| Dr. Phil McGraw was best known as the tough-talking resident therapist on the Oprah Winfrey Show before he landed his own show. McGraw has written several New York Times best-selling books including, "Self Matters; Creating Your Life From the Inside-Out." He has been married to his wife, Robin, for over 25 years and has two sons, Jay and Jordan. The show focuses on changing people's bad habits and focusing on the positive. Those who have been hospitalized for extreme mental disorders are not allowed to be guests. The show is produced in partnership with Oprah's Harpo Productions, Paramount Television and King World, Inc. Dr. Phil has a clause in his contract that says his show can't air opposite Oprah. The show premiered on September 16, 2002 with a HUGE 5.3 rating. Dr. Phil celebrated 1,000 shows with special guest Oprah Winfrey in February 2008. In September 2008, Dr. Phil's son began executive producing a medical-themed talk show called THE DOCTORS. |
SEASON SEVEN: 2008-2009 11-10-2008 "DREW PETERSON" Drew Peterson's wife, Stacy, disappeared about a year ago. Peterson, a former police officer, has not been charged in her disappearnce, but has been harshly criticized by the media and the public. Peterson agreed to talk to Dr. Phil to set the record straight. Peterson said he had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance. He said he thinks she got tired of her life and just took off. After a break, peterson gave Dr. Phil an exclusive tour of his house, where he's still living with his two children. He showed the cameras his closet, where Stacy's clothes are still hanging. Back in the studio, he told Dr. Phil that he thinks police have wired his house and are listening in to everything that's going on. Dr. Phil also spoke with an author who spent 200 hours with Drew Peterson. The author said that he thought Peterson was a "sociopath" who loved the media attention. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEASON SIX: 2007-2008 2-15-2008 "LIVING ON A PRAYER" Dan and Janna have seven kids, all under the age of 14. Dan believes that the Lord leads him through life and because of that, he's not working. Their electricity and water has been shut off, they're living in deplorable conditions and their house is about to be taken away from them. Dan says this is the will of the Lord. Janna's parents say they've given them thousands of dollars and are worried about the children. 10-30-2007 "BODY DYSMORPHIA" The women on this show suffered from body dysmorphia, a condition where people think they are so ugly that they can't face the world. Diana didn't leave her house for two years because she thought the world would think she's ugly. She's also spent tens of thousands of dollars on permanent make-up to make herself look good, but says she still thinks she's a monster. Diana told Dr. Phil that she believes her condition started when she was molested as a child. LATER, 17-year-old Cheyenne has won beauty pageants but still thinks she's fat and ugly. She says she spends two hours in the mirror getting ready for school and feels like all of her body parts have flaws. Dr. Phil promised to get both women some help. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEASON FIVE: 2006-2007 5-18-2007 "GIRLY MEN" A.J. wears high heels, make-up, does his hair like a woman and paints on his beard in a "creative" style. Yet, he claims he is straight and is married to a woman named Abbie. Abbie admits she thought A.J. was gay when she met him and told Dr. Phil she still has her doubts about his sexuality. What's worse, he's rubbing off on their four-yera-old daughter. He does her hair like an adult and doesn't let her leave the house without make-up. Abbie told Dr. Phil that she wanted her husband to act like a man! A.J. said he wants Abbie to stop assaulting his manhood (or lack there of). 12-12-2006 DR. PHIL CONFRONTS THE MAN BEHIND "BUMFIGHTS" Ty Beeson goes around the country paying homeless people small amounts of money to do outrageous things on video. After taping them doing things like eating a frozen frog or breaking a beer bottle on their head, Ty sells the videos and makes millions in a series called "bumfights." Halfway through a package on "Bumfights," Dr. Phil came back on camera saying he did not want to talk to Ty because his videos were "despicable." An angry Ty told Dr. Phil that he exploits his guests as security took him off the stage. After he left, Dr. Phil said he could not have a serious dialogue about the topic. After the break, Dr. Phil spoke with Simone whose homeless brother was beaten to death. Simone said society should not condone someone profitting from other people's misfortune. