The words ‘you are NOT the father’ have forever been seared into the annals of pop culture thanks to one man: Maury Povich. However, after a 31 year reign and well over 3000 episodes, Povich’s talk show, Maury has been cancelled.
The outrageous daytime talk show first aired in 1991 as The Maury Povich Show. The name of the show wasn’t condensed to Maury until 1998.
Though now a household name as the patron saint of paternity tests, Povich began his career as a news anchor, working with the likes of Connie Chung after earning his degree in television journalism. Povich and Chung married in 1984. They remain married to this day.
‘Maury’ Cancelled by NBCUniversal After Three Decades
When The Maury Povich show first began it was a serious show, similar to A Current Affair which Povich was fresh off hosting for the past four years. Lauded for shedding light on serious topics, Povich was even honored by New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1995 for shedding light and awareness of National Adoption Month.
Once the show changed to simply Maury (which occurred when Studios USA took over production from Paramount Domestic Television). This is when it began slipping into the ‘trash TV’ style it has been known for over the past almost quarter century.
While the show will stop producing original episodes soon, they will continue to air through September 2022. After than time reruns will remain airing in syndication.
Over the past 30 seasons, the now 83 year old host has met a variety of colorful characters (and deadbeat dads or accusatory moms), including 90 Day Fiancé alum Angela Deem and daughter Skyler.
A decade ago Povich spoke with the Chicago Tribune about the popularity of the tabloid show saying it touches on “so many classic themes, whether it’s love, distrust, conflict, drama and the paternity shows in particular, you’ve got he-said, she-said, is-he-the-father, isn’t-he. While soap operas play those themes out over six months, we play them out over 12 minutes.”
He also spoke about hoping he’d host the show for a long time, “But I don’t want do it when I’m as old as Regis. I’m not going to last that long.”
However, Povich has outstayed Regis Philbin who finished up on Live with Regis and Kelly in 2011 at age 79. Philbin died in 2020 at age 88.
The Nick Cannon Show and The Good Dish have also both been cancelled by NBCUniversal and, after 12 seasons The Wendy Williams Show will become Sherri, hosted by comedienne, Sherri Shepherd.
Queer Eye star Karamo Brown is also slated to host a self-titled talk show produced by the production company.
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