History Series / Maury

In March 2022, {=NBCUniversal=} announced that show was being cancelled after 31 years, Povich intends to retire after the show finishes production. The show will go into reruns beginning in September.

In March 2022, NBCUniversal announced that show was being cancelled after 31 years, Povich intends to retire after the show finishes production. The show will go into reruns beginning in September.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The guests on the DNA test episodes have a...''tenuous'' grasp on how conception and genetics work. Specific examples, many of which also overlap with ArtisticLicenseStatistics, include:

** One guy was brought on the show by his wife, who admitted to him that she had slept with his cousin and that their daughter might not his. 48 hours later, guy and his cousin were given a DNA test. Once it was revealed that the cousin wasn't the father, the wife and husband celebrated along with the cousin! ...Until it was revealed that the husband was "NOT the father" either.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Apparently, the guests on the DNA test episodes don't know or don't care to know how conception and genetics work. Specific examples, many of which also overlap with ArtisticLicenseStatistics, include:

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: There are (probably) occasional unintentional censoring fails here and there, most commonly very brief [[FlippingTheBird obscene gestures]] that somehow sneak past the censors. However, in previews for episodes, the previews will often cut off just ''right'' after the obscene content pops up on the screen so that the viewer only sees it for a split second, whether it's swearing or showing the middle finger. Usually, the obscene content will not be censored in the previews (although profane language will be slightly obscured, mouths will still be moving and you can make out what they're saying). The same thing is also prone to happening in the credits, especially older episodes.

## An accuser, when a lie detector test determines that their partner is [[YourCheatingHeart unfaithful]].

* YourCheatingHeart: A staple of guests on the show. Almost all of the DNA tests involve cheating in some way, and every lie detector test involves questions about cheating.

** Many of the guests who have no problem sharing their problems on the show regardless of what it is.

* 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]].

* AttentionWhore: Many of the guests. Why else would they go on national television to share their problems?

* FatGirl:
** In the plastic surgery episodes, many girls got liposuction due to being insecure about their weight and the bullying they received from it.
** The audience was and is quite ruthless towards overweight people, women especially, and would and will often laugh and make "eww" noises towards overweight people backstage.

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior[=/=]TroubledTeen: Another recurring subject on the show, with out of control teens and preteens. These kids claim to drink, smoke, do drugs and even engage in prostitution.

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Another recurring subject on the show, with out of control teens and preteens. These kids claim to drink, smoke, do drugs and even engage in prostitution.

''Until next time, America.''

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* DaddyDNATest: Another staple of the show.

* EpicFail: One paternity test episode had a woman insisting that a man was the father of her two-year-old son. Why? ''Because he did the same odd dance that he did.'' Needless to say, [[ForegoneConclusion he wasn't the father.]]

* GuiltyPleasure: The guiltiest. Many people like to watch the show due to the outrageous behavior of many of the guests.

** 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 six different men, all within the period of her conceiving her son. The child in question was not his.

** 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]].

** In 2004, a woman was on the show because her wild 16 year old daughter was extremely desperate to have a baby and admitted that she had sex [[ReallyGetsAround thousands of times]] to get pregnant and she was desperate to get her to stop before she succeeds in getting pregnant. Her older daughter ended up changing her life, but she had another daughter who was 14 and was also very desperate to have a baby. The younger daughter was given a pregnancy test and she was [[DownerEnding proven to be pregnant, effectively rendering her mother's efforts, to stop her daughter from becoming a teen mom useless]]. This is also applies to any wannabe-teen-mom who ended up getting pregnant anyway after going through emotional jail or mother-for-a-day programs, sometimes more than once.

* {{Stripperific}}: Many of the out of control teens wear very revealing clothing.

** As mentioned at ForegoneConclusion, if multiple men are involved for a DNA test, the guy that is mentioned first will not be the father of a child.

** 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.

* 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]].

