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Maurice Richard Povich (born January 17, 1939) is an American former television personality, best known for hosting the tabloid talk show Maury which aired from 1991 to 2022. Povich began his career as a radio reporter, initially at WWDC and later as host of a daytime Washington, D.C. talk show Panorama. In the late 1980s, he gained national fame as the host of tabloid infotainment TV show A Current Affair, based at Fox's New York flagship station WNYW. In 1991, he co-produced his own show The Maury Povich Show, which in 1998 was rebranded as Maury.
Seeking to further his career, Povich left Washington in late 1976 for what would become a series of high-profile, short-lived television jobs, beginning with WMAQ-TV in Chicago in January 1977.Gildea, William. "Povich Off to Chicago." The Washington Post, December 8, 1976, p. B1. Hired to co-anchor evening newscasts, he joined the NBC-owned station to much fanfare—ahead of his arrival, WMAQ-TV produced promotions featuring testimonials from U.S. senator Hubert Humphrey and actress Carol Channing, among others, touting Povich's credentials.WMAQ-TV promos on the debut of Maury Povich as NewsCenter 5 co-anchor, 1976 [1][2] But Povich left after only eight months when, after being promised a long-term contract, the station's management failed to present him one.
Povich then headed to CBS-owned KCBS-TV in Los Angeles—where he co-anchored alongside Connie Chung—but was ousted after a six-month stint following a change in the station's news management. Povich moved next to San Francisco, where he co-hosted AM San Francisco and co-anchored news for ABC-owned KGO-TV.
Povich returned to the East Coast in April 1980, when Group W–owned KYW-TV in Philadelphia hired him to anchor newscasts and host AM/PM, a midday audience-participation talk show which, in February 1981 would be retitled People Are Talking. He departed KYW-TV after three years and brought his career full-circle with a return home to Washington in June 1983, resuming as host of Panorama and anchoring The 10 O'Clock News for WTTG.
On January 9, 2000, Povich hosted the short-lived primetime revival of the classic game show Twenty One on NBC. Reruns of the show have been aired on GSN.
In November 2005, MSNBC announced Povich would co-host a weekend news program with his wife, Connie Chung. The program titled Weekends with Maury and Connie debuted on January 7, 2006, but was canceled due to low ratings. The final episode aired on June 17, 2006.
He appeared as himself in the fourth episode of the sixth season of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. He is portrayed as a New Yorker who is apparently seen everywhere in the city—often in several places at once. He also appeared as himself in the film Madea's Big Happy Family.
In May 2007, he launched the Flathead Beacon, a weekly print newspaper and online news source in Montana's Flathead County, where he has a home and is a member at the Eagle Bend Golf Club.
In 2015, Povich made a guest appearance on the Adult Swim show The Jack and Triumph Show. In March 2022, Povich announced his retirement and the end of his talk show after 31 seasons, making it the longest-running daytime talk show with a single host in American television history. Povich discussed his career with Greg Braxton of the Los Angeles Times that June, noting that he had accomplished all he had wanted to do during his career, was proud of what he had created with Maury (especially in maintaining the show's ratings in a time when daytime television audiences were shrinking rapidly), and had no further desire for any other television projects. In 2023, Povich made a guest appearance on the Disney+ animated show .
In 1984, he married news anchor Connie Chung, whom he had met while working in the news department at WTTG. In 1995, Chung and Povich adopted a son, Matthew Jay Povich.Waldman, 2007
Povich believes in the superiority of the nuclear family as a family model and believes that children are best served when both parents are in the child's life; this was a major factor in Maury's frequent emphasis on paternity testing. Povich took a journalistic approach to each story and took pride when an appearance on Maury would lead to the father and mother of a child reconciling.
In 2017, Povich became an investor and part owner of the Washington, D.C. bar and restaurant Chatter, along with other D.C. notables Tony Kornheiser and Gary Williams.
He is a fan of University of Central Florida football.
Povich owns a ranch just outside of Bigfork, Montana, where he lives for part of the year.
Povich is an avid golfer and has been playing golf since he was a child. He is a frequent player at Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines, Farm Neck, and Old Course in Scotland. He still plays in amateur senior tournaments with a 2.4 handicap and in 2007 was placed in Golf Digest top 100 celebrity golfers. In 2000, Maury participated in the U.S. Senior Amateur championship where he lost in the first round of the match play competition. Maury occasionally plays golf with Steve Wilkos, his fellow NBCUniversal talk show host who shares the same studio as the Maury Show.
In 2021, musician Lil Nas X collaborated with Povich to create a full-length faux episode of Maury, featuring Nas X performing as his Montero character, in a love triangle with his football playing teammate lover who is revealed to have a wife.
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