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19 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Strange, even for a talk show, 4 February 2003
Author: Wizard-8 from Victoria, BC

"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.

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
a little VARIETY wouldn't hurt..., 28 February 2002
Author: Michael A. Martinez (aylmer666@juno.com) from Los Angeles, CA

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.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
dna tests, boot camp...it is all SO BORING NOW!, 27 January 2004
Author: (Starlet_International) from Queensland, Australia

I have been watching Maury Povich on Australian PAY TV since 1997. Everyday Maury would have different subjects everyday, every week. lately all his episodes are paternity tests, kids with attitude/drug/sex problems and stupid men with violence problems. It is boring. I don't even watch maury anymore, unless the topic is NOT about paternity tests, teenage girls/boys with problems, husbands/boyfriends with violent behaviour.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
The Good and the Bad of Television, 21 August 2006
1/10
Author: lambiepie-2 from Los Angeles, CA

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.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Disgusting Show Exploiting Disgusting People!!!, 16 December 2005
Author: amwcsu from United States

The first couple of times, I would call this horrible excuse for televised entertainment a guilty pleasure, while seeing people being incredibly stupid. Speaking of stupidity, these are without a doubt....MORONS!

Why, you ask? Simply because they come on national f*%king television to reveal to the nation or 42% of it, meaning people with a double digit I.Q.'s that you're a whore, a drunken wife beater, or a immature loser or whatever the case maybe.

Every time I turn to this "Circus From Hell!" there's always single mother(who's under 30 years of age) with like 9 kids and she doesn't have a goddamn clue to who's the father of any of them. Okay! Haven't these inbred, trailer park, knuckle-dragging dicks or these ghetto-ass bozos ever heard of friggin' contraceptives? It's like these people never socially evolved with rest of the human race!

The show becomes predictable every time Maury "the ringmaster"Povich reads the DNA tests aloud and it's not to the mother's liking, she runs off-stage wailing something like: "Oh Lawd!" and collapses into a heap and convulses like a damn seizure victim. While the so-called boyfriend jumps for joy like a clown. "Please! You knew what would happen if you screwed more people than the IRS!"

Speaking of whores, this the same thing goes with those reckless teen brats they scuttle onto the show. Why are their mothers cowering behind their tears, whimpering and whining like some 4-year-old? It's called "parenting"! You suppose to discipline your children not let them run amok dressing(or in this case un-dressing) like Paris Hilton! "Where the hell are their fathers in all this mess?" What made them flip like this? They all say the same selfish, whiny, and utterly mindless ranting nonsense: "My mother's bitch, my mom's slut, my mom's a whore" and so on and so on. Why? Because she won't let you buy the new 50-Cent CD, buy a 27-inch plasma screen TV, or screw some scumbag with a mullet in his Camaro Z28 or some brotha' in an Escalade. "Stop me if I'm wrong: but if your future plans only include partying, sex, and annoying the locals at 3 a.m. while in a intoxicated stupor; aren't you the slut/bitch/whore and not your mother. What makes matters worse, some of these mutants want a child! It's like any of these bastards(parents or children) never heard of parental guidance, common sense,or the real world. But what really pisses me off is the fact that Maury displays the handicapped like they're attractions in a circus side show. Why? because they don't have arms and/or legs, or maybe even a face. These are human beings that don't deserve this kind of exploitation. Parading them around to an audience of complete idiots pretending to be sympathetic is worse than any bullying.

But in my opinion, this show has an agenda up it's sleeve.

Agenda #1: If you have a rare deformity and/or disease you are an attraction for all to see. "When in reality you only get stares and a few disses, eventually people do get used to it."

Agenda #2: single mothers are scum and/or the mothers of scum. Really? To boost ratings(along with the news), it jumps onto the fear bandwagon pumping these retarded lumps of lard full of shock and awe. "By showing ten year old videos of cars accidents, explosions, and robberies by young black men and scruffy white-trash that have been aired on FOX hundreds of times before as if they are happening now!

