Maury Povich

Povich was born on January 17, 1939, into a Jewish family in Washington, D.C., the second of three children born to Ethyl (née Friedman) and Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Lewis Povich. His paternal grandfather, Nathan Povich, emigrated from Russia to the United States in 1878 at age 12. Maury graduated from the Landon School in 1957, and from the University of Pennsylvania in 1962 with a degree in television journalism. ==Career==

1962–1986 Not long after graduation, Povich got his first job on Washington radio station WWDC, where he did publicity and worked as a reporter. By 1966, he was a news reporter and sportscaster for WTTG, the independent station owned by Metromedia. In 1967, he became the original co-host of the station's popular midday talk show, Panorama, 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. 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. 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 KNXT 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. 1986–1990: A Current Affair When Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch and 20th Century Fox acquired WTTG and the rest of Metromedia's television station group in 1986 to form the new Fox network, one of the first moves made by the newly christened Fox Television Stations was to bring Povich to New York to host A Current Affair. Initially launching on WNYW in July 1986 before landing on the other Fox-owned stations, and into national syndication in 1988, A Current Affair was considered a tabloid infotainment show that often focused on celebrity gossip, but it also made time for compelling human-interest stories. Critics praised the show for trying to be both informative and entertaining, much like "a good afternoon newspaper." Povich hosted Affair until 1990. 1991–1998: The Maury Povich Show In September 1991, he began to host The Maury Povich Show, which was nationally syndicated and distributed by Paramount Domestic Television in partnership with his own production company, MoPo Productions, from 1991 to 1998. 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, In 2023, Povich made a guest appearance on the Disney+ animated show The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. ==Personal life==

From 1962 to 1979, Povich was married to Phyllis Minkoff. Maury and Phyllis have two daughters together, Susan Anne and Amy Joyce Povich. Their daughter Amy is married to physician and author David Agus. 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. 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. ==In popular culture==

Povich was mocked in a 2002 South Park episode called "Freak Strike". He also appeared in a mock episode of his show in the film ''Madea's Big Happy Family. On Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' Povich was spoofed overseeing a paternity testing involving Matt Damon, Kimmel, and Kimmel's wife Molly McNearney as Martin Short stood in for Povich. 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. ==Filmography==

• The Imagemaker (1986)—Talk-Show Host • Roseanne (1995)—Himself (episode "The Last Date") • The Swinger (2001)—Himself • How I Met Your Mother (2010)—Himself (episode "Subway Wars") • ''Madea's Big Happy Family'' (2011)—Himself • The Jack and Triumph Show (2015)—Himself • The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (2023)—Himself (episode "Puff Daddy") ==References==