** 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 harass 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]].

The most common element used in the show is DNA tests, sometimes taken to the extreme if a single man is accused of making multiple kids from different women, or when a single woman brings multiple men on the show (sometimes over the span of several episodes) to find her baby's father. [[OnceAnEpisode The men always say]], "That baby don't look nothing like me!"

Many episodes also feature rowdy, out of control teen girls who disrespect and abuse their mothers and/or siblings ([[OnceAnEpisode they always say]] "You don't know me!" when confronted about said wild behavior); lie detector tests; men who treat their women like slaves; and crazy footage caught on tape (cheaters caught in the act, insane accidents, etc.). While not shown very often, there have been many episodes of mothers with extremely obese toddlers and young kids (usually ranging from ages 3-7) and their mothers who always are either clueless as to why their child keeps getting fatter; who know they're giving their kids too much junk, but don't know what to do; or ones that firmly believe making their child dangerously fat makes their kid special and beautiful. There have also been episodes about guests trying to overcome their phobias, missing children, and "Maury's Talented Kids", where really cute kids sing, dance, etc., sometimes for cash prizes or family vacations.

* OnceAnEpisode:

* WedLocking: A frequent topic during DNA tests. Often, the man will say that if he is the father, he'll take on fatherly responsibilities.

** One guy was brought on the show, who'd had seven paternity tests in the past, all proving he was the father. Maury even joked that the guy probably knew more about paternity tests that he did. He was on the show because a former lover, as well as his current lover, and the mother of several of his kids, were both convinced that the former lover's daughter was his eighth child. Maury pulled out the results, and got as far as "You are" before the woman looked smugly at him and said she knew it. Maury, unperturbed, continued his sentence by saying "NOT the father!"

** The out of control teen episodes almost always focuses on the girls.

** If both a DNA test and lie detector test are involved, the order which the tests are read generally determines the outcome. If Maury reads the DNA test first, the outcome will be positive, and they're going to pass the following lie detector test. If Maury reads the lie detector test first, the outcome will be negative (with the subject failing, confessing, or having something negative revealed about them), with the following DNA test ending badly as a result.

* AllAbusersAreMale: Pretty much the sole motivation for the show to have episodes where a boyfriend/husband is mentally and physically abusing their girlfriend/wife. The show tries to avert this by showing wild and out of control teenage girls abusing their parents and/or siblings, but it then became just the inverted version of this, where the show makes it look like only teenage girls are capable of abusing their families, and not teenage boys.

** There have also been subversions. For example, a white woman and her black boyfriend have a white-looking, blue-eyed baby. He claims the baby is "too white" to be biracial, but it turns out that the baby is actually his. They had a toddler together as well and that child was similarly looking, though slightly darker.

** Some women have also done this when they think a guy is the father of their child shortly before Maury reveals that the guy isn't. One notable example of this is Telia. She was bragging that her search for her daughter's father was over and that this would be the last time we would see her on the show. Telia was incredibly confident that the guy was the father. This was despite him being the ''eleventh'' man that she tested. The guy, predictably, was not the father. While Telia was wrong about the results, she was right about one thing; [[ExactWords she never came back on the show again]].
** One guy was brought on the show, who'd had seven paternity tests in the past, all proving he was the father. Maury even joked that the guy probably knew more about paternity tests that he did. He was on the show because a former lover, as well as his current lover, and the mother of several of his kids, were both convinced that the former lover's daughter was his eighth child. Maury pulls out the results, and gets as far as "You are" before the woman looks smugly at him and says she knew it. Maury, unperturbed, continues his sentence by saying "NOT the father!"

** 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 [was] 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.]]]]
* FaceHeelDoubleTurn:
** Often happens when a denying man is proven not to be the father of a child or when someone is exonerated of cheating on their significant other. The audience, [[{{Hypocrite}} who most likely booed the person beforehand]], will often clap and cheer for the accused while heckling and booing their accusers, especially in the case of paternity results.
** 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]].

* 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 was ''nine year old''.