After 21 seasons of sensational programs that have focused on everything from criminal offspring to rampant drug abuse to extramarital affairs, Dr. Phil, the hit daytime talk show led by Dr. Phil McGraw, after the current season ends at the presenter’s option, Variety reported Tuesday.
It’s the end of an era for the definitive Southern-accented TV star, who has a PhD in clinical psychology but isn’t a licensed therapist. For years, the show has drawn throngs of viewers (and continues to average 2 million viewers per episode) with McGraw’s pointed interviews with concerned guests that can be as hilarious as harrowing, though the show itself is a constant magnet for lawsuits, scandals, and criticism.
off-screen storms
One of the host’s early controversies involved Britney Spears during the height of her midlife mental health struggles; In January 2008, McGraw was allowed to visit her while she was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown. He later made public statements about the visit that estranged the Spears family and had them punish McGraw for betraying their trust. In response to criticism that he was trying to fit into the story purely for entertainment, McGraw said a planned episode of Dr. Phil on Spears’ situation.
More recently, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, McGraw drew criticism for questioning the need for social distancing to prevent the virus from spreading.
“The fact is that people die, 45,000 people a year die from car accidents, 480,000 from cigarettes, 360,000 a year from swimming pools, but we’re not closing the country for that,” McGraw had said of Laura Ingraham’s The Ingraham Angle. “But we still do it for it and the consequences will last for years because lives are destroyed.”
Legal disputes abound
These off-screen antics are just the tip of the iceberg, as McGraw is no stranger to lawsuits over his divisive show. In 2021, a woman who claimed to have been sexually assaulted at a Utah ranch sued McGraw and ViacomCBS for negligence after the host recommended she be featured on an episode of Dr. to send Phil there. The show has also been sued for defamation by Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, two suspects in the case of Natalee Holloway’s disappearance.
In another lawsuit, Shirley Rae Dieu alleged that during a recording session at Dr. Phil House, for an episode that eventually aired in 2007, was held against her will and “forced to be in the same room with a fully alive naked man while exposing his entire naked body, genitals and all.”
“All of Shirley Rae Dieu’s allegations are unfounded,” said attorneys for Dr. Phil in a statement. “When Ms. Dieu expressed her discomfort and the producers realized there was nothing they could do to help her, they called a driver to take her home.”
Manipulation behind the scenes
And then there’s the show itself, which has long been criticized for going too far in the pursuit of entertainment, exploiting vulnerable people and exploiting their problems to boost ratings.
In 2022, BuzzFeed spoke to a dozen current and former Dr. Phil staff who said they experienced a miserable work environment where they were encouraged to inflate racial stereotypes on screen and in one instance ensure a guest was not treated properly before appearing so she would appear unstable. McGraw’s personal attorney dismissed the claims, dismissing them as clickbait.
A rambling 2016 interview with reclusive actress Shelley Duvall drew sharp condemnation, and Todd Herzog, a recovering alcoholic and former Survivor winner, claims his drunken performance on Dr. Phil was directed in 2013 by producers who he said gave him Xanax and put handles on vodka in his dressing room. A psychologist associated with the show disputed Herzog’s claims.
“A Cautionary Tale”
McGraw’s show is long overdue to end, according to pundits and critics who spoke to The Daily Beast.
“The legacy of Dr. Phil is a cautionary tale,” addiction activist Ryan Hampton told us on Wednesday. “It wasn’t just his attitude and approach, which was all we were taught not to do. He never really approached a situation with compassion.
“What really annoyed me was the exploitation of these stories and the exploitation of people who were in a state of crisis to peddle sponsors’ products,” Hampton continued. “It was common knowledge that you, Dr. You only need to sponsor Phil’s show if you want to increase your admission prices at your Malibu treatment facility or sell your zero-science based virtual reality treatment program. From my church, it’s a good deliverance.”
That sentiment was echoed Tuesday by Taylor Cole Miller, an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse tweeted on Tuesday“The notes of Dr. Phil, who I went to, were manipulative, unethical and representative of poor television production practices for a show that claims to be intellectually honest and moral.”
Speaking to The Daily Beast, Miller explained, “At a taping I attended we had a Michael Jackson dance off, people were excited and happy and I even got a heart shaped stress ball from Dr. Phil. This episode was about teenage suicide. After it was done they took us to different spots in the studio to record a second show and the dancing continued. We thought: Maybe this will be an easier episode. The second episode was about teenagers who seriously abuse their parents.
“The sudden fall of being confronted with such a heavy subject after it was produced as silly and dizzy felt either extremely psychologically manipulative or grossly incompetent,” Miller continued. “My educated guess is that this way of producing at Dr. Phil is intentional because the quick juxtaposition of those feelings will evoke a more emotional response.”
Indeed, critics agree that it is positive that McGraw and Dr. Getting Phil off the airwaves – even if his next move is frighteningly up in the air.
“I think it’s probably a good thing for the community that he’s off the air,” said psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Sugar, who has previously criticized McGraw for his comments on Spears, told The Daily Beast. “Though I shudder to think what he might do instead.”