Is 2021 the year we finally cancel Dr. Phil’s toxic talk show?
Even after 2020 killed & canceled so many things, Dr. Phil wasn’t one of them. The Dr. Phil Show is still going strong in 2021 despite numerous controversies. The show once endorsed by Oprah has reportedly become a pillory of sorts, where Phil McGraw trots his guests out in front of millions of viewers and tells them to straighten their life around.
And while McGraw himself would probably tell you The Dr. Phil Show “isn’t like that”, as he told one guest before she was escorted off his show (more on that later), professionals & onlookers increasingly disagree. Let’s welcome The Dr. Phil Show to Film Daily for further analysis.
From clinical psych to daytime talk show
Phil McGraw earned a degree in clinical psychology from the University of North Texas with a postdoctoral fellowship in forensic psych per his site. The Dr. Phil Show began as a segment of Oprah, but its popularity led Dr. Phil to his own show. According to The Wrap, The Dr. Phil Show is one of the highest-rated daytime talk shows in 2021 with a daily audience of 2.9 million viewers.
Through the years, the public has billed Phil McGraw as “America’s therapist”. The show focuses on numerous problems people encounter in their daily lives, including obesity, catfishing, addiction, family dysfunction, and one of Dr. Phil’s favorites, troubled teens.
The Dr. Phil Show typically focuses on two or three of these families per episode, having them sit down with him, discuss their childhood, and then offering them sage advice, or as YouTuber Big Joel describes it: “they have a problem, and Phil’s solution is the negation of the problem.”
Advice from your uncle
Breaking that down: if a morbidly obese guest comes on The Dr. Phil Show, Dr. Phil’s solution is to “get real with them” and advise them to lose weight. If an addict is on the show, Dr. Phil will tell them to get sober. If someone is unemployed or has a mental illness that interferes with their ability to get a job, guess what Dr. Phil’s solution is? Three words: get a job.
Essentially, advice from The Dr. Phil Show can seem like advice from your uncle at Thanksgiving: why don’t you just get a job, date a girl, get married, lose weight, stop feeling sorry for yourself, etc. to fix your problems?
To be fair, The Dr. Phil Show asserts on & off the air that they connect their guests with much-needed services like therapy, weight loss treatment, and addiction services & job counseling. However, the talk show looks & acts like counseling, even if it’s high school guidance counseling. And with Dr. Phil’s credentials or lack thereof, some see that as part of the problem.
Not a doctor
In 2021, Dr. Phil has as many active psychology licenses as Dr. Pepper. He let his license to practice psychology run out in 2006 and has never been licensed to practice in the state of California where The Dr. Phil Show is taped. While he can still call himself “Dr. Phil” thanks to his Ph.D., for professional purposes, what he does on The Dr. Phil Show isn’t considered psychology.
On his site, Dr. Phil claimed what he does is advocacy, stating: “devoted his platform to the delivery of sound, evidence-based mental health advice for the last 18 years, and has continually strived to make psychology accessible and understandable to the public using the medium of television.”
Notable guests & noted blunders
Dr. Phil has had many celebrity guests on The Dr. Phil Show, including Britney Spears, Bam Margera, and Shelley Duvall. Duvall’s appearance on the show caused controversy when it first aired because critics claimed it was exploitative. Vivian Kubrick, daughter of The Shining director Stankey Kubrick, called the segment “unquestionably, this is purely a form of lurid and exploitive entertainment — it’s appallingly cruel.”
In 2020, Shelley Duvall spoke out against Dr. Phil, saying that during her time on The Dr. Phil Show, she “found out the kind of person he is the hard way.” Duvall also noted that Phil McGraw tried to contact her mother numerous times. “He started calling my mother. She told him, ‘Don’t call my daughter anymore.’ But he started calling my mother all the time trying to get her to let me talk to him again.”
This wasn’t the first guest whose mother Dr. Phil tried to contact. One guest, Bailey, was escorted off The Dr. Phil Show after she claimed she only agreed to go on the show if Dr. Phil didn’t force her to meet her estranged mother. However, while some people criticized Dr. Phil for escorting her out, others had his back, saying the guest made the “cash me outside, how bout dat” teen look like an angel.
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What do you think of The Dr. Phil Show? Does it deserve the praise it gets or should it be left in the dustbin of 2020? Let us know what you think in the comments!
Toni
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Dr Phil
April 15, 2021I have strong feelings about your show today.
My daughter has a son who is in the spectrum and he also is eight. He goes to public school and is doing well. However he does have behavioral problems at home. My daughter has punished he but it’s very clear and always the same. She simply tells him to go to his room until he can come back. She says to him no one wants to hear all of that. She is very matter of fact. Most of the time very calm.
Eve McCotter
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I miss Dr. Phil. Is there a way to get in contact with him. Does he have a blog a Newsletter????
May 15, 2021robyn
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Phil and Robin need to get off the air. They’re both pathetic, his advice is insulting. Suddenly she’s an advocate for abused women? I am sure she’s had many vaginal rejuvenations, face lifts botox. Dresses like she’s 20,her hair is horrible
August 2, 2021Mysty
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Dr Phil should not have the show anymore .He lies ,never looks the people in there yes ..Hypocrite hat’s what he is .Stop that show for once ,Bye Dr Phil not even a DR..
June 21, 2021Lisa Laney
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I disagree with your characterization of the Dr Phil show. He doesn’t just tell people to “stop doing that.” He advocates first for the minor children, put in a situation thru no fault if their own. If that means the parents must clean up their act or lose their child, that’s the way it is.
July 8, 2021As far as his compassion with those being Catfished, he had way more patience and respect for them than I do. It’s a lack of intelligence to believe whatever some stranger writes in an email.
I way prefer Real Dr Phil to the current political agenda to criticize and pick apart others instead of doing something productive to help people, in their own right.
Jay Mauricio
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I am going for my doctorate and my concentration is mental health. Dr Phil is definitely exploiting his clients for financial gain. He creates an environment that is entertaining to viewers and does not benefit the guests. He tries to justify this harmful-low-grade-so-called-therapeutic intervention by providing resources to the guest at the end of the show. Providing resources and paying for treatment is helpful but is it worth being embarrassed in front of millions of people? The sad part is he has been educated on the importance of creating a safe environment to clients/guests and he ignores what he has learned to increase net worth. Hopefully the guests take advantage of the resources he provides because that is all he has to offer. Guests need to stay strong during their appearance and succeed in their aftercare. Cognitive reframing will help guests succeed. Let’s continue to provide help to each other when people try to take advantage of those dealing with mental health issues
July 11, 2021Tristin J Host
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Dr Phil… Please give some of us estranged parents a chance to speak out . Trust me. With this issue there is no easy answer. I’m involved with many Facebook support groups about this subject and it’s heart wrenching. Maybe you won’t be able to reunite individual families. But I bet giving both sides of unrelated people a chance to discuss the issue, maybe some will see the episode and change their mind. Or come to some understanding. As an estranged parents myself, please help us. We need your help!!! We don’t want your show cancelled. We want your attention.
September 22, 2021GARY WILLIAMS
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Just wondering how/why DR. PHIL, STEVE WILKOS, MAURY and JERRY SPRINGER where all cancelled within a week?
October 21, 2021marie stevenson
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“Dr” Phil, Definitely not. Leading questions, asking “why” (not done in actual psychology assessments), suggestive statements, making himself the centre of the narrative, incessantly talking (about himself), exploitative, repetitive statements as to his own greatness, marketing constantly – his wife, his sons, their products, his life coaches, discredited Drs. (Amen & Oz), books – & on & on it goes. If I hear him mispronounce “entrepreneur” one more time, I’ll know he is the turnip which fell off the Texas truck. He wiggles his hands to make a point; his wife makes vastly inappropriate facial expressions during a “psychological” assessment? There are 1 or 2 sentences of content followed by 45 mins of sales pitch. Take this Jerry Springer wannabe off the air!! He is immoral & hypocritical beyond redemption as are the producers. All form & no substance – & much misinformation.
November 9, 2021Miriam Williams
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His license to practice was revoked decades ago ~ what you see is what he is – a scam who has no business giving “advice”
January 27, 2022Scarlett
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Use to love the show but it’s all over now. Boring. Also Robin should stop preaching about her skin care line when. Irking about her face is natural or moves.
December 7, 2021Miriam Williams
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Can we have television that isn’t a hoax, a scam, a platform to milk meager resources from those who are easily taken advantage of? Shame on Oprah for backing this tripe
January 27, 2022lilly m
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i completely disagree with all of that. given that any one of the people who contact dr phil asking for help… have seen his shows and know what to expect. i can tell Shelley Duvall‘s story was completely fake if you actually can sit and read that and think it’s true you have a problem. dr phil can be a dick but it’s nothing any of the guests didn’t know before getting on there. in my opinion he has every right to call himself a psychologist because he did go to school and just because his license is expired doesn’t mean all of his knowledge on helping people went away😂 he’s also not just saying he’s a psychologist either, it’s his tv show. moral of the story nothing dr phil says or does should be a shock to any of the guests that reached out to HIM FIRST.
February 14, 2022Chris Kayser
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I was resident in psychology when Dr. Phil was getting started. The resedency was in Texas. Story I heard was that he lost his license because he was having an affair with his receptionist who had also been a past patient.
March 18, 2022Glennda McHose
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I started to watch a rerun in our area that I previously tried to watch. Both times found myself sick to my stomach at the show itself and also for the network for even airing it . It was about a mother of 6 children and they were never treated like. That would have never crossed my husband or my mind ! I am deeply desturb this behavior was ever aired and the so called mom was not arrested immediately and those children were not put immediately into a loving and safe home
March 12, 2022Lisa
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Phil (Dr. He’s not fit to own the title of) is a shallow mistake whose moral compass never rises above his belt. Wake up people!
April 5, 2022Don’t seek out a demon for advice for what’s the “right” thing to do.