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.

A producer on Maury Povich's daytime talk show has filed a $100 million lawsuit against him, NBC Universal and other staff members on the show. The court papers say that not only was she forced to watch porno movies, suffer sexual remarks, and expose her body in undercover assignments, she was also forced to endure the details of another staff member's affair with Povich.

The defendants deny all charges. The woman says she is in therapy because of what happened to her. Wow, just add some screaming and a blood test, and it's like an episode of the show.