Dr. Phil is an American talk show created by Oprah Winfrey and the host Phil McGraw. After McGraw's segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002. On both shows, McGraw offers advice in the form of "life strategies" from his life experience as a clinical and forensic psychologist.[3] The show is in syndication throughout the United States and several other countries. Occasional prime-time specials have aired on CBS.
The program was recorded before a live studio audience in Stage 29 on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood, California. It was recorded from August to May with a break in December for the holiday season. On October 25, 2018, it was announced that Dr. Phil had been renewed for four additional seasons, taking the show to 2023, or the end of its 21st season,[4] which would be confirmed to be its last in January of that year. The final episode aired on May 25, 2023.
History
The Dr. Phil talk show premiered on September 16, 2002.[5] Before starting the show, McGraw had made regular appearances as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show.[6][7]
Since September 2008, Dr. Phil has been broadcast in HDTV with a revamped look and a theme written and performed by McGraw's son, Jordan. Its tenth season premiered on September 12, 2011. Reruns of earlier episodes of the series began broadcasting on the Oprah Winfrey Network in January 2011.
Since 2011, Dr. Phil has ranked as the top syndicated talk show, before that it was the second highest-rated talk show after The Oprah Winfrey Show.[8] In October 2015, it was reported that Dr. Phil had been renewed through 2020.[9]
McGraw's advice and methods have drawn much criticism from psychotherapists as well as from laypersons. McGraw said in a 2001 South Florida newspaper interview that he never liked traditional one-on-one counseling, and that "I'm not the Hush-Puppies, pipe and 'Let's talk about your mother' kind of psychologist."[10] In 2004, the National Alliance on Mental Illness called McGraw's conduct in one episode of his television show "unethical" and "incredibly irresponsible".[11] McGraw's critics regard advice given by him to be at best simplistic, and at worst, ineffective.[12]
On April 13, 2008, an unnamed staffer for Dr. Phil put up 10%, or a total of $3,300 towards the $33,000 bail for 17-year-old Mercades Nichols, one of a group of eight teenage girls who beat another girl and videotaped the attack. Someone put up the remaining 90% of the bail for Nichols, who had been booked at the Polk County, Florida, jail.[13] Theresa Corigliano, spokesperson for the Dr. Phil show said that "In this case certain staffers went beyond our guidelines," and that the producers had "decided not to go forward with the story as our guidelines have been compromised."[14][15]
Shelley Duvall, who was reportedly suffering from mental illness,[16] appeared on a segment on the show in 2016.[17] It drew significant criticism from the public, with many suggesting that Duvall's mental illness was being exploited.[17] In the segment, she refused the offered treatment.[17]
On October 25, 2018, it was announced that Dr. Phil had been renewed for four additional seasons, for a total of 21 seasons, ending in 2023.[4]
In February 2022, around a dozen current and former employees of Dr. Phil alleged that they experienced "verbal abuse in a workplace that fosters fear, intimidation, and racism".[18][19] Seven current employees also claimed that the show's guests are often manipulated and treated unethically.[18] Attorneys for McGraw and his co-producer, Carla Pennington, categorically denied every allegation made.[18][20]
On January 31, 2023, CBS Media Ventures confirmed Dr. Phil would cease production of new episodes with the current season, ending its run at 21 seasons, with the final episode airing on May 25, 2023. The distributor offered a package of 'best-of' reruns a laJudge Judy (another show distributed by CBS Media Ventures) for stations to fulfill the remainder of their contracts, though for the most part, much of its affiliate base refused the package for other current-day programming options, or pushed it to graveyard slots or other sister stations, and in some markets, the reruns air on other stations entirely if not completely refused.[21]
On November 6, 2023, McGraw announced the launch of Dr. Phil Primetime through a new cable network, Merit Street Media, originally intent on launching February 26, 2024 as a joint venture between McGraw and TBN, who will be the network's production partner and originate it on weeknights from a facility in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.[22] Its launch was delayed to April 2, 2024 due to carriage negotiation issues with providers.
