunderKing6 · 3/10 · 30 April 2020]

Back in the 00s Maury for me was a fun and entertaining show.

I had suspicions that the show was scripted but I still kept watching from time to time.

Years later seeing that this show is still on doing the same baby mama drama bids. I'm an certain that the Maury show is a big skit.

Everyone has seen or has heard of Maury. So if you find yourself sitting next to Maury expect your wife and girlfriend to either tell you the child is not yours or that she is a an innocent cheater.

My 2 Cents about The Maury Show(Does anyone know why the audience isn't allowed to ask questions or comment?)

[PanicAtTheMovieTheater · 5/10 · 4 January 2007]

I will admit that I do watch the Maury show, however the topics are recycled. How many paternity test shows do we need? Even the television judges are doing it on their shows now. I cringe every time I see women bringing any number of guys on the show and they turn out not to be the father, some argue and say that they are "1 million percent" sure that the guy is the father even after they have had more than 10 guys on the show. They end up looking like tramps as well as liars. I laugh though, whenever a girl says that she is "1 million percent" sure and as Maury reads the results they get up to start dancing, or slap the guy or whatever and then Maury says the dreaded 3-letter word "NOT", they run backstage and cry. Some of them smirk and sit there as if they already knew.

I also noticed that sometimes Maury says "You are..." then pauses, so people think that the guy is the father, then he says "not the father", sometimes you can see a smirk on his face. He tries to appear as if he is helping the girls, when he is really laughing at them inside. It is not all Maury's fault, don't get me wrong because they should know about birth control and they are also showing that they could care less about STDs and STIs. I find these people to be walking stereotypes. I find them shameful.

Especially one girl, who had just brought 14 men to the show to find the father of her THREE children, she found the father of one of them, and I was very happy for her even though she hadn't found the father of the other two ,then months later she sends a video postcard telling Maury that she is pregnant again and will be on the show to find the father of the child she was carrying.

I also hate it when a woman is there for a paternity test and the guy's girlfriend or mom is constantly shouting "He is not the father, go find the real "baby daddy"! That just makes me wish that the guy IS the father so that these people can look stupid. I mean, come on, they weren't there while these people were getting intimate, they should mind their business and just wait and see. Sometimes it hurts me when the guys mom says that the baby isn't her grandchild even after the test proves he is the father, I think that is so ignorant and wrong.

Maury has another topic that he runs into the ground. Young girls having sex, drinking and doing drugs, stealing, catching STD's and so on. Let's start with the STD's, some of these girls are between the ages of 11-17, why is Maury telling people that the girls have STD's or have caught STD's? Even if their parents volunteer this information, I don't think that Maury should.

These girls come out on the stage and they seem like the most horrible girls(notice how there are hardly any teen boys on the show?) Then that guy D-West(ugh!) comes out yelling and spitting everywhere and all the girls go to boot camp, or visit a jail. They are reformed within 48 hrs.

The drag queen shows where the audience tells Maury who they think is a man or not, is a little embarrassing to me. It makes it seem like Maury is trying to pinpoint who has gay tendencies but he is covering it up with the topic.

I HATE the shows with the people with birth defects or the obese ,especially the children. It feels like he is just exploiting them, its true that he gives him gifts and things like that, but it is so sad seeing them like that. I do notice one thing, they seem to be a lot happier and appreciative than children who are "normal" The shows with the obese babies also annoys me, I know that it seems like he may be trying to help them because all the weight can be a health hazard, but I notice that when they are shown in the green room, there are donuts, Cheese Doodles, and other unhealthy foods all around.

The topic teens wanting babies is getting pretty old. They have moms who volunteer to come to the show with their babies to give to these teens to take care of during the course of 24 hours. The babies are crying and wailing till they turn red, then after Maury shows that on the videotape, he says something like "You see, and you think you can handle a baby?" Hello! The babies don't know these girls of course they are going to act up! I get the message, but come on think about it.

The kids dancing and singing isn't so bad though, but the secret crushes or the "I was a geek now I'm super chic" shows really kill me. Is it me or do the men always happen to be strippers and the women always have on the skimpiest of outfits and then act embarrassed when the guy spins them around to see their butts? The FUNNIEST episode of Maury was the plastic surgery episode and someone came out, and all the girls were looking at her like "Yuck" but all the guys were standing up, clapping going "Whoooo!!!!!!!!" So Maury says this is "Allanah" now, here's what she looked like before and they showed a picture of a little boy. I almost choked on my pancakes!

