Dr. Phil
The Dr. Phil Show has been on for five years now, and in the course of all that time,
Dr. Phil McGraw has tackled almost every single issue you can imagine. Even though he sometimes
takes a lot of heat for his positions, his show is still one of the highest rated talk shows on TV today, and the solutions he dispenses are right on, sometimes in your
face, yet, if people pay attention, there's a lot to learn from him.
Of course, we all know by now that Dr. Phil gained prominence from his appearances on the Oprah Show, where he began appearing as a
regular after helping Oprah win her case in Texas against the beef industry. He had to learn to tone
down a little bit for her audience, but once he hit his stride, he was so popular that she knew he had to have his own show.
People go on the Dr. Phil Show because they want help, at least most of the time. It's always interesting to see the people you know don't want to be there, and if
you're like me you're asking yourself why they showed up. I tend to believe it's because, deep inside, they realize that they do have a problem, but don't want to look
weak in admitting it. Very few times does someone walk off the show and not come back; very few times does Dr. Phil chase someone who does walk off the show, but he
certainly puts it on TV. Many guests who seemed to have fought him on the show come back later on, saying they saw themselves on TV and were appalled at what they were
looking at. Sometimes, that's the only way a person will really understand what they're like, as most people aren't ready for self reflection most of the time.
And, though I'm sure many don't see it that way at the time, he's fair. He can be on some for some very bad behavior, yet pull back because he recognizes they're not
bad people, but people that do some bad things. On shows where couples are fighting and one seems like they're the ones with the major issues, he'll turn around and
point out the foibles of the other person, or as he says "their part in the matter". On one of the 2006-2007 season shows, where a man was accused of molesting his own
daughter, and the man did have some times when he was saying some things that seemed a little bit off, he did get the mother to admit that some of the things her
daughter was saying about this man might have been the result of some inadvertent coaching.
In the long run, Dr. Phil is about children, who he says have no voices for themselves in most family matters, and about getting help for people. He acknowledges that
one can't solve the problems of all people in 42 minutes, and that he's only one man, and can't be traipsing all around the country working with all of the people on the
show. So he gets them help that his show pays for if the people on the show will avail themselves of it; that has to be costly, and I've never seen another show that
did that. Sure, Rosie O'Donnell used to give away lots of free goodies, and Oprah has her favorite things show,
but almost daily Dr. Phil is giving people the option of helping themselves be better, feel better, and, in the long run, treat others better.
If people hate this show because they think Dr. Phil is sanctimonious, it's pure jealousy. Some therapists say Dr. Phil is dangerous because he makes the process of
psychology seem like it's a cookie cutter profession. Get over it; it's a TV show. You probably need to read his
Ten Life Laws or something. He's got his degree, he's got the pedigree, and he offers solutions, something
I know most psychologists don't like because most of them would rather medicate than counsel, but in the long run, Dr. Phil's type of mental medicine seems to work just
fine. It's entertaining, and I like it. And I attribute one of my favorite sayings to him, that being "You teach people how to treat you." Good stuff, this Dr.
Phil Show.