Guests on the show sometimes underwent polygraph tests. These tests were usually administered by retired FBI agent Jack Trimarco,[26] who was a frequent guest on the show until he died in 2018. After Trimarco's death, he was replaced by polygraph examiner John Leo Grogan.[27] McGraw is noted for often bringing families back on multiple shows for follow-up "therapy" sessions in his segment called "Dr. Phil Family."[28]
Reception
Ratings
On May 21, 2007, the Dr. Phil show was ranked 4th by Nielsen Media Research, with 6.69 million viewers. The show was ranked 6th with 5.69 million viewers on May 12, 2008.[29][30] In May 2008, Dr. Phil was the second most popular talk show on television, after The Oprah Winfrey Show.[31]
On July 30, 2019, Dr. Phil was the top syndicated show with a 2.9 national Nielsen rating, ranking first among talk shows for the 150th consecutive week.[32] The Dr. Phil show was the highest rated talk show in the first week of March 2020, with a 2.8 national Nielsen rating.[33]
The Oprah Winfrey Show, often referred to as The Oprah Show or simply Oprah, is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, from Chicago, Illinois. Produced and hosted by Oprah Winfrey, it remains the highest-rated daytime talk show in American television history.
Ricki Pamela Lake is an American television host and actress. She is known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film Hairspray, for which she received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She is also known for her talk show, Ricki Lake, which was broadcast internationally from September 1993 until May 2004. When the show debuted, Lake was 24 and credited as being the youngest person to host a syndicated talk show at the time. In late 2012, Lake began hosting a second syndicated talk show, The Ricki Lake Show. The series was canceled in 2013 after a single season, but Lake won her first Daytime Emmy Award for the project.
Phillip Calvin McGraw, known professionally as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality and author, best known for hosting the talk show Dr. Phil. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased renewing his license to practice psychology in 2006.
The Arsenio Hall Show is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall.
Marc Summers is an American television personality, comedian, game show host, producer, and talk show host. He is best known for hosting Double Dare for Nickelodeon, and Unwrapped for Food Network; he was the executive producer for both Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible also for Food Network.
Harpo Productions is an American multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey and based in West Hollywood, California. The name "Harpo" is "Oprah" spelled backwards and it was also the name of her on-screen husband in the film The Color Purple (1985).
Gayle King is an American television personality, author, and broadcast journalist for CBS News, co-hosting its flagship morning program, CBS Mornings, and before that its predecessor CBS This Morning. She is also an editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine.
Rachael Ray is an American television talk show hosted by Rachael Ray that aired in syndication from September 18, 2006 to July 28, 2023. It was taped at Chelsea Television Studios in New York City and her home.
A tabloid talk show is a subgenre of the talk show genre that emphasizes controversial and sensationalistic topical subject matter. The subgenre originated in the United States and achieved peak viewership from the mid-1980s through the end of the 1990s. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through television syndication, tabloid talk shows originated in the 1960s and early 1970s with series hosted by Joe Pyne, Les Crane, and Phil Donahue; the format was popularized by personal confession-filled The Oprah Winfrey Show, which debuted nationally in 1986. The format has since been emulated outside the United States, with the United Kingdom, Latin America and the Philippines all having popular shows that fit the format.
The Steve Wilkos Show is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Steve Wilkos. The series is a spin-off of the Jerry Springer show, where Wilkos was employed as head of security. The Steve Wilkos Show debuted on September 10, 2007, two months after Wilkos' departure as director of security on Jerry Springer.
In 2002, Phil Donahue returned to television to host a talk show called Donahue on MSNBC.
Roger Monroe King was an American television and media executive for King World Productions and CBS.
The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is an American multinational basic cable television network which launched on January 1, 2011, effectively replacing the Discovery Health Channel. The OWN is a joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery and Harpo Studios, conceptualized largely by popular talkshow host, Oprah Winfrey—the name of Harpo Studios is Winfrey’s first name, spelled backwards.
The Doctors is a daily American syndicated talk show featuring medical advice. It debuted on September 8, 2008 and aired until August 8, 2022. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Media Ventures. The series is a spin-off of Dr. Phil and is the first talk show to be a third generation talk show spin-off, as Dr. Phil itself spun off The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Oprah Gail Winfrey, also known mononymously as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African-American of the 20th century and was once the world's only black billionaire. By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world.
The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Talk Series Host, originally called Outstanding Talk Show Host, is an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) to honor daytime talk show hosts.
The Gayle King Show is the name of several programs which have been hosted by Gayle King, friend and business associate of Oprah Winfrey.
Super Soul Sunday is a self-help talk show hosted by Oprah Winfrey, which airs on the Oprah Winfrey Network. The series premiered on October 16, 2011, and ended on December 19, 2021.
The Dr. Oz Show is an American syndicated daytime television talk show, hosted by Mehmet Oz, that aired between September 14, 2009, and January 14, 2022. Each episode features segments on health, wellness, and medical information, sometimes including true crime stories and celebrity interviews. It was co-produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions/Harpo Studios and OzWorks LLC/Oz Media in association with Sony Pictures Television.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
