History Series / Maury

* BrattyHalfPint: The out-of-control preteens, who can be just as bad, oftentimes even ''worse'' than their teenage counterparts, as well as some older guests who may be physically small, but have [[NoIndoorVoice mouths]] and/or [[SmallNameBigEgo egos]] more fitting of a person who is 8 feet tall. One particularly egregious example was a guest on an out of control episode who ''nine year old''.

* BrattyHalfPint: The out-of-control preteens, who can be just as bad, oftentimes even ''worse'' than their teenage counterparts, as well as some older guests who may be physically small, but have [[NoIndoorVoice mouths]] and/or [[SmallNameBigEgo egos]] more fitting of a person who is 8 feet tall. One particularly loud paternity guest searching for her child's father happened to be a ''dwarf'' who looked to be well under 4 feet tall.

** It seems as if, no matter how many times a person cheated, their guilt and infidelity is tossed out of the window as long as their infidelities didn't result in any questionable paternity, such as a woman getting pregnant by another man, or a man getting another woman pregnant while in a relationship. A woman will hug and kiss their man after a DNA test prove he isn't the father of another woman's baby even though he lied to her about it, and men will hug and kiss women if they are the father of their baby even if the woman did, in fact, cheat on him many times. A particularly egregious example of this was the case of a woman who was being accused by her husband of cheating with another man and the husband believed that the woman's child may belong to that man. A lie detector test proved the woman had sexual contact with that man many times.[[note]]It turned out that the man in question was married to someone close to the woman.[[/note]] However, a DNA test proved he was the father of the woman's baby. The woman then made the man ''kiss her feet'', which [[ExtremeDoormat he did]].

** It seems as if, no matter how many times a person cheated, their guilt and infidelity is tossed out of the window as long as their infidelities didn't result in any questionable paternity, such as a woman getting pregnant by another man, or a man getting another woman pregnant while in a relationship. A woman will hug and kiss their man after DNA tests prove he isn't the father of another woman's baby even though he lied to her about it, and men will hug and kiss women if they are the father of their baby even if the woman did, in fact, cheat on him many times. A particularly egregious example of this was the case of a woman who was being accused by her husband of cheating with another man and the husband believed that the woman's child may belong to that man. A lie detector test proved the woman had sexual contact with that man many times.[[note]]It turned out that the man in question was married to someone close to the woman.[[/note]] However, a DNA test proved he was the father of the woman's baby. The woman then made the man ''kiss her feet'', which [[ExtremeDoormat he did]].

* FirstGirlWins: Averted often, in cases where women are fighting with men over paternity explicitly due to a presence of a new girlfriend/wife, even moreso if the man in question is not the father or if the man is the father but still refuses to be in the woman's/child's life due to his new significant other's influence. Played straight in cases where the man ends up leaving his new girlfriend for his old one after favorable paternity/other results and they end up being a family.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: There are cases where a man believes he is not the father of his mate's baby because someone else said it wasn't. This usually comes from people who don't like the man's girlfriend/wife for various reasons, such as the man's sibling, mother, or best friend. Subverted when the accuser(s) are proven right and the man made the right choice all along.

* LastOfHisKind: With the cancellation of ''Jerry Springer'' in 2018, ''Maury'' is now the last surviving trashy talk show of the kind which once dominated daytime TV in TheNineties. (''Springer'' spinoff ''Steve Wilkos'', which is still running, premiered in 2007.)

* UnsettlingGenderReveal: The "Man or Woman?" episodes are specifically set up to cause as many of these as possible. As a general rule of thumb if you're trying to figure this out, the more tall, broad-shouldered, masculine, or homely a person looks, the greater the likelihood she's actually a real woman, and the most attractive and feminine-looking person there is ''always'' [[AttractiveBentGender a man in drag.]]
* WedLocking: A frequent topic is the DaddyDNATest. Often the man under investigation says that if he is the father he'll take on fatherly responsibilities - usually just before they announce that he is not the father.

** Another who insisted that a baby wasn't his because the baby ''didn't'' have six fingers.[[note]]He was actually right about this.[[/note]]

The show first aired in 1991 and was produced by [[Creator/{{Paramount}} Paramount Domestic Television]] in national syndication. In 1998, the show began exploring "trash" topics like cheating spouses and DNA tests. Not coincidentally, around this time, he had defected from Paramount to what is currently [=NBCUniversal=] Television, who also produce and distribute fellow trash TV survivor ''Series/JerrySpringer''.

