After 31 years of broadcasting teen pregnancies, mysterious illnesses and its trademarked “Who’s the Father” segment, Maury is going off the air.
Maury will be ending after its 2021-22 season, when Povich, 83, plans to retire.
The daytime syndicated talk show host told Deadline he was ready to retire six years ago, but NBCUniversal asked him to continue the show.
“Even though I told them I was ready for assisted living, out of loyalty to NBCUniversal and my more than 100 staff and crew members, Tracie Wilson [EVP, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios] and I agreed to one more deal,” Povich told Dateline. “I’m so proud of my relationship with NBCUniversal and all those who worked on the Maury show but as I occasionally tell my guests on Maury, ‘Enough, already!’”
Original episodes will still run through to September. From there, reruns of Maury will air in syndication.
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The show first launched in 1991 under the name The Maury Povich Show. The name was shortened to simply Maury in 1998.
Maury was on air for a total of 30 seasons.
Povich was a television journalist before going into the talk show world, beginning in Washington, where his father, Shirley, was a well-known sportswriter. He anchored local news shows in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia. For a while in Los Angeles, his co-anchor was journalist Connie Chung, whom he married in 1984.
In 1986, he was the inaugural anchor of the entertainment news program, A Current Affair, and began The Maury Povich Show for Paramount in 1991. It switched to NBCUniversal in 1998, shortening the show’s name.
“Maury and I decided two years ago that this season would be the farewell season for the show, and while his retirement is bittersweet, we are so happy for him to be able to spend more time on the golf course,” said Wilson in a statement.
“Maury is a television icon, a pop-culture legend and we couldn’t be more proud to have been a part of his incredible career. … [T]he show has thousands of lively, entertaining and dramatic episodes that will continue to be successful in daytime for years to come.”
The cancellation of Maury also comes amid the ending of several other daytime talkers.
This includes The Nick Cannon Show, which will be removed from air after one season, Judge Jerry, which stars Jerry Springer, and the long-time program The Wendy Williams Show, which will be succeeded by a new talker hosted by show producer Sherri Shepherd.
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— With files from The Associated Press
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