Maury is like a bizarre tornado of chaos and destruction

[Jayson_Orleans-Perez · 1/10 · 1 January 2009]

This show was decent back in the '90's (circa 1993-1998) I'll give the show that much credit. It began with gifted children and adults of all race, religion, and creed beating out the odds and gaining some substantial ground with their lives. But then about 2001 or 2002 something changed Maury Povich probably saw his ratings drop to (I'm guessing) Jerry Springer (as around that time, Springer would have the camera men go to people's houses, I wonder why they stopped that?) as Rikki Lake and Jenny Jones had been long gone, it only left those two super powers in the talk show industry (at the time). Instead of Maury hanging it up and retiring, Maury became like a bizarre tornado of chaos and destruction. The show was almost playing second fiddle to Jerry Springer.

Now, if you're reading this then obviously you know something about The Maury Povich Show. It attempts to invade your home in three forms. The first, and most popular form, is the paternity test/ baby daddy drama type episodes. These reared their ugly head slowly at first, coming on the show once a week. Then it turned into two-part episodes. And finally, it turned into an all week affair, as if that's the show's storyline. It starts with a woman on the stage with Maury and telling him that (add ridiculous name) is her baby daddy cause (add ridiculous name) looks just like (add ridiculous name). She then rants and raves until Maury is certain that the crowd is strictly behind her before he lets them hear what the man has to say on a one minute video clip. The man calls her enough nasty names for the crowd to condemn him as an awful man and then Maury brings him out. He comes out with a new skank girlfriend and they both yell at the woman, meanwhile Jerry...oops..I meant Maury is quietly telling them to stop. This goes on for about ten minutes before he practically screams that the results are in. Now, this goes two ways: If the man is the father then the woman jumps up and begins to berate him and the crowd begins cheering and the male makes some bullshit comment about how he's gonna be a great father. The other way, is more painful, however. If the man is NOT the father, then the man gets up and begins dancing, while the woman has tears in her eyes and sprints backstage with Maury, the man, and the skank girlfriend close on her heels. She collapses on the 'sobbing couch' backstage while Maury promises to find her baby daddy and the man and the new skank girlfriend are teaming up to yell and scream at her. This happens every single episode, I'm shocked it ain't scripted.

The second tier of episodes has to do with unruly little teen girls who want to either get back at their mothers by sleeping with everybody in the world or want to have a baby. Their mothers (where are their fathers, by the way?) cry and plead for Maury to do something and gets this big angry black guy to come out and yell at the young girls and round them all up to juvi or a semi-kayfabe boot camp. Then as soon as the bad teens come out of boot camp or juvi, they are all reformed. All conveniently within the hour.

The third and final tier of episodes are for miracle survivals, overweight babies (ugh), guess that tranny, or tall lanky man with short stubby woman. They rarely show show these episodes for some odd reason.

This is the worst show on television today. Not only does it bring out the worse in all races (blacks, whites, my fellow Hispanics) but Maury seems to be having a good time exploiting these people. Now, Jerry Springer isn't the most noble person in the world, but he knows and admits that he's scum and frankly I believe his show is a bit more appealing to watch, at least you get the anticipation and question if today's episode could get crazier than yesterdays. With Maury, every episode is the exact same, the exact same words exchanged, the same stereotypes day in and day out. This show has to be scripted because these people say the exact things no matter what. And if it is scripted, then Maury needs to fire that writing team of 3rd graders and hire the 7th graders.

Maury is scum!

Strange, even for a talk show

[Wizard-8 · 4 February 2003]

"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.

The Good and the Bad of Television

[lambiepie-2 · 1/10 · 21 August 2006]

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.

Relentless Male Bashing. A Glorified Jerry Springer Wannabe

[CrassActionHero · 1/10 · 19 June 2007]

"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.

Where both white and Ghetto trash converge...

[darin-wissbaum · 1/10 · 30 October 2010]

Oh my and I thought Jerry Springer was bad. This show takes the cake. I can think of so many things I can do during the course of an hours time than to watch a program about a bunch of lowlifes who are out having sex and getting people pregnant, and then putting themselves on national television with the cute little kid on screen behind them so Maury can announce the DNA results of who the kid belongs to. I guess I should not be surprised but in a way I am that the guests (if you can call them that) are able to get any kind of recognition for their pathetic behavior. And what happens to the kids once the DNA results are in? The people that come on this program are not fit to be parents or even engage in sexual acts. But this is what TV has become in America. Which is an endless string of programs that does nothing to inform or educate the public. And whats scary is that is what a lot of the public wants...

Trash TV at its finest

[crow30002003 · 1/10 · 7 January 2014]

Want to watch a show that makes your faith in the human race plummet? Look no further than Maury! The biggest issue is the lack of variety in topics. While other talk shows like Dr. Phil and even Steve Wilkos and Jerry Springer have a variety of topics, Maury has 4 standbys: Who's the Daddy shows, abusive boyfriend/husband shows, wild teen girl episodes, and potpourri (Anything that isn't the three I mentioned.) All of these shows are the same, and if you've seen one episode of one topic, you've damn near seen them all.

I mentioned Springer earlier, but even though that's trash TV, at least they don't hide that fact. Maury tries to hide this by claiming to help their guests, be it sending teen brats to boot camp or using the tried and not-so-accurate polygraph tests for lie detector episodes. I'd say Maury is exploiting people down on their luck, but they brought it on themselves; Everyone on the show is deplorable, from the ringmaster of this circus himself, Maury, to the guests who came on their free will to be humiliated on live TV and make foreign countries want us dead, to the obnoxious audience who always consist of the lowest common denominator with free tickets that get advertised during the break.

This is a trash heap of a show and a prime display of the worst human beings America has to parade over the airwaves. I feel guilty for even watching enough to write this review, but sacrifices have to be made for the greater good. Case and point, watch something else.

MR POVICH DOESNT DESERVE THE HATE!

[allisonkasprzak · 10/10 · 30 August 2020]

Guys, stop hating on this show! its really good! I really like it when he says "you are not the father" and the guy goes "oh!!". Thats always funny! I watch this show with my goldfish, Swimmy, and my great dane, Mr. Maury! You see, I was inspired to name my dog after him i love this show so much. So, please no hate! Peace and love!

The most awful show to watch on TV!

[TheComputerNerd · 1/10 · 6 May 2005]

The Maury Show is the most awful show on TV to watch. A talk show is about engaging topics that plaque the world today, like the war in Iraq or the lack of employment, right? Well, The Maury Show isn't about any of those things. The Maury Show consists of women trying to find their baby's daddy, women or men sleeping around, caught on tape, people that just survived, or people that scared of the silliest and stupidest things like mustard or balloons. The Maury Show comes on at 4pm time and again at 4am. Of course, at 4pm and 4am is when there isn't nothing worth watching on TV. But half of The Maury Show consists of women trying to find their baby daddy. "I am 1000 percent sure, Maury, that DaShawn is my baby's daddy! He was the only person that I slept with! (usually, start with the bawling like babies or getting angry.). Whoopidity freaking do, who cares? Then the guy explains his side of the story about Dalesha being such a slut and sleeping around with the whole NBA. Then the woman would tell Maury, "Bring him out!" He comes out and the audience would boo or catcalls him, Maury doesn't let the guy fully explain his story because of the audience which consists of nothing but lazy, good-for-nothing imbeciles that should be at work, not on talk shows feeling sorry for people that air their dirty laundry on national TV.

After a while, the DNA test comes up. If Dashawn isn't the baby's daddy, Dalesha runs backstage crying like a baby. And the men usually jump up and down like a bunch of fools. We all know the woman fool around with another man, and the man that they're giving the DNA test to, isn't probably the baby's father since DNA tests don't lie. It doesn't take intellects to figure that one out. Then, there are women that have been on the show for five or six times, trying to find their baby's daddy. Or the guy that slept around with 25 women, his wife cheated on him once, he suddenly "quits" cheating and decided to stay with his wife. What a stupid, stupid talk show. Ah! Then there are one show which have out of control teen girls trying to get pregnant, or fail a lie detector test to end up figuring out that they're complete liars or sluts. This show consists of inconsiderable and unintelligent imbeciles, sluts, and goons that love "talking it up" and air their dirty laundry to millions of people that probably could care. I know that I don't care when somebody tried to find their baby's daddy, or the guy turns out NOT to be the baby's daddy. I really, really don't care and they shouldn't went on TV to air their dirty laundry in the first place. I feel like my IQ is draining from watching the Maury Show, that's why I stopped watching Maury last year. If I turn on Maury now, it's the same old topics over and over again. Week 1: "I can't find my baby daddy!" Two, three, or even ten days later, the same old topic pursues under a different name! Turn on PBS, Judge Judy, cartoons, Discovery, History, or anything better than this show. Unless you will be watching an otherwise, intelligent better TV program than Maury.

