Dr. Phil (TV series)

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Dr. Phil
Titlecard
Format	Talk Show
Starring	Phil McGraw
Opening theme	Shine by Meredith Brooks
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	1,011 (as of February 13, 2008)
Production
Location(s)	Paramount Studios, Los Angeles, California
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	60 minutes with commercials
Broadcast
Original channel	First-run syndication
Original run	September 16, 2002 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Dr. Phil is an American talk show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segment 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 experience as a clinical psychologist.

The show is in syndication throughout the United States and Canada, as well as a number of other countries. Also, the show's syndication contracts specifically state that if Dr. Phil is on another station, it cannot air at the same time as Oprah. Its sixth season premiered on September 10, 2007, and it was announced on August 3, 2005 that it has been renewed through at least 2013, or eleven seasons.

Dr. Phil was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2007 for "Outstanding Talk Show Host". He won a Grammy Award for his appearance in the episode "Flavor of Love".

Contents 1 Style 2 Notable Shows 3 Spoofs 4 Phil-isms 5 Broadcasters 6 Recent News 7 Further reading 8 External links

[edit] Style

The show covers a wide variety of topics, including weight loss, financial planning, errant children, gift suggestions, children who have been diagnosed with autism, unhappily married couples, rebellious teenagers, mothers who dress far from their age, mothers who refuse to attend weddings, children being stars in their parents' rights, dysfunctional families, mothers who refuse to give their married sons monies and support for charitable causes. Radio personality and ex-child star Danny Bonaduce, came to the show twice in a year to discuss his failing marriage (and later divorce) with Gretchen. On several shows, children and/or adults took a lie detector exam, knowing if they touched their little girls' genitals, some of them have truthfully claimed they didn't, and the rest have untruthfully claimed they haven't, when some probably have. The show is generally serious in tone, leavened with humor from time to time. It has its occasional tense moments and often trashy scenes, like that of The Montel Williams Show, but without melees or aggressive fights on stage, in contrast to The Jerry Springer Show, The Steve Wilkos Show or Maury. He is noted for often bringing back families for multiple shows for follow-up "therapy" sessions in his segment called "Dr. Phil Family." Generally, the program is filmed and guests appear in studio, but in 2006, the Dr. Phil House began as an occasional series. Dr. Phil and his production staff invite guests to a special house wired with numerous cameras and microphones. There, his staff monitor the conversations of the guests he is trying to help, and intervene as necessary to prevent physical violence. Dr. Phil also provides on-the-spot advice and counseling to the "house guests".

[edit] Notable Shows

• In a show that aired on May 2, 2005 the twin sisters Crystal and Jocelyn Potter appeared. Crystal claimed to want to "work" in the adult industry together with Jocelyn, who rejected the idea as repulsive. Brothel owner Dennis Hof was interviewed and stated that the two could make half a million dollars per year in his establishment. It turns out that the sister's testimony was less than truthful: since 2002 they have appeared as the "Potter sisters" in numerous porn movies together, and in 2003 they even appeared together with Hof in the porn movie "Goin' down at the Bunny Ranch".^[1][2]

• The Dr. Phil House was set in an actual house within the Wilshire Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. It received numerous complaints from neighbors about the disruption caused by filming crews and the mentally unstable guests, unsightly cables and production trucks clogging the neighborhood, and the constant traffic caused by filming. After the Los Angeles City Council revoked film permits, in September 2006, the Dr. Phil show stopped filming there. However, Peteski Productions, Dr. Phil's production company, still owns the house. The Dr. Phil House has since moved to a studio back lot, and the exterior of the house shown in the program is that of a sound stage and not that of the actual house.^[3]
• There was a scam involving woman who lied saying that they knew Dr. Phil. The woman went by the name of Ms. Cleo. She was initially shut down for her fraudulent "psychic" ability hotline. The woman set up a phone line that they claimed to be run by the director of the Dr. Phil show. By telling customers that they could have a phone conversation with Dr. Phil for $750 an hour, they scammed Dr. Phil's viewers out of thousands of dollars.^[4]
• On December 12, 2006, the show featured a segment on Bumfights and attacks on the homeless across America. Dr. Phil discontinued an interview with the creator/distributor of the video series in disgust and forced him off the set after already inviting him.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Spoofs

• Sesame Street occasionally features a segment starring a Muppet as "Dr. Feel," who hosts a talk show and asks guests about their feelings. Dr. Phil has even appeared as a guest on one episode.
• In the Nickelodeon teen comedy Drake and Josh, a female psychiatrist hosts Dr. Phyllis (played by Gabrielle Carteris). One episodes centers around this show when Drake and Josh appear on the show and talk about their problems as brothers.
• The same "Dr. Phyllis" character was also used in the Brandy & Mr. Whiskers episode "Freaky Tuesday".
• Phil McGraw stars as himself in a minor role in Scary Movie 4, in which he is kidnapped along with Shaquille O'Neal. Their captor, a parody of the Jigsaw Killer from the Saw series, pumps a deadly nerve agent into the room in which the two are chained, and Dr. Phil is forced to cut off his own foot to escape from his shackles. He cuts off the wrong foot and therefore does not live through the movie.
• Dr. Phil starred on a Frasier episode entitled "The Devil & Dr. Phil", where he has Bebe as his agent.
• The show was spoofed a few times on MADtv with Michael McDonald playing Dr. McGraw. Often, Debra Wilson would appear on these spoofs as well, playing the character of Oprah Winfrey.
• YTV's The Zone formerly did spoofs of Dr. Phil that were also called Dr. Phyllis.
• Cyberchase's "Dr. Bill" was a parody of Dr. Phil.
• On SNL, Dr. Phil was the subject of a few sketches, one where he was portrayed by Will Ferrell.
• Ex-MADtv regular Frank Caliendo also plays Dr. Phil on his own show, Frank TV.
• On Hannah Montana, Robby Ray portrays Dr. Phil as Dr. Philbilly to teach his children to get along.

[edit] Phil-isms

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• What in the hell were you thinking?
• I've been doing this over 30 years.
• Are you nuts?
• You choose the behavior, you choose the consequences.
• How's it working for ya'?
• This is going to be a changing day in your life.
• You cannot change what you don't acknowledge.
• Are you kidding me?
• I want you to get excited about your life.
• Children are very perceptive.
• Get Real.
• What did I do!?
• If it's happening now, we're gonna deal with it now!
• Get a life.
• We're gonna start putting some verbs in our sentences.
• This relationship needs a hero.
• If You Don't Like It, Then Hit The Door... ...Lady!
• Just shut up!
• Respect my audience.
• Don't waste my time, Woman!
• I am your mother!
• It's all about balance!

[edit] Broadcasters

• In Arab World the show airs on MBC 4 at 19:00KSA.
• In Australia the show currently airs on the Network Ten at 12pm each weekday. Prior to 2006, it aired on the Nine Network. The show is also aired on the W. Channel on cable television.
• In Belgium the show airs on VijfTV at 23:00.
• In Canada the show airs on CTV, at varying times depending on region.
• In Denmark the show airs on TV3 at 14:20.
• In Estonia the show airs on Neljas every day at 18:25 on weekdays and at 18:00 on weekends.
• In Iceland the show airs on SkjárEinn at 17:45 every day of the week, and all the weeks's episodes shown again at the weekend.
• In Finland the show airs on Nelonen at 17:00.
• In Ireland the show airs every weekday morning on RTE1.
• In Israel the show airs every weekday on Yes Stars3 at 13:15.
• In New Zealand the show airs on TV3 at 13:00.
• In Norway the show airs on TV3 at 11:35, and 19:00 (re-run of 11:35)
• In Portugal the show airs on SIC Mulher at 4:15, 7:45 and 16:15.
• In South Africa the show airs every weekday on SABC2 at 12:00.
• In Sweden the show airs on TV4 Plus at 19:05.
• In The Netherlands the show airs on RTL5 at 16:40 and on RTL 8 at 18:20.
• In the United Kingdom the show airs on Living, throughout the week.
• In South Africa the show airs on SABC, through out the week.
• In Poland the show airs on nTalk few times a day (irregularly, but daily you can watch it about 4 times or more, not only re-plays but also new episodes)

[edit] Recent News

[edit] Further reading

Sophia Dembling, Lisa Gutierrez (2005). The Making of Dr. Phil: The Straight-Talking True Story of Everyone's Favorite Therapist. Wiley. ISBN 0471696595. 

[edit] External links

• Official Dr. Phil
• Dr. Phil (TV series) at the Internet Movie Database
• Dr. Phil (TV series) at TV.com