-->--'''Almost every mother seeking paternity on the show from a deadbeat dad.'''

* GhettoName: All over the place. This includes names that are hard to pronounce or are spelled weirdly.

* ChocolateBaby: Every once in a while, a white woman will bring a clearly mixed-race baby on the show claiming that it's their white boyfriend/husband's baby, when obviously it's not, although in one episode the white husband did believe it was his.

* EmbarrassingFirstName: Some of the guests who have appeared on the show have names that makes you wonder what were their parents thinking. For example, some of the names of the guests that have appeared on the show includes [[LongList Nevaeh, Araya Sunshine, Qyaira, Aceton, Braceton, Schic, Tia Wanna, Princess-Chakaya, Dorkish, Chynise, Shadimon, Hon'ee, Aki-Sha, Shumonique, Quaytashion, Mylove, Nazijhir, Tantania, Rayletha, Courvoisier, Qynesha, Typriest, Inkenjarick, Gypsy, Semaj, Queen, Fear, and Forever]].

* GhettoName: All over the place. This includes names that are very embarrassing, hard to pronounce, or are spelled weirdly.

** In a specific, non-out of control teen related example, we have Moyisha, who was a recurring paternity guest. During her first couple of appearances, she didn't act especially off putting, despite the numerous men she tested. However, her behavior took a turn for the worse during her 4th appearance. First, she insults and curses out the potential father's sister and mother for simply stating that they didn't believe that the baby was related to them. Then, she tries to physically attack the sister and mom when they came out onstage for virtually no reason and curses the mom again after she says that the baby is not her son's. Moyisha also makes it a point [[TemptingFate to harrass the mother and sister for child support before the results are read.]] After Moyisha receives a short TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from the sister, the results are read and the guy was [[RunningGag not the father]].

** People will often talk about how they love their significant others despite the fact that they cheat on or abuse them. One particularly egregious example was a woman who said she "can't live without (her boyfriend)", despite her cheating on him with 6 different men, all within the period of her conceiving her son. The child in question was not his.

* LargeHam: A lot, if not a majority, of the guests on the show react in ways that are clearly tailored to garner attention and sympathy. Predictably, this results in some [[{{Understatement}} over the top]] behavior. This often backfires, as someone who goes into hysterics after hearing unfavorable paternity or lie detector results, will usually do nothing more than attract more scorn from the home and studio audiences.

* RashomonStyle: The stories of the man and woman always contradict each other, although in a lot of cases it's obvious that one of the parties is [[SelfServingMemory lying to make themselves look better]]. Frequently, men will claim the woman is promiscuous even if she wasn't, or use some outright bizarre "science" to try and prove why they can't be the father of her baby. In the inverse, women who truly have slept around HandWave or ignore their promiscuity, or seem to believe that insisting the man is the father enough times will make it true. In any case, it's playing "he said, she said" with their stories quite a bit on a segment that involves a paternity test until the scientific DNA results come out to prove things one way or the other.

** If Maury opens up the lie detector results asking if the cheater has had sexual intercourse outside of the relationship, they bombed the test. It will just get worse from there.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Believe it or not, the out of control teen girls ''do'' have some good ideals, but apply them poorly. For example, one girl said she did what made her happy and didn't care what anyone thought. The mindset itself is good, but she was using it as an excuse for her wrongful behavior.

* RashomonStyle: The stories of the man and woman always contradict each other, although in a lot of cases, it's obvious that the man is [[SelfServingMemory lying to make himself look better]] (such as saying that the woman is promiscuous). This is also the case for women who claim that the guy(s) they think is the father isn't.
* ReallyGetsAround: Half the guests, but special attention goes to the mothers searching for their baby daddy and bringing upwards of a dozen men on the show. She would have slept with ''all'' of these guys within the span of a month.

