Paternity Ward

"In any relationship, we just give them the opportunity to get together," he says. "We can't make it happen, but you know what? We'll offer them flights to go see their kids if they want to. We'll send them to their kids' house for the holidays. And we won't even air it. We won't even talk about it. We'll just do it. Because we want to give them every fighting chance to make it happen. And some of them get married.

"Some of the guys still hate the women, but they're sending child-support checks. And if that's all that they're going to give, it was more than they gave before they came on the show."

In addition, he says, the show arranges for counseling for guests who want it. (Guests are not paid for their appearances.)

Of his critics, Povich says: "I don't want to argue with them anymore because they just put up a wall, but when people say, 'You don't care about these people' -- we do care about these people. We do. And I can't -- if you're not going to believe me, then don't believe me. But we care about them. And this is how we demonstrate it.

"Jerry Springer is a long acquaintance of mine. And he would not mind me telling you, because he believes it -- Jerry puts on theater. That's what he does. He admits it. This may be theater, but it's the theater of the real world. And this to me is the purest form of reality soap opera."

It's not clear why some of his guests return so many times.

"I don't know," Povich says, turning to Faulhaber. "You think subconsciously they're getting anything out of it? I don't see it. . . . It baffles me, too. Well, think about it. . . . We've spent how much money on DNA tests on Simone? Five thousand?"

Povich thinks a minute. "I can understand -- 'Back home, my friends and family put an "X" across me because I don't know who the father of my child is. I'm going to show them. I'm going to go on the show and I'm going to show them.' I can see it once, I can see it twice, I can see it three times. After that, I don't know."

Goodman speaks of "promiscuous disclosure" of personal information, which can be triggered by "the need to have the experience of being known by a large number of people." He says, "If you can't understand why they would humiliate themselves, maybe it's because they don't experience humiliation."

Povich continues: "And then the other thing is that I get to the point where I have said to many of these women, 'I don't know much about the female reproductive system . . . but aren't we talking about a three-day period here?' " He laughs. "'It means you've been with a lot of people within two or three days.

"We give them an opportunity to try to explain that. . . . I've brought out Georgetta"-- he laughs heartily -- "I mean, it's almost like we're co-hosts."

As for his audience, Povich takes particular pride in his popularity with younger viewers. "I have people writing me from college saying, 'I plan my classes around your show,' " he says.