Dr. Phil’s resolution to name it quits final week got here months after producers tried and did not revamp the long-running CBS daytime present in a determined bid to lure again skittish advertisers.
After years of Dr. Phil McGraw staging dramatic “interventions” with wayward teens and squabbling households — and in some circumstances being accused of exploiting the troubles of celebrities like Britney Spears and Shelley Duvall — CBS insiders have been involved that viewers and advertisers alike have been lumping in Dr. Phil with different “quack doctors” who’ve left TV in recent times, a number of sources advised The New York Post.
Certainly, regardless of the very fact Dr. Phil averaged greater than 2 million viewers within the 3pm timeslot — the second-highest-rated present in daytime behind ABC’s Dwell with Ryan and Kelly, in accordance with Nielsen — the present had change into radioactive for a lot of sponsors, in accordance with sources near the state of affairs.
“The advertising queue was all but dead,” one insider mentioned. “The show was relying on CBS to book ads as opposed to relying on Dr. Phil’s brand.”
“With that timeslot, you start on home base,” one other supply mentioned. “But he couldn’t hit any more home runs.”
A decade in the past, high company manufacturers that backed Dr. Phil included American Specific, Allstate and Common Mills. However throughout an episode final week, business breaks have been filled with spots for vitamin dietary supplements, private harm legislation companies, public service bulletins on vaccines and quitting smoking — in addition to a number of in-house advertisements for different CBS exhibits.
“There was clearly a cash issue,” one other insider advised The Submit. “They have not had advertisers of the past stay on. This includes household consumer brands.”
The present turned to extra substantive subjects like “medical gaslighting” somewhat than interpersonal drama, in accordance with a notice obtained by The Submit.
One fall episode tackled “Inclusivity or Indoctrination? What’s Happening in Schools Today?,” the place McGraw and a panel of specialists mentioned transgender politics in faculties. Different exhibits this season centered on exhausting information tales like gun violence and anti-Semitic hate crimes.
However, bookers for the present have had hassle lining up big-name panellists, sources declare.
“Dr. Phil was trying to siphon the credibility from other doctors they’re trying to book as guests … but they’re struggling to get credible guests,” one insider advised The Submit.
The Submit reached out to CBS for remark. A spokesperson for McGraw declined to remark.
It’s a dramatic flip from just some years in the past, when Dr. Phil’s programming was centered on serving to troubled teenagers just like the now-famous “cash me outside” lady and serving to girls depart poisonous relationships.
Insiders add that some at CBS imagine McGraw’s TV persona had grown uncomfortably near that of one other daytime TV physician — Mehmet Oz, who was working for a US Senate seat on the time of the season launch.
Scores for Oz — who had run into his personal controversies over pushing different medicines and fad diets — had begun to tank even earlier than his candidacy for the Pennsylvania seat. Whereas McGraw’s rankings had dwarfed these of Oz, producers more and more feared that viewers would “lump television doctors together,” in accordance with a supply.
“There are some people who don’t know the difference between Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil,” the supply mentioned, including that producers say they really feel strongly there may be “a Dr. Oz dip.”
Dr. Phil’s wholesale rebranding efforts got here after the present final summer time minimize 25 staffers in an effort to “streamline production to ensure longevity.”
A spokesperson for the present mentioned the lay-offs are “typical … there were some roles we discovered that we could reduce yet still deliver our dynamic, forward-thinking program.”
Final yr, BuzzFeed Information reported employees who worked on the show “experienced verbal abuse in a workplace that fosters fear, intimidation, and racism” and have been “manipulated and treated unethically.” The present didn’t handle these issues.
Attorneys for McGraw and govt producer Carla Pennington categorically denied the allegations made within the piece, insisting that Dr. Phil on no account fosters racism, inappropriate interactions with visitors, bullying and harassment, or every other unprofessional behaviour.
The present is slated to run via Could. CBS Media Ventures, which produces Dr. Phil, will supply stations library episodes of the present for the 2023-2024 season and past. The traditional episodes will embrace new content material equivalent to wraparounds and intros by McGraw, in addition to visitor updates.
McGraw — who bought his huge break on Oprah 25 years in the past, charming audiences along with his folksy takes on social points — mentioned his subsequent chapter will give attention to a “strategic prime time partnership” that may “increase his impact on television and viewers.” He didn’t point out issues with advertisers in asserting his resolution to go away.
“I am compelled to engage with a broader audience because I have grave concerns for the American family, and I am determined to help restore a clarity of purpose as well as our core values,” McGraw mentioned.
This text initially appeared within the New York Post and has been reproduced right here with permission
Initially printed as Inside Dr Phil’s failed attempts to rebrand long-running talk show before cancellation
#australiannews #australian_news