** Yet another episode resorted to a QuoteMine. A cheating mother, an affair kept secret for 22 years, with a daughter whose father might not actually be her father. The trailer that came before the DNA test showed the man saying, "I never want to see you again".[[spoiler:However, the DNA test revealed that the man was the father, and when he talked to the mother he said, "I was thinking 'I never want to see you again', but I decided to be there for our daughter, even if she isn't mine." A classic bait and switch.]]

** Yet another episode resorted to a QuoteMine. A cheating mother, an affair kept secret for 22 years, with a daughter whose father might not actually be her father. The trailer that came before the DNA test showed the man saying "I never want to see you again".[[spoiler:However, the DNA test revealed that the man was the father, and when he talked to the mother he said, "I was thinking 'I never want to see you again', but I decided to be there for our daughter, even if she isn't mine." A classic bait and switch.]]

** On a cheating episode, if a guy says "After today, she has got to change [and stop accusing me]", there's at least an 80% chance he's cheating.

** During DNA tests, if multiple men are involved, the first guy that Maury mentions when he reads the results will ''never'' be the father. For instance, suppose Bob and John were unsure if they were the father of a child; the second you hear Maury say "When it comes to [child's name], Bob...", you can immediately conclude, regardless of what John's result is, that Bob is not the father.

** A man that initially interacts negatively towards the audience when he says that he isn't father of a child will sometimes go into the audience to celebrate with them when it's revealed that he was right. This also occasionally happens when it's revealed that a guy isn't a cheater. Furthermore, some men will immediately go back to interacting negatively towards the studio audience afterwards.

** In one episode, a woman came on with her husband. She had an affair but now regretted it and wanted to be sure her husband was the father of their twins. Maury announced both twins separately. The couple had a brief moment of relief to learn he was the father of one twin only to be shocked by the reveal he ''wasn't'' the father of the other.

* BrattyHalfPint: The out-of-control preteens, who can be just as bad, oftentimes even ''worse'' than their teenage counterparts, as well as some older guests who may be physically small, but have [[NoIndoorVoice mouths]] and/or [[SmallNameBigEgo egos]] more fitting of a person who is 8 feet tall. One particularly loud paternity guest searching for her child's father happened to be a ''dwarf'' who looked to be well under 4 feet tall.

** The man who said "That (girl) can't be my baby because I only make boys".

** Another who insisted that a baby wasn't his ''''because the baby ''did not'' have six fingers.[[note]]He was actually right about this.[[/note]]

** "That baby can't be mine because s/he has blue eyes!"[[note]]Permanent eye color (regardless of race) is usually not determined until a child is somewhere between 12-18 months. Cue stupid look on the guy's face when he's told that he ''is'' the father![[/note]]

* TranquilFury: When bickering guests piss Maury off, especially during DNA test episodes, he shows this in spades. The best indicator that he's angry is when he does not even bother to calm the guests down; he goes straight to the producer for the envelope.

* TooMuchInformation: Many guests have absolutely no problem describing their sex lives, or lack thereof, in explicit detail. For example, one 15-year-old out of control teen girl actually took the camera crew to her hometown and pointed out all of her favorite places to have sex with men, [[MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces including her mother's couch, in her bed with handcuffs, on top of a car, and on the sidewalk]].

* LieDetector: Which are always deemed accurate, no matter how implausible the accusations actually are. Apparently, it is so good that the show can determine how many times a guest has cheated.

* BittersweetEnding: One man came on the show because he wanted to prove that he was the father of a woman who was in her late teens/early 20s. He very much wanted to be her father (it was the mother who was denying it), and even went so far as to tell her that even if he isn't the father, [[TearJerker she can come to him for anything]]. He also noted that as happy as he would be to find out he's the father, he would also be very sad, because he'd missed out on her whole life because the mother claimed someone else was the father. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments He turned out to be the father]].

* TooMuchInformation:
** Many guests have absolutely no problem describing their sex lives, or lack thereof, in explicit detail.
** One 15-year-old out of control teen girl actually took the camera crew to her hometown and pointed out all of her favorite places to have sex with men, [[MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces including her mother's couch, in her bed with handcuffs, on top of a car, and on the sidewalk]].

