That sound you hear is the planet dying, just a little bit.

The syndicated talk shows (and I use that term very, very loosely) Jerry Springer and Maury have been renewed through the 2010 season. Yes, that's right, for three more seasons. Springer will start its 17th season this fall and Maury its 10th.

That means we'll have three more glorious seasons of actors ordinary citizens throwing chairs at each other and wrestling and three more intriguing years of morons ordinary citizens taking paternity tests to see if they're the father of a woman's baby.