It’s the end of an era for daytime television. After more than three decades on the air, Deadline reports that the long-running talk show Maury, featuring Maury Povich, has just been canceled by NBCUniversal. The series is reportedly set to end production at the end of its current season, which will result in new episodes continuing to air through September. While new episodes will no longer be produced, the show is not leaving the airwaves as repeats will still be airing in syndication.
This news seems particularly big given the show’s tenure, though it’s just the latest in a recent round of daytime television shakeups. NBCUniversal had already axed the courtroom series Judge Jerry, which gave former talk show host Jerry Springer a new job as a TV judge. It was recently reported that The Nick Cannon Show had gotten the axe after one season as well. The Wendy Williams Show is another well-known program that’s ending this year to be replaced with the new series Sherri with Sherri Shepherd.
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Povich, 83, hosted and executive produced the series. It has been on the air since 1991 when it was introduced by Paramount Domestic Television, originally as The Maury Povich Show before later getting shortened to the more familiar title of Maury. The series was acquired by Studio USA in 1998 before the company was merged with NBCUniversal. Its cancelation will mean that Maury comes to an end with a total of 30 seasons.
Maury has featured a number of different themes for episodes, but the talk show is particularly well-known for its paternity test reveals. Using DNA technology, Povich will inform guests on the air whether they’ve fathered certain children. Povich would also frequently cover infidelity by having guests take lie detector tests to reveal if they’d been faithful to their significant others. Troublesome teens, extreme makeovers, bullying, and unusual phobias were other topics explored by the program.
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Maury Has Been a Staple of Daytime Television for Decades
NBCUniversal
Because Maury has been a frequent presence on television for more than 30 years, it marks the end of an era with the show ceasing production on new episodes. Povich had previously spoken about how it seemed like the program was built to last, as the older the show got, the more it appealed to younger viewers. This certainly played a part in keeping Maury around for so many years, even if a bulk of the audience were on the younger side only watching the show for laughs.
“Any research company will tell you it’s a huge oddity that a talk show gets younger and more popular as the show and host get older,” Povich told the Chicago Tribute in 2012. “They touch 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.”
On how long he foresaw the show lasting, Povich added, “I want to do the show as long as it’s doing well and I’m feeling well doing it. But I don’t want do it when I’m as old as Regis. I’m not going to last that long.”
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Jeremy Dick
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