** Cheating men are always treated as evil, while cheating women are treated as {{wounded gazelle|Gambit}}s .

*** The exact opposite happened in another episode. A white couple had a baby who was obviously half-black, but the husband was unaware of his wife's affair and was totally convinced the baby was his.
*** In another episode, a black woman brought in a baby that was clearly 100% black, and claimed that a white man was the father. Obviously, he wasn't.
*** A pair of episodes featured a white woman who brought in a baby that was clearly 100% white, and each time she claimed that a black man was the father. Neither man was.
*** In another episode, a white woman had a clearly Asian-looking baby while the assumed father was a Hispanic man. Needless to say, the audience could easily tell he's not the father, and it was proven true.

** One potential father in 2016 actually averted this. He used an actual genetic tool, a Punnett square (which shows the potential offspring of two parents using dominant and recessive genes), as his argument that a blonde-haired, blue-eyed baby was not his, but rather than cite the square as definitive proof, he also acknowledged that the chance of him being the father was still there. [[spoiler:He was the father in the end, and he took it well.]]

* AttentionWhore: All the guests, if you think about it. Why else would they go on national television to share their problems?

** Bickering guests get to Maury quickly. See TranquilFury below.
* [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled Better to Lie Than Be Truthful]]: Some guests will not submit to lie detector tests, or always lie on them, and then still try to lie after being caught lying.
* BittersweetEnding: One man came on the show because he wanted to prove that he was the father of a woman who was in her late teens/early 20s. He very much wanted to be her father (it was the mother who was denying it), and even went so far as to tell her that even if he isn't the father, [[{{Tearjerker}} she can come to him for anything]]. He also noted that as happy as he would be to find out he's the father, he would also be very sad, because he'd missed out on her whole life because the mother claimed someone else was the father. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming He turned out to be the father]].

* ChocolateBaby: Every once in a while a white woman will bring a clearly mixed-race baby on the show claiming that it's their white boyfriend/husband's baby, when obviously it's not, although in one episode the white husband did believe it was his.

** One particularly cringe-worthy example involved a white woman that had a mixed-race baby. She pointed to two possible men, both black, and when neither of them turned out to be the father, she woefully cried "They're the only two black men I've slept with!", much to the amusement of the audience. Afterwards, Maury then explained to the viewers that they later tested yet another potential father, and he wasn't the father either. Oh, and neither was the next man after that.

** It seems as if, no matter how many times a person cheated, their guilt and infidelity is tossed out of the window as long as their infidelities didn't result in any questionable paternity, such as a woman getting pregnant by another man, or a man getting another woman pregnant while in a relationship. A woman will hug and kiss their man after DNA tests prove he isn't the father of another woman's baby even though he lied to her about it, and men will hug and kiss women if they are the father of their baby even if the woman did, in fact, cheat on him many times. A particularly egregious example of this was the case of a woman who was being accused by her husband of cheating with another man and the husband believed that the woman's child may belong to that man. A lie detector test proved the woman had sexual contact with that man many times.[[note]]It turned out that the man in question was married to someone close to the woman.[[/note]] However, a DNA test proved he was the father of the woman's baby. The woman then made the man ''kiss her feet'', which [[ExtremeDoormat he did.]]
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Some of the guests who have appeared on the show have names that makes you wonder what were their parents thinking. For example, some of the names of the guests that have appeared on the show includes [[LongList Nevaeh, Araya Sunshine, Qyaira, Aceton, Braceton, Schic, Tia Wanna, Princess-Chakaya, Dorkish, Chynise, Shadimon, Hon'ee, Aki-Sha, Shumonique, Quaytashion, Mylove, Nazijhir, Tantania, Rayletha, Courvoisier, Qynesha, Typriest, Inkenjarick, Gypsy, Semaj, Queen, Fear, and Forever.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The wild teen girls will often admit to being less-than-perfectly behaved, but they also would deny doing things like having sex in their parents' homes or prostituting themselves, saying that they have more respect for themselves/their parents than that. Whether they were actually telling the truth is a totally different subject.

** Usually, guests who cheat on their boyfriends and husbands around the time they get pregnant say that the child in question ''may'' not be their boyfriend/husband's child. One woman who cheated on her boyfriend, however, went an extra mile by explicitly telling everybody that "her five-year-old son is not his". When asked to explain how she was so sure, she said it was because she [[ReallyGetsAround cheated on him with about six other guys.]] [[spoiler: [[DownerEnding The child in question was not her boyfriend's.]]]]

