Maury Povich Says There’s ‘No Way’ He Could Do His Talk Show Today

Maury Povich is looking back on his famous daytime talk show more than three years after its cancellation.

“Remember when Daytime Television was, well, let’s just say a little over the top?” Povich, 86, said in the trailer for ABC’s three-part docuseries Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV, shared by People on Thursday, January 8.

Povich is best known for hosting Maury, which ran in syndication for 31 seasons from 1991 to 2022. The show often featured paternity tests that determined if guests were the father of a child or not, with Povich delivering his signature line, “You are [or are not] the father!”

“I couldn’t do that show today. There’s no way,” Povich said in the trailer, which showcased some of daytime TV’s craziest moments.

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“And America just couldn’t look away,” Povich added of the chaos.

Maury came to an end in the fall of 2022 after Povich announced his retirement.

“Six years ago when I was ready to retire, my NBCUniversal family asked me to continue the show,” Povich told Us Weekly in a statement in March 2022. “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 and I agreed to one more deal. 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: ‘Enough, already!’”

In addition to Maury, Dirty Talk takes a closer look at Ricki Lake, The Geraldo Rivera Show, The Montel Williams Show, Sally Jessy Raphael’s show Sally, the late Jerry Springer’s show and more.

Raphael, 90, said in the trailer that the rule of thumb for these talk shows was, “The more controversial, the better.”

“[Dirty Talk] examines the rise, fall and lasting impact of the most sensational era in television talk show history,” a press release from ABC reads. “By exploring the psychological forces that shaped the talk TV genre, the series reveals how these shows transformed from trusted confessional spaces into lightning rods of controversy, leaving a lasting impact on culture, media and the people caught in the chaos.”

Povich, Raphael and Williams, 69, share their perspectives in the doc, as well as hosts Leeza Gibbons, John Henson, Ricki Lake creator Garth Ancier, Jerry Springer and Sally creator Burt Dubrow, Geraldo executive producer Marty Berman and Steve Wilkos, the former bodyguard on Jerry Springer and host of his own talk show. These industry insiders will share never-before-heard stories and expert analyses on the daytime talk show world.

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One of the episodes will touch on the Jenny Jones Show murder, where then-24-year-old Jonathan Schmitz killed 32-year-old Scott Amedure three days after the men appeared on the talk show in 1995. Schmitz, now 54, was found guilty of second-degree murder. He was released from prison on parole in August 2017.

Amedure’s family filed a negligence lawsuit against The Jenny Jones Show after his death, alleging that producers “ambushed” Schmitz by revealing that he was Amedure’s same-sex crush. A jury awarded the family $29,332,686 in 1999, but the judgment was overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2002, with the court ruling that The Jenny Jones Show was not liable for Amedure’s “unforeseeable” death.

Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV premieres Wednesday, January 14, at 9 p.m. on ABC. Episodes 2 and 3 will air on January 21 and 28, respectively.