The Maury Show is a tabloid talk show hosted by Maury Povich that, essentially, does paternity and polygraph tests and broadcasts them to the whole wide world. The show is 24 years old and has aired 2,640 episodes. This show seems to consistently run the same promise: A young female, usually African-American, wants to prove (or disprove in some cases) that a man is the father of her child.

As entertaining as watching people who have no respect for themselves defame their race is, one cannot help but ask, “Is Maury even real?”

According to Maury Povich: A Look inside the Art of Revealing Paternity and More by David Bauder, the show is not scripted apart from the pronunciation of a few names prior to the show. The article also states that actual people are willing to put their stories out into the public with a big “open for judgment” sign, confirming that the people appearing on the show are real and not failed actors who star for the entertainment of others.

“To Povich’s good fortune, there’s an inexhaustible supply of people who don’t mind telling cringe-worthy stories about themselves.” The show itself is pretty pointless, if you ask me. They offer a “free” paternity test that you would otherwise have to pay an astounding $30 to get in the privacy of your own home. And if you can afford to fly across the country, then you should be able to afford a home-paternity test. People clearly go on the show for their fifteen minutes of fame, but looking back at something so permanent in thirty years really isn’t worth it.