** In a specific example, a 17-year-old girl was on Maury because she was furious that the boy she claimed got her pregnant not only was denying her baby, he also started dating her older sister and he might have gotten her pregnant as well, and the younger sister didn't believe that her ex-boyfriend was the father of her older sister's baby, either. The younger sister is looked upon sympathetically by Maury and the audience who, as usual, heckles and boos the older sister and her boyfriend when they come out on stage. The paternity results reveal that the boy was the father of the older sister's baby, but ''not'' the father of the younger sister's. The ex-boyfriend and the older sister seem legitimately hurt that the younger sister lied to them, which puts them in a more sympathetic light while the younger sister is portrayed as the liar, not helped by the fact that [[WhatTheHellHero the younger sister ended up flying into a rage and tried to attack her older sister's boyfriend, which Maury ends up calling her out on.]]

* GenreBlindness:
** You'd think the guests who are brought out to be ambushed with big secrets would guess ahead of time what was about to happen. This is particularly egregious on cheating episodes, when they put a suspected cheater in the green room with a sexy decoy to see if he makes a move. Naturally, the guy ''always'' takes the bait; if he'd ever seen the show, he'd know there was a camera taping his every move.
** One {{genre savvy}} man [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] this when he proposed to his girlfriend, holding up a board with "Will You Marry Me?" on it towards the camera.
** Some men caught cheating with the sexy decoy claim that they're "only playing along" because doing that is "expected" of them when they come on the show. Maybe he has a point, but nobody buys it.
*** When one man was shown the decoy footage, he insisted that ''it wasn't him!'' While the tape is blurry, Dave Vitali, the guy who administers the decoy test and observed the entire thing, was ''sitting right there in the audience''.

** The wild teen girls are notorious for calling the women who bring them on the show terrible names, like whore, slut, and bitch, while bragging about how men they have slept with. Occasionally they will also brag about how much money and gifts they have received for doing this.
** One man who was accused of [[ReallyGetsAround fathering three babies with three different women]], with the youngest and oldest being only ''two months'' apart, denied this because "all three of the women are nothing but hoes". [[spoiler: He was the father of two of them.]]
** People will often talk about how they love their significant others despite the fact that they cheat on or abuse them. One particularly egregious example was a woman who said she "can't live without (her boyfriend)", despite her cheating on him with 6 different men, all within the period of her conceiving her son (the child in question was not his).

** Sexy decoys are probably used by the show way more often than what is shown on television due to the fact that the show likely only shows clips where the accused cheater is caught doing something questionable with the decoy, and most times, the guests are smart enough [[GenreSavvy not to take the bait.]]

** Some guests' prior appearances may not be mentioned in detail or even at all in updates about them (see NoodleIncident below). This is probably due to the fact that it may not be auspicious to the guests of the show to show the audience what happened during those appearances. For example, Simone (a woman who tested many men for her son) was incorrectly stated to have appeared on the show 10 times during one appearance, when it was really 13 times; the other times were related to her difficulties with her boyfriend, whom she cheated on 200 times. In Simone's earlier appearances where those shows were referenced in detail, Simone was often ridiculed by the audience. A guest named Sholonda was stated to have only brought two children on the show (a daughter and a son), when in reality, she also brought a second daughter to the show. During that appearance, Sholonda and her husband were apparently quite hostile towards each other and that appearance was never mentioned again a while after it aired.

** A man that initially interacts negatively with the audience when he says that he isn't father of a child will sometimes go into the audience to celebrate with them when it's revealed that he was right. This also occasionally happens when it's revealed that a guy isn't a cheater. Furthermore, some men will immediately go back to interacting negatively with the studio audience afterwards.

