Maury Povich (Actor)

Warm and amiable, with a style that could be called home-spun urban, Maury Povich went from a career as a TV newsman to becoming the first anchor of tabloid TV shows when he was hand-picked by Rupert Murdoch for "A Current Affair", which grew from being seen locally on the Fox station in NYC, to airing on all the Fox stations, to becoming a hit in syndication.

Povich began as a news reporter in Washington, DC, where his father, Shirley Povich, had been a legendary sports reporter. He eventually anchored the news on WTTG in DC, before hosting "Panorama", the most popular locally-produced talk show. In 1976, Povich left Washington for similar duties with the NBC affiliate in Chicago. The following year, after a bitter contract dispute, he moved on to anchor the evening news at the CBS owned and operated station in L.A., the nation's second-largest market. While Povich did not click with the L.A. market, he did meet his second wife, Connie Chung who was a news anchor at the same station. After leaving L.A., Povich worked for short spells in Philadelphia and San Francisco before returning to WTTG in Washington and his old anchor desk and "Panorama" chair. "A Current Affair" followed in 1986.

Although Povich defended tabloid TV shows from critical attack, the "Current Affair" stint turned tense, and he departed in 1990, leaving his concurrent news anchor job with the NYC Fox station as well. He became executive producer and host of "The Maury Povich Show", a syndicated afternoon talk show which dealt with informative, soft, and sensational issues, often mixing two or three different segments in each hour. Although the show did not reach the ratings success of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and certainly failed to gain the critical acceptance that Phil Donahue had achieved, "Povich" did succeed and was renewed through the 1998 season. Povich also occasionally hosted reality specials, such as "Forbes 400: The Richest People in America" (CBS, 1992) and "Why Bother Voting" (PBS, 1992).

Povich's personal life and marriage to Connie Chung fell into the spotlight in the early 90s when, at age 44, Chung announced she would be cutting back her on-air schedule so that they might conceive a child. Instead, the couple adopted a son in 1995. Povich and Chung signed a deal with DreamWorks SKG in 1996 to host a half-hour informational series beginning with the 1998-99 season.