Folksy Dr. Phil gets phenomenal ratings and ribbings
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
He's a straight-talkin' psychologist with a supply of folksy phrases.
Associated Press
He's big and bald, a guy who grew up playing Texas football. And from "David Letterman" to "Mad TV," Phil McGraw's talk show "Dr. Phil" is the target of jokes.
Dr. Phil is a ratings phenom in the syndicated market, in some places even outdoing the "Oprah" show on which he got his start.
"I guess it's because I have a Southern accent or talk in barnyard bromides," he says.
But it also is praised — most notably by viewers.
McGraw has become the hottest force in syndicated (nonnetwork) TV since Oprah Winfrey.
"It's been tremendous for our station," says Dave Phillips, general manager of KUTV in Salt Lake City. "He even beat Oprah."
That story has been repeated often in the past year: In particular, CBS stations (including KUTV) had floundered in the non-network time slots and now "Dr. Phil" has given them a jump.
"We were lucky last year to have 10 of our stations get 'Dr. Phil,' " says Fred Reynolds, who supervises CBS' owned-and-operated stations. "It's kind of the runaway hit of the syndicated shows."
To give an example of how popular the show is nationally, Nielsen ratings for the first week of July showed "Dr. Phil" with a 4.3 rating (4.3 percent of TV homes watched the show).
That put it behind "Oprah" (4.9), but ahead of such longtime successes as "Judge Judy" (4.2), "Maury" (3.2) and "Live With Regis and Kelly" (3.1).
The numbers and the profits grow. On the other side of the folksiness, viewers seem to feel there's genuine substance.
"I take it seriously," McGraw says. "I know I have a real spontaneous delivery style, but I weigh very carefully what I say before I say it. I do my homework."
That style was honed during the 4 1/2 years when McGraw was making weekly visits on Winfrey's show. Now Winfrey produces the separate "Dr. Phil."
Her own shows cover a broad spectrum but "Dr. Phil" sticks to the basics.
"People wanna hear about weight," he says. "They wanna hear about relationships, they wanna hear about money, they wanna hear about parenting, they wanna hear about family dynamics, blending families, things like that."
Weight is an issue that can't be avoided, McGraw says. "Obesity has overtaken cancer as the No. 1 cause of preventable death in American society. It is at an epidemic level."
On one hand, restaurants keep supersizing their meals and their diners. "People feel like they're getting more value for their dollar," McGraw says. "... We probably make 90 percent of our choices based on the immediate result rather than the long-term result."
On the other hand, people want desperately to lose weight. They're tempted by diet plans.
"It's 'seven pounds in seven days,' '30 pounds in 30 days,' " McGraw says. " 'Quick, easy, eat what you want and lose weight.'
"That's a myth. You would think people would have figured that out several billion dollars of wasted effort ago."
Some plans do bring temporary weight loss, McGraw says.
"If we said, 'Look, go out and eat Styrofoam and kumquats' and you did that for the rest of your life, your weight would come down. The problem is that people can't stay on something that is artificial and restrictive."
The solution involves lifestyle, he says. It involves steady exercise and reasonable eating.
McGraw grants that he's been lucky with that. His old football habits persist; he has a big frame, but moderate fat. "My weight hasn't varied five pounds in 10 years. My body fat is right where I want it to be."
Others have less-realistic goals. That's when McGraw brings back the folksy approach:
"Some woman says, 'I want to go back to like when I got right out of high school. I was 5-foot-2 and 114 pounds.'
"Well, you know what, lady? You're post-menopausal, you've had three kids and you're 45. You need to pick a new goal."
