Maury Povich Finds Out

EPISODE 17: A surreal visit from the longest-running host in daytime TV history.

Even if you, like me, watched an insane amount of Maury Povich growing up — which was fairly easy to do, on account of him being the longest-running host in the history of daytime television — you may still misunderstand the impact of family on his life.

There is the impact of his father, Shirley Povich: the all-time sportswriter and editor at The Washington Post who wrote columns there for 75 bleeping years — and, yes, hired both Kornheiser and Wilbon, too.

There is the impact of Maury’s wife, Connie Chung: the legitimately pioneering reporter and network anchorwoman with unimpeachable journalistic credibility.

And then there is the impact of literal genetics: the paternity tests that became an enormous reason why I couldn’t stop watching Maury in the Nineties. And why various television critics — including at least one Pulitzer-winner, hired by his father — began to see Maury as something like the opposite of journalism itself.

These are some of the contradictions I’d hoped to find out about, in person, in New York. But the experience I wound up getting — which included the deeply surreal sensation of rewatching Maury, with Maury — was so much more.

DKN/YOUTUBE SPOILER ALERT:

(Thank you, Mr. Chung.)