Maury Povich Says He ‘Couldn’t Do’ His Talk Show Today: ‘There’s No Way’ (Exclusive)

“Remember when Daytime Television was, well, let’s just say a little over the top?”

That’s the question legendary talk show host Maury Povich asks at the beginning of the trailer for Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV, a new three-part series event from ABC. PEOPLE can exclusively reveal the trailer for the show, which premieres Wed. Jan. 14 and looks at the cultural legacy of America’s Daytime talk shows. 

The trailer for the docuseries shows some of the most iconic moments in daytime history, including when Oprah Winfrey brought a wagon of fat on stage during The Oprah Winfrey Show to show her weight loss, when crowds would chant the late Jerry Springer’s name on his series and Povich’s signature intoning of “You are not the father!”

But in the trailer, Povich, 86, reflects, “I couldn’t do that show today. There’s no way.” Povich hosted the show from 1991 to 2022.

The trailer documents some of the “crazy” moments that became “normal” on daytime TV, including fights both verbal and physical. “And America just couldn’t look away,” Povich says. 

Other talk shows featured in the series include Ricki Lake, The Geraldo Rivera Show, Sally Jessy Raphael’s show Sally and The Montel Williams Show. 

Raphael, 90, notes in the trailer that when it came to episodes of the shows, the rule was “The more controversial the better.”

In a press release, ABC said of the series that it “examines the rise, fall and lasting impact of the most sensational era in television talk show history. By exploring the psychological forces that shaped the talk TV genre, the series reveals how these shows transformed from trusted confessional spaces into lightning rods of controversy, leaving a lasting impact on culture, media and the people caught in the chaos.”

The three episodes will include never-before-told stories from the hosts, producers and insiders who “defined the talk TV world,” alongside expert analysis. In addition to Povich, Raphael and Williams, hosts Leeza Gibbons and John Henson will also appear, as well as Ricki Lake creator Garth Ancier, Jerry Springer and Sally creator Burt Dubrow and Geraldo executive producer Marty Berman. Steve Wilkos, the former bodyguard on The Jerry Springer Show who’s now a talk show host himself, will also appear.

The first episode, on Jan. 14, will dive into how the daytime format exploded in the ‘90s, with sex and conflict becoming key to the show’s appeal.

The second episode, airing Jan. 21, explores why viewers watched and why guests agreed to bare it all on air. It’ll also dive into the shocking incident when one guest murdered another after a taping. The third and final episode, releasing Jan. 28, will dive into the “new levels of sensationalism” the genre plumbed, with The Jerry Springer Show leading the race. 

Dirty Talk: When Daytime Talk Shows Ruled TV premieres Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 9 p.m. on ABC and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.