Agenda #3: Be afraid of going outside, cars,teenagers, and black people. This is a sad, pathetic, and tasteless excuse for a television show! At least Jerry Springer doesn't exploit people with deformities. "This should be the worst television show in history!"

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9 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Talk Sludge, 4 July 2000
Author: pooh-24 from Los Angeles

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.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Alright for some laughs, but..., 9 July 2007
7/10
Author: micfranklin from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

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.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
The Show is Like a Train Wreck, 8 December 2006
5/10
Author: nate505 from Colorado, United States

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.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Can't believe this show is still on the air, 20 February 2006
Author: robertjohnsonl1 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is one of the worst talk shows ever! I'll admit, I use to watch it a lot afew years ago. But then I noticed something. They had paternity test episodes on almost every week. It all starts out with some women with a stupid name like, Twanda, Shavai, Topeka, Tequanda, Cocoa, the list goes on. She's on the show because of a man who's denying he's the father of her baby. The guy who's being accused usually acts like a moron. Giving stupid explanations of why he's not the father. Like he doesn't have the same nose or the same ears. I hate when they're trying to make out the father's features with his daughter. It's like YOU IDIOT! IF ITS A DAUGHTER OF COURSE ITS NOT GONNA LOOK LIKE HIM! Usually when the mother thinks she is 100 percent right she has to act like a goof ball and dance around. Yelling stuff just to make the audience get behind her. When the man comes out he is hit with a hail of boo's. The woman yells in his face and dances around saying she is right. But then when its announced he is not the father she runs backstage and weeps uncontrollably. Well its your fault lady. You shouldn't have gone national with it. The part that really irritates me is when it's a woman's 9th time being there and she always tries to make the audience get behind her. Well of course the guy is gonna have his doubts. 9 other guys were proved not to be the father so why would he? And then when it's proved he's not the father she runs backstage and crys like always. What annoys me is how Maury goes backstage and tries to comfort her by saying she's a good mother. WHAT??? She slept around with all these guys, blames them for not being responsible, constantly goes on television and humiliates herself over and over, and thats a good mother? Whatever. The sad part is sometimes when a woman has been proved wrong she still says something like, "It's OK I can take care of him myself, I'm a good mother and I don't have to worry about anyone but myself." Then Maury is just like, "Good for you, Twanda I'm glad he's not the father. Your a strong woman." And then the audience claps and feels sorry for her again. Pathetic Simply pathetic...

Another thing I hate is when they show shocking videos of something like someone falling off a giant cliff, getting in a car wreck, or getting into a fight with cops. It's like why watch something you can easily see on Real TV. Other times they'll have something that shows little children with disfigurements. They'll have a kid with an over-sized head come on the show. Maury will ask him some questions like "Do kids make fun of you?" or "Do kids stare at you?" Then he'll send them to Disney Land to make up for being the way they are. Come on? Don't let this guy fool you. He obviously does it just for ratings.

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8 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Maury is a man of tact, 10 May 2005
Author: susanclarkwilson from United Kingdom

I've seen so many of these shows, which underscore the seedier side of American lives, but Maury Povich treats his visitors with greater tact and gentleness than any of the others (except, perhaps, Oprah).

Yes, he deals with exactly the same 'Trailer Trash' elements as other shows AND he hosts those bizarre 'Is this person male or female?' shows, yet he also introduces Zoo animals for underprivileged children to meet and learn about.

With great sensitivity, he interviews people whose lives have taken an incredible turn - for example, the brave young man who lost about half his skull and brain when he was shot in his uncle's hardware store.

He also introduces his viewers to people who are living their lives through amazing adversity (I will never forget his programme about Tourette's Syndrome).

Through all of this, Maury treats his guests with the utmost courtesy and seems to wholly empathise with them. Oh, I know he's an old hand in the world of reporting, but other 'chat' show hosts don't use such discretion and consideration.

There are bound to be detractors, but this small corner of England shouts 'Rock On, MoPo!!'

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