Dr. Phil, a daytime television program that has provided life guidance to American families for more than 20 years, will end production. The show’s host, Phil McGraw, will leave the program to pursue “new initiatives,” CBS Media Ventures said on Tuesday. The chat program, which has been airing since 2002, is renowned for featuring guests with outlandish tales.
Up to the conclusion of the current 2022–2023 cycle, new episodes will continue to air.
Formerly a certified psychologist, Mr. McGraw began his television career in the 1990s as a life coach on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he became well-known among Americans.
Dr. Phil Has Been Handing Out Advice Since 2002
Then Ms. Winfrey assisted him in starting his show. Since then, Dr. Phil has guided a variety of subjects, including parenting, mental wellness, and family relationships.
The program’s production firm, CBS Media Ventures, said in a news statement that Mr. McGraw had “been blessed with over 25 fantastic years in daytime television.”
The production business stated that Mr. McGraw will concentrate on prime-time programming, with an early 2024 launch date, that “will expand his reach and increase his impact on television and viewers,” though the news announcement did not explain what Mr. McGraw’s new endeavors will be.
Dr. Phil is renowned for featuring guests with shocking or unusual tales in its interviews, and many of these encounters have inspired the creation of internet memes that have gone global. Significant criticism has also been leveled at Mr. McGraw and his program recently. In particular, criticism for being “exploitative” was leveled after a 2016 interview with former actress Shelley Duvall.
He received criticism in 2020 for criticizing Covid-lockdowns despite his lack of medical knowledge of the condition. Buzzfeed, a US news organization, claimed in 2022 that current and past program participants had complained of “verbal abuse in a workplace that breeds fear, intimidation, and bigotry.” According to the Buzzfeed article, staff members also complained about how guests with mental illnesses were treated unethically. All of the claims made in that study have been refuted by Mr. McGraw and the show.
