To me, daytime talk shows lost their usefulness a long time ago. I remember when they first came out, and still had intentions of helping people with their problems. Then, some years back, the producers of these programs had the brilliant realization that it would be more lucrative to exploit people’s problems rather than assist people with them – and the new and current talk show era was born. In my opinion, the one talk show host that is the biggest perpetrator of this behavior is Maury Povich. Whether you are a woman who does not know which of your boyfriends fathered your baby, or a person who believes that your partner may be unfaithful – Maury would be happy to invite you on his show and offer you either a lie detector test or a paternity test at no charge, saving you the $500 fee – as long as he can watch you cry and suffer over the inevitable results.

If you are in a relationship with someone and are almost positive that your significant other is cheating on you – or has already cheated on you making you feel concerned that the baby you both have may or may not be yours – that is the first clue that you need to walk away from that person entirely, not onto the stage of the Maury Povich Show to tell the world how horrible your personal life is. But Maury counts on that – because to him – despair equals ratings.

I have watched women on that show collapse in hysterics when Maury reads the results of a lie detector test which always comes out to be a lie. As soon as the woman hears Maury say something like, “When we asked your husband if he ever slept with another woman while you were pregnant, he said no – and the lie detector test determined that was a lie.” – they run off the stage and try to find a quiet spot backstage to absorb the terrible news they just heard. But instead of the solitude they both need and deserve at that moment, they are followed by Maury and three or four of his cameras, so they can record every minute of this woman’s anguish from multiple angles. And even when the woman tells Maury that she doesn’t want to hear anymore of the questions asked during the lie detector test – he reads them anyway – and proceeds to ask the woman how she is feeling…

…how do you think she’s feeling?

I know that we live in a society that gets off on other people’s problems, but to use someone’s despair and life-altering drama to up your television show’s ad rates sickens me. Granted, he provides these couples with tests that they probably would not be able to afford on their own, but at what cost? The cost of public humiliation? Personal disrespect by the person they claim to love on national television? Or worse – exploitation of a person’s children solely for the purpose of increasing your show’s ratings? To me, the actions of Maury Povich and his staff are no different than what their guests’ mates did to them that brought them on his show in the first place.

Maury Povich, what a humanitarian – an inhumanitarian.

“On the other side of town a boy is waiting,
with fiery eyes and dreams no one could steal.
She drives on through the night anticipating,
because he makes her feel the way she used to feel.
She rushes to his arms, they fall together.
She whispers that it’s only for a while.
She swears that soon she’ll be coming back forever.
She pulls away and leaves him with a smile.”
Eagles – Lyin’ Eyes