** The episode "I'm Praying My Brother Is Not My Baby's Father" has gained a significant amount of infamy for the IncestSubtext involved in it. [[spoiler: The title is in reference to a case where a woman had to get both lie detector and DNA tests after she was accused of cheating on her boyfriend with his brother, and she did not know who the father of her child was; it's supposed to be in the boyfriend's voice. In a truly shocking twist, she admitted to cheating before the results were even read. Neither the boyfriend's brother, nor the boyfriend himself, were the father. In a small bit of consolation, however, she did pass the lie detector about cheating with his brother.]]
** This was ''subverted'' once in the episode "Is My Brother My Baby's Father?", where a woman, Lakinia, who was on the show before with her boyfriend Quentin to reveal she cheated on him and that her son might not be his (he wasn't the father) and who was raised in several group homes ended up cheating on her boyfriend Quentin with a guy she just met named Curtis, who also grew up in foster homes. Later, at a family reunion, it was discovered that Lakinia and Curtis [[spoiler: shared the same birth mother]], who was [[MissingMom never in either of their lives]]. Curtis even wanted to be the father of Lakinia's son. To make things even more sordid is that Quentin and Curtis share the same father, which makes Lakinia and her fiancé Quentin basically [[spoiler: stepsiblings]]. And the DNA tests proved that [[spoiler: ''neither'' of them was the father]].

** During a different kind of Noodle Incident, a segment of an out-of-control teen episode ended with the audience suddenly screaming before the show abruptly cut out. Afterwards, the girl from the segment, who appeared on the show a few months prior, was escorted off of the stage by security guards while other teen girls on the stage were cheering for her and is not seen again until a bit later in the episode. We aren't sure what happened that resulted in the girl being detained by security, but the girl said she wanted to get help so "things like this never happen again". [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs There was an update on the girl, and the appearance where she is escorted off of the stage is never mentioned even once during the update.]]

*** The new father eventually accepts responsibility of the baby and tries to make amends with the mother. Subverted if the father still tries to reject the baby.

* RashomonStyle:
** The stories of the man and woman always contradict each other, although in a lot of cases, it's obvious that the man is [[SelfServingMemory lying to make himself look better]] (such as saying that the woman is promiscuous). This is also the case for women who claim that the guy(s) they think is the father isn't.
** Sometimes, the woman is just way too upset to accept anything the man says, even when he's proven not to have done anything seriously wrong.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: One episode has a woman accusing her husband of cheating on her with other women, which he denied. It turns out to be true; he did not sleep with other women. He slept with other [[BiTheWay men.]]

* ScareEmStraight: This is applied in full force in the out of control teen girls and abusive boyfriend/husband episodes. The offenders in question are sent to a place to show what will happen if they don't change. Bonus points if the people sent there break down in tears and promise they will change for the better. Subverted when a follow up episode shows that the offenders learned absolutely nothing, especially if they were recorded to show remorse in their first appearance.

* SuicideDare: Women who are looking for their babies' daddies sometimes say this when the possible daddy is particularly belligerent about paternity. Subverted in that the daddies (probably) aren't suicidal.

** Yet another episode resorted to a QuoteMine. A cheating mother, an affair kept secret for 22 years, with a daughter whose father might not actually be her father. The trailer that came before the DNA test showed the man saying "I never want to see you again".[[spoiler: However, the DNA test revealed that the man was the father, and when he talked to the mother he said, "I was thinking 'I never want to see you again', but I decided to be there for our daughter, even if she isn't mine." A classic bait and switch.]]
* TransparentCloset: There have been a few times when guys claim that they are 100% straight even after having affairs with men or {{drag queens}}.

** Cheating men are always treated as evil, while cheating women are treated as [[WoundedGazelleGambit Wounded Gazelles]].

** Men that sleep around (allegedly) getting multiple women pregnant are (rightfully) called out for being irresponsible. However, women who have sex with multiple men around the time of their pregnancy are rarely called out for their irresponsibility and are treated more sympathetically. This is especially egregious if a woman brings several men on the show to determine the paternity of one child or has multiple children by multiple men.

** A 20 year old woman was accusing a ''14 year old boy'' of being her baby daddy. Thankfully, he wasn't, but the fact that she wasn't in prison makes no sense. Imagine what would have happened if the genders were reversed.
*** The same scenario (unfortunately) took place with a 14 year old girl and an 18 year old boy, and the age issue was glossed over in this case as well. Though, the man could've been with the girl when he was 17 in this case.

* [[ArgumentOfContradictions Argument of Contradictions]]: A staple of the show.
* ArmouredClosetGay: There have been a few times when guys claim that they are 100% straight even after having affairs with men or drag queens.