'Maury' ends a 30-year-run, marking the closure of an era

After 30 years of talking about teen pregnancies, rare phobias and sexual infidelities as well as revealing who is or is not the father, daytime talk show host Maury Povich is saying goodbye to audiences.

An NBCUniversal executive told Deadline it is canceling Maury at the end of the 2021-22 season, when Povich plans to retire. The media company did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment.

Povich himself told Deadline he had been ready to retire six years ago but NBCUniversal asked him to continue.

"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!'" he said.

But it's not entirely the end for fans – reruns will live on in syndication.

The end of Maury is part of a larger shake-up in daytime programming

The show first launched in 1991 as The Maury Povich Show before shortening the name to Maury in 1998. It quickly became a success in an era when tabloid-y talk shows reigned supreme on the airwaves. (Think Jerry Springer and Sally Jesse Rafael.) Audiences reveled in the wild antics of show guests, often booing or egging on their behavior.

Maury was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment in 2017. It lost to The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Povich began his career as a radio reporter in Washington, D.C. He moved into television some years later, including as co-anchor at the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, alongside his now-wife, journalist Connie Chung. Povich later became the host of A Current Affair in 1986, where he remained until 1990.

The cancellation of Maury comes as several networks appear to be shaking up their daytime programming. Fox has said it's pulling The Nick Cannon Show off the air after one season. Jerry Springer's Judge Jerry, another daytime series, is also wrapping up for good in September. And the long-running syndicated daytime program The Wendy Williams Show, which had a reputation for being raw and irreverent, is also ending. It will be succeeded by a show hosted by its producer Sherri Shepherd.

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