Facts

[bcarmanhauri · 10/10 · 29 October 2018]

This show is amazing for reasons the normal mind cannot comprehend. Does it exploit people's problem to get views? Yes. However when people watch this show they often think "wow these people are trash." But they often overlook the genius of this. This allows people to know a bottom line for what human evolution can produce, and because of this shapes more people to not be like them. Also it allows the people to get free DNA and Lie detector tests if they cannot afford one, only downside is you have to go on the show. Because of this I believe people underestimate the importance and genius behind Maury. I also made sure to do this in MLA format and cite my sources so my teacher won't get mad at me.

Alright for some laughs, but...

[micfranklin · 7/10 · 9 July 2007]

Believe it or not it's actually an okay but pretty degrading show, mainly because of the paternity test shows, the ones that are shown the most often now. Some woman, black or white, is shown talking about how her partner denies being the father of a child or children and the way the video is shown makes the audience get behind her and pity her, but when the guy comes on he rants on about how he's not the father and saying "Shanequa, after this proves I'm not the father leave me alone," followed by him being booed by the audience. Then comes the results, and if he is the father the woman shouts in his face saying "I told you so," while he sits there and plays it cool. If he's proved not which is pretty often, then the woman runs backstage crying or whatever, while the man jumps around, happy as can be, and sometimes the woman comes back on the show after having tested more than 10 men, ending with the same results. Even if it does make you laugh a little bit, this makes both men look bad because it gives the false illusion that men are terrible fathers and women can't be sluts. Well guess what? If some woman comes on the show more than 10 times looking for the father then obviously she's been sleeping around, and yet for some unknown reason the audience still backs her, and seems to ignore the guy who was put through some nonsense in the first place. And the fact that the couples aren't that good looking doesn't help either.

Then there's the segments about teenage sluts who do drugs, beat their mothers, and have sex for the sole purpose of having brain-dead children. These annoy me the most because after watching them, I notice it's always the mothers bringing them on the show and crying, after doing little to nothing to stop them from being trashy and how come they haven't beaten these kids' brains in yet? And plus you never ever see the boyfriends or fathers of these girls and try to hear from them. So then this dude named D West comes on and yells at the girls, which I will admit is one of my favorite parts, hoping to give them a reality check and then making them spend a night in jail, and then the girls are "somehow" redeemed a day or two later. You can tell some of them are putting on a show just to look good and some are actually reformed from experience.

Then there's the less common segments, like the ones where Jack Hanna comes and shows everyone animals, which gets a thumbs up from me because it's educational and I myself am an animal lover. Also, segments where some guy or lady shows tapes of police chases, car accidents, robberies, and other crazy moments are fine by me too.

I don't really watch the ones where people with strange conditions come on because it's kinda insulting to them.

Overall it's not a terrible show, but it's not a good show either, it's just an okay show that's good for some laughs and the frequent "you are NOT the father." Some say Jerry Springer is better, but hey, at least every one of Maury's shows doesn't feature some rednecks who look like they've never seen a comb in their lives.

Terrible Show

[Sabrz · 1/10 · 25 April 2009]

The Maury Povich show is hypocritical in its meaning. While the other shows that air alongside it (Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos) are pretty clear in their intentions Maury's show is different. Basically it is a show that pretends to care when all it does it exploit its guests. Kind of like a cross between Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos.

The Maury Povich show usually has the same topics. These topics are out of control teens, teen girls wanting kids, hidden videos, cheating spouses, and the most common topic is paternity tests.

No matter the topic Maury comes across as someone who is pretending to care but he is really doing nothing to improve the situation while profiting on the problems of these dysfunctional people. The only thing accomplished in the majority of his shows is someone finding out if there spouse has been cheating or who the father is of their child.

As if that wasn't bad enough there seems to be an Anti Male sentiment coming from the show. More often then not it is the males cheating and in the who's the daddy segment usually the male wants nothing to do with the kid. That is not always the case but more often then not it is.

So the Maury Povich show does not help people like Steve Wilkos and is not entertaining like the Jerry Springer show. It is a show that pretends to help people (like Steve Wilkos) while really exploiting their problems and making it into a circus (like Jerry). The Maury Povich show is not a quality television show and I would not recommend watching it.

a little VARIETY wouldn't hurt...

[Aylmer · 28 February 2002]

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.

maury povich

[lindabradley1 · 1/10 · 16 January 2008]

Our society has become so sick. No more real movie stars or television stars. This man and I use the term loosely is an example of how far down we as a country have become. What has happened to entertainment, that must be subjected to this trash. Where has our self respect gone? Get rid for good of this guy and Springer, Cheaters, judge shows, murder, bad language, sex violence. Are there any real entertainers left? Please do something. Hopefully, kids are in school when this trash is on but what about people unable to leave the house because of illness? How much more can we stand of this depression so called entertainment? What a sad world we have become. Somebody do something and start by turning off the television and not buying the products that promote this junk.

Aboninable

[manhaterde · 1/10 · 18 September 2006]

This show is the most despicable piece of TV trash I have ever seen. I've been to almost 40 countries, and whenever I can I try to watch some of the local TV programmes. I've seen lots of low quality material. When I was in the US recently, I had the dubious pleasure of enjoying a few Maury shows. How anyone can voluntarily appear on this show is beyond me. From the moment the guest appears on stage it is absolutely clear he will either

a) make an ass out of himself b) be ridiculed by the audience c) will receive faked sympathy and compassion by Mr Povich

or rather all of the above.

The show seems to be all about paternity tests. Apparently there is a choreography to this charade. The couples will abuse each other, the male will insist on not having fathered the baby, the mother will protest against the male's inability to care for the child and so on. Upon hearing the result of the paternity test, the male will either dance and scream in joy or start cursing.

The guests on the show seem to be very well aware of the mechanisms of this program, probably being frequent consumers of the show themselves. So being part of this circus freak show seems to be a kind of acknowledgment or even gratification to those people.

And amidst this puddle of low social class tragedy sits, like a king dressed in beggars' clothes, Mr. Maury Povich and pretends to have compassion towards these poor sods. Mr. Povich must be a very clever businessman to have run the show for such a long period. Respect to that! But anyone who is to believe he actually cares about what is happening to the people on his show is a dimwit.

Bottomline: inhuman charade

Total Garbage

[BigWhiskers · 1/10 · 10 March 2011]

I mean - as with most talk shows on right now . Maury is just another dime a dozen piece of garbage. Just like with Springer, Geraldo , Jenny Jones etc. The same chair throwing, cussing garbage. Who's the father , who cheated on who. I mean whats the point. Anyone could produce and direct it. I used to watch Springer when it was new and laugh at the stupidity but after several years of that crap - I stopped watching. Oprah while it may seem a bit heavy at times is at least serious and doesn't have an audience that chants her name and guests who they get off the street. Even Ellen is a better show to watch. The trash talk TV shows with guests who look like streetwalkers ,total nobodys and themes of who did you and whos the father are just reaching for shock value. Total Garbage

Maury is a hypocrite

[short_stuff198628 · 1/10 · 11 July 2006]

Maury Povich (or however you spell his name) is a hypocrite because his show sends opposing messages to women. On one show he'll be telling women that dressing like a slut and acting like a slut is wrong and try to reform their ways. Then in another show he'll be supporting former "bullied nerds" now "super skanks". These women have not changed since high school and still have low self esteem and I can't believe he supports them and then tells these other women on other shows that acting like that is wrong.

I also find his "are you a man or woman" shows as extremely insulting. Could you imagine be one of those women on that show and being accused by an audience of being a man. It doesn't matter how much you are paid, it still hurts.

And I also find his boot camp strategies as retarded since really bad treatment by drill sergeants does not automatically lead to new found respect for yourselves or your body. These people go back to their old ways since they know they are not coming back.

This man has no integrity and should be taken off air.

Stupidity and Exploitation for the Degradation of Society Ad Nauseam

[keelhaul-80856 · 1/10 · 20 October 2017]

Maury is an idiot who should be doing a circus show with animals-- that is what this amounts to. Though, I should clarify that calling the morons on this show animals is an insult to the animal kingdom.

The Only plots of this show include:

"I'm a bad little bitch who is 12 years old, and I drink vodka and shoot up heroin with my 21 year old boyfriend drug dealers, and I smack my fat, worthless mom with a broom handle when she tries to stop me."

"I'm a generic stereotype of a fat black woman, here to prove that Jamaal is the father of my twin white babies with Asperger's syndrome. He don't want to step up and be a man."

"Hi, Maury, I was born with a nut sack on my chin(South Park)."

From there, it just devolves into crowds screaming like howling asylum dwellers, crackhead strippers on stage, kids arguing with audience members about who is the bigger whore, fat crying people having spasms in the floor, and Maury pretending(best actor ever, I guess) to be sympathetic, as if someone is actually going to believe or solve this trash in a TV show.

Absolutely fake stories, or real stories exploited for 30 years for totally braindead troglodytes eating themselves to death on food stamps in a trailer, ghetto, or cave dwelling.

And for God's sake!!!!! These STUPID PATERNITY TEST RESULTS. They try to drag out a segment of 5 mins. into an hour-long show, by making the audience wait to see the results, while looking at pictures of the children and the men in question and repeating the same lines on every show. You can literally tune in to this for a couple minutes one year, and then tune in 2 years later, and the show format and DNA test with people screaming or dancing around haven't changed one bit!!! What kind of degenerate morons even find this entertaining??????????????????

Drama

[buttermytoast-13768 · 10/10 · 19 June 2019]

This reminds me of a MTV or VH1 reality show with all the drama. They do the drama right and I know it's not staged.

Shallow crud

[Haifis · 1/10 · 1 November 2004]

Don't bother watching this show. It is incredibly repulsive. Maury finds the scum of the earth and parades them on this show. Subjects like "Who's my baby's daddy" and "Is it a man or a woman?" run rampantly. The problem is they are the same topics over and over again! This program is pointless, vapid, and insipid. Incredibly annoying and not to be given a chance. The Maury show is completely boring and lacks any chance of intellect or intelligent thought. Like I tell you: Avoid at all costs! It is possibly the worst show ever. Maury's preaching does not do any wonders for it either.

Good talk show

[Catherine_Grace_Zeh · 9/10 · 20 July 2006]

I've been a fan of this show for the past four years. First off, I must say that it's a good talk show. Also, I haven't seen every episode. However, if you ask me, it's still a good show. I know the theme song by heart, too. Even so, it's fun to see men get busted and reformed. In addition, I really enjoy watching out-of-control teenagers get reformed. I hope it stays on the air for years to come. If that happens, I will be really happy. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever, even though I haven't seen every episode. Now, in conclusion, if some network ever brings it back after it finishes its run, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good.

Same old thing every stinking' day.

[The_Light_Triton · 7/10 · 7 February 2008]

Mr. Povich started his show in 1991. back then, Talkshows were certainly worth watching, until jerry springer came along. then, he rose the bar. the first person to follow? Maury povich. now, he's keeping up.

OK, there's usually 6 different categories for a Maury show. Number one; Paternity test results, these are a common type of show. Number 2; Lie detector test shows, they're a bit less common, but too predictable, and rather embarrassing to watch. Number 3; the my-13-year-old-needs-to-go-to-jail show. These are stupid. some other user commented how the parents should be the ones at boot camp (which i agree with, since a few guests return.) Number 4; Abusive husband shows. wives complain to Maury about their abusive husbands, when they should have the presence of mind to file a divorce. Number 5; Sex, lies, and scary moments caught on tape shows. jeez. give me a spoon and gag. those videos are ridiculous. the audience oohs and aahs, and they're from New york. i thought new yorkers were tough. number 6; Ugly duckling turned swan shows; where ugly girls from school become playboy playmates in adulthood, and have a crush on some guy they liked. and number 7; Is it a man or woman show. these are rare. Thank god.

Hey, Maury is on now. lets see what it's about.

guess what! it's an update show! so it's everything I mentioned above.

One of the Worst shows on Television

[dtv11 · 1/10 · 17 January 2007]

I can't believe Maury has been on since 1991. The show started off like serious topics and guests like Jerry Springer had started off with before. Now, with Jerry having fights, chairs thrown and Steve and his security team, Maury is now the King of Trash. He has these dumb lie detector tests,paternity tests, cheating men and women and 12,13,and 14 year old want to have sex and get pregnant. I am so sick and tired of some of these trashy shows on television. Montel has Sylvia, Oprah has Dr. Oz and best friend Gayle, Tyra has Janice, Jerry has his Steve and what does Maury have, D. West. This show is a filthy piece of crap, women running away crying like babies and all these men running all over the stage celebrating that they are not the father of their child. Take this show off the air, please.

Nothing but Garbage!