Dr. Phil (talk show)
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. The show is in syndication throughout the United States and several other countries. Occasional prime-time specials have aired on CBS. The executive producers are Phil McGraw and showrunner Oprah Winfrey. It is a production of Peteski Productions and distributed by CBS Media Ventures. Harpo Productions co-produced the series until 2010, with Paramount Domestic Television and its successor, CBS Paramount Domestic Television, serving as secondary co-producers until 2007. It was originally distributed by King World Productions. The program was recorded before a live studio audience in Stage 29 on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood, California. It is 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, 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. Before starting the show, McGraw had made regular appearances as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show. 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. In October 2015, it was reported that Dr. Phil had been renewed through 2020. 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." In 2004, the National Alliance on Mental Illness called McGraw's conduct in one episode of his television show "unethical" and "incredibly irresponsible". McGraw's critics regard advice given by him to be at best simplistic, and at worst, ineffective. 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. Theresa Corigliano, spokesperson for the Dr. Phil show said that "In this case certain staffers went beyond our guidelines," and that