Trivia: A native of Washington, D.C. (born Maurice "Maury'' Richard Povich in 1939), talk show host Maury Povich grew up in the nation's capital as the son of Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich. After attending the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a degree in television journalism, and then starting a family, Povich entered the field of television news, initially as a reporter and sportscaster for local D.C. station WTTG-TV, then as the daytime host of that station's talk program Panorama (in 1967, at the age of 28). That assignment was, of course, prophetic: after years as a news anchorman at various stations (and a lucrative stint hosting the news magazine A Current Affair from 1986 to 1991, under the aegis of media mogul Rupert Murdoch), the television pundit attained his greatest recognition on a coast-to-coast level as the emcee of a number of small screen talk programs with a format similar to that of the original Panorama and (echoing A Current Affair) an emphasis on the über-sensationalistic, gossipy, tabloid-style material that began sweeping across the daytime airwaves during the 1990s. These syndicated programs (which drew large audiences) included the 1991 Maury Povich Show (1991-1998) and its nearly indistinguishable follow-up, Maury, which debuted in 1998. In 2006, Povich and longtime wife Connie Chung hosted the weekend news program Weekends with Maury and Connie on MSNBC; it folded after six months. The following year he bucked the trend of newspapers going online by launching the Flathead Beacon, a weekly gazette catering to the community of Flathead Valley, VT.

Trivia: Baltimore native Montel Williams clocked in as one of the frontrunners of sensationalistic daytime talk during the late '80s and '90s. At the time of his ascent to celebrity, Williams had previously essayed careers as a naval intelligence officer and a motivational speaker for adolescents. His talk program, The Montel Williams Show, debuted in 1991 to stellar ratings and continually escalating audiences -- a run that extended unabated through the late 2000s. The format of the program bore an identical resemblance to those of such forerunners as Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey, and others; it entailed honing in on guests with troubled pasts and help them resolve issues on the air. Williams' resumé also includes acting roles in such films as The Peacekeeper (1997) and Noon Blue Apples (2002).

Trivia: South Carolina native Leeza Gibbons got a degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina before becoming an anchor of the showbiz news show Entertainment Tonight in 1984. Gibbons became a household name almost instantly, interviewing celebrities and reporting on the latest Hollywood news and gossip long before the age of TMZ. Gibbons' striking screen presence also led to her appearing in acting roles in feature films such as Robocop, though the anchor most often made cameo appearances as herself -- as she did in 1991's He Said, She Said. In 1994, Gibbons began hosting her own daytime talk show, Leeza, which ran until 2000. She also started hosting a number of radio shows in 2004 and participated in the popular reality show Dancing with the Stars in 2007. She won the seventh season of the Celebrity Apprentice in 2015, playing for her own charity, Leeza's Care Connection.

Trivia: TV personality John Henson began working the stand-up comedy circuit at the age of 20, soon finding exposure on shows like An Evening at the Improv. In 1995, he took over hosting duties on the E! clipshow Talk Soup, where he would remain until 1999. He would continue to find work as a host and presenter at awards shows and on TV specials, and starred in his own series on a number of occasions, with 2004's The John Henson Project and 2008's Wipeout.