Daytime TV

[ed2962]

Ok, I'm going to make a confession here...I've been hate watching Dr Phil for a little over a year now. My hours at my job have gotten weird so I might find myself with a couple of days in a row off or maybe they want me to start at a later hour, so sometime I can catch the program. Up until then, I was apathetic towards him and had no real opinion...I guess I just assumed it was some sort of touchy feely get in touch with your inner child thing or something. But after seeing it, I can't believe the shenanigans he and his staff pulls ( bullying guests, taking things out of context,over the top sensationalism, etc).

Was his show different ten years ago and this is a recent thing? I guess his association with Oprah lead me to assume he was a nice guy with a "nice" show, but this is of course not the case

[Kirby101]

"Dr" Phil is a dick and promoter of woo.

[zhris]

Get this man a Playstation, STAT!

[ed2962]

"Dr" Phil is a dick and promoter of woo.

I watch it to see if guests will call him out on his bullshit...and the thing is a fair amount do and some even storm off the stage, but they usually calm down cuz they are desperate and need the rehab or whatever treatment he's offering. And of course it's edited so the Phil isn't made to look too bad. I'm just amazed though at the obvious manipulation and ambush tactics used by him and his staff


I've since heard/read that Dr Phil's show is not a great place to work though. The staff is subject to long hours and verbal abuse by either Phil or his head producers.

[CliffHanger2]

Phil is tough love baby.

[ed2962]

Phil is tough love baby.

That's why I'm curious if it used to be a more substantial show past cuz alot of the stuff he does now is like a only a couple of steps away from being Steve Wilkos yell at the bad guy schick

[ed2962]

I saw a rerun of a recent Dr Phil show. The Guest was a 23 yr old female teacher who had sex with a 17 male student. Of course the woman was fired. She ended up being stripper to support herself. At the end of the show she tried to explain why she took that job. Dr Phil literally yelled at her, " 'BLAH BLAH BLAH!' If you are living under a bridge in a box you don't start stripping!" I thought there's no way Dr Phil even believes that.

[Thor2014]

I used to watch Dr Phil, I eventually switched over to Days Of Our Lives instead.

[codystarbuck]

Oprah and other talk shows like it were horrible platforms and gave voice to far too many charlatans and con artists. Just about every "expert" she (and other shows) trotted out were only experts by virtue of having written a book. This goes back further, to people like Dr Joyce brothers and Dr Ruth. These weren't pioneers of their field or noted professionals; these were people who were good on tv. Dr Oz perpetuates quackery on his show and Dr Phil just likes to look holier than thou, which is a trait matched by Oprah. We are talking egos, not a desire to help. real professionals don't trot out patients to be poked at with sticks, by an audience. dr Drew should have had his license revoked for his rehab reality show and Dr Phil has done equally bad (and should have faced professional charges for his poking his nose into Brittany Spears' mess).

The one that got me, as far as Oprah, was Joyce Vedral. Oprah presented her as a fitness expert and made note of her Phd. It's in English! She has no background in any form of medicine. She was a writer who liked to work out and bodybuild; and, who from the looks of things in her book, was using steroids, like most bodybuilders. It's surprising that Oprah only got into one scandal, due to a writer (James Frey and A Million Little Pieces).

Stick with soap operas. they had better writing and more authoritative doctors.

[SuperCooper]

I will admit, I watched an episode of Dr. Phil for the first time a few weeks ago. He definitely doles out more common knowledge and 'strong' words of 'advice' and 'wisdom' than anything close to meaningful therapy, in my opinion. But it did make for good TV when two parents who were constantly arguing came onto the show to deal with their twin daughters' eating disorders (which had led to one of them ending up in the hospital). The first thing Dr. Phil did was roll out to gravestones with their daughters' names on them and told them that this is what they have caused and if they didn't stop their bickering he would have not help them at all. Complete shock value, likely more than a little disturbing for the parents, but TV-wise a pretty interesting twist.

[codystarbuck]

I will admit, I watched an episode of Dr. Phil for the first time a few weeks ago. He definitely doles out more common knowledge and 'strong' words of 'advice' and 'wisdom' than anything close to meaningful therapy, in my opinion. But it did make for good TV when two parents who were constantly arguing came onto the show to deal with their twin daughters' eating disorders (which had led to one of them ending up in the hospital). The first thing Dr. Phil did was roll out to gravestones with their daughters' names on them and told them that this is what they have caused and if they didn't stop their bickering he would have not help them at all. Complete shock value, likely more than a little disturbing for the parents, but TV-wise a pretty interesting twist.

To me, it sounds like grandstanding and exploiting grief for cheap ratings. Surprised he hasn't pulled out the Elephant Man and Jo-jo the Dog Boy. The man makes PT Barnum look respectable.