Maury helps big babies and distraught parents alike

By Melissa Mongi
Senior Staff Writer
January 24, 2007

Daytime television seeps to new levels of tastelessness each week. The Maury Show, at its core a tasteless talk show, goes to depths of cheap tricks to earn viewer interest. My personal favorites start with titles like, “You cheated on me because I have one leg,” and “I’m testing the 10th man, will I find the father today?” It’s like the train wreck cliché goes: I watch it because, although I know it’s wrong, there is something alluring about it. All of The Maury Show’s programs are centered on this human instinct: the desire to watch other people go through hard times and, if we’re lucky, beat up their philandering husbands.

No episode repulses me quite as much as shows entitled “Fat Babies.” The Maury Show seeps so low as to cast a spotlight on the lives of young obese children on monthly episodes. While the show is supposed to promote the revitalization of the toddler’s health, they use the poor maintenance of the child’s weight for entertainment purposes. Shame on you, Maury.

The Maury Show holds its moral card high as it maintains that its intentions are for the sake of the child’s health. Keeping the health of the child in mind, they edit together a video package of each child eating large quantities of food. As the toddler holds a turkey leg and drinks a bottle filled with Coca Cola, Maury’s disappointed voice lays out the child’s daily intake of caloric abomination. The tot eats three eggs, bacon, sausage and home fries for breakfast. For lunch, the child absorbs the fat content in three slices of pizza and pie. To top off the day, the kid who can’t form words yet attacks a steak and potato with a side of ice cream. The edited video clip of the baby is nothing compared to the studio spectacular about to ensue. Mothers, distraught from their obese toddlers, cry to Maury about their babies’ appetites. Unable to change the channel, I wonder why they continue to feed the kids so improperly. Did the toddler order the pizza? Did the kid crawl to the stove and fry the steak? Why is Maury the voice of reason for these women?

Later in the program, after The Maury Show has gone through at least six fat babies, Maury updates the audience on a previous fat baby. The still obese 9 year old waves to Maury via satellite. She was on the program when she was two years old and obese. Seven years later, nothing has changed. Her weight has escalated further. It would seem Maury’s show did not help the poor child. It would seem her mother did not rethink the food options she gave her daughter as a toddler. Although she was once a fat baby on parade for millions to see, Maury’s impact is nothing more than 15 minutes of fame for an unhealthy kid. Her life is nothing but food for a hungry American viewing audience.

mongim1@lasalle.edu