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEASON FOUR 2005-2006 5-4-2006 "VIOLENT LOVE INTEVENTION" Linda was involved in an abuse relationship with Eddie. As they argued one night, Eddie pulled out a gun and shot her in the head. Now, she's lost her right eye and has a hole where her eye used to be. Even though he tried to kill her, Linda still says she has feelings for Eddie and calls him her solemate. Linda told Dr. Phil that she does not think Eddie tried to murder her. Linda's mother, Jodi, is sickened that she is trying to make excuses for Eddie and worries she'll go back with him when he gets out of jail. It gets worse: Linda has a drinking problem and drank two bottles of vodka the night before the show. Dr. Phil told her that she needs "some serious profesional help." She agreed to get therapy. 4-27-2006 "BIG BURDEN" DeeDee weighs more than 700 pounds and is holding herself and her family captive because of her excessive weight. DeeDee is on oxygen and says she gained all the weight after she was bitten by a spider. Before she came to the show, DeeDee hadn't left the house in more than a year. It took a crew of men and several oxygen tanks just to get her to Los Angeles. DeeDee told Dr. Phil that she's scared she'll die if she doesn't get any help. Her children, Jaime and Sean said they love their mother but feel like they are being held hostage. Dr. Phil told them that they are part of the problem because they cater to her desire of food. 4-12-2006 "DANGEROUS LOVE" Jeremy, 16, wrote the show because he was disgusted with his father's relationship. Chuck, 45, is dating Jeremy's 17-year-old classmate, Michelle. They've been together since she was 16 and want to get married. 16 is the age of consent in their state. Chuck told Dr. Phil that she is more mature than most girls her age. Chuck's sons resent the relationship and think she's taking advantage of their father who let her move in. Michelle's mother, Moiasa, told Dr. Phil that she's sickened by their relationship and think Chuck is a pedophile. She said she has no idea how her daughter was attracted to such an old man. 10-17-2005 "STALKING THE STARS" Frank and Seth are both celebrity photographers. Frank admits he's part of the paparazzi and often takes pictures of celebs that they don't want taken. Seth says he befriends the celebrities and takes posed photos. Dr. Phil told them that he does not like how photos are often used out of context. NEXT, Tabitha admits her obsession with Tommy Lee interferes with her everyday life, even with raising her daughter. She compares every man she dates to Tommy, so no one has been good enough for her. AND, Jenni has a sick obsession with Mary Kate Olsen. She diets and has become anorexic just to look like her. Jenni even picked up smoking because she saw Mary Kate smoking in a magazine! She told Dr. Phil that she doesn't like herself and tries to be like Mary Kate because she does not want to be herself. Dr. Phil told Jenni to focus on her daughter instead of Mary Kate Olsen. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEASON THREE: 2004-2005 10-22-2004 TOTALLY OBSESSED Dr. Phil spoke with people who's lives are ruled by bizarre obesessions. David came on the show wondering if he was normal. He told Dr. phil that he was obsessed with women's feet and his biggest goal in life was to find someone with size 13 feet. Dr. Phil acknowledged that he's weird, but said if his fetish is not disrupting his life then it's not a problem. NEXT, Sonia says she obsessed with the color purple. She wears prurple clothes, drives a purple car and even buys purple food. She told Dr. Phil that she can't control her purple impulses and needed help because she's running out of space for purple things. AND, Felicia loves to vacuum her house, so much so that she does it as much as fifteen times a day! When people walk across her carpet, she makes sure she vacuums right away to get rid of the footprints. Felicia even vacuums when she's over a friend's house! Her husband, Leonard, said he wants her to get her habit under control. 2-23 and 2-24-2005 "IS MY SON A SEXUAL PREDATOR?" In this shocking two-parter, Brad and Kenda brought their 19-year-old son, Mikai, on the show to see if he molested children as young as 13 years old. What's worse, they thought he has molested his own two-year-old sister! Mikai said he was innocent, but Dr. Phi had him take a lie dectector test. He told the polygraph administrator that he never molested anyone, inlcuding his sister. Dr. Phil revealed the shocking results in front of his audience. Not only had he lied about having sex with minors, he molested his own toddler sister! Mikai's parents broke down upon hearing the news. His father screamed at him, saying he was dead to him. Mikai's brothers all said they wanted nothing to do with him. Dr. Phil arranged for an intervention. After the show, Brad threw a fit backstage. Kenda wanted to forgive her son and get him help, but Brad said it was the last straw. 8-10-2005 OCD IS RUINING MY LIFE 18-year-old Liz was a popular high school student, until Obessive Compulsive Disorder took over her life. Dr. Phil's cameras followed Liz around for a typical day. One of the most difficult things for Liz to do was driving. As she drove, she would look both ways several times before driving through an intersection. She would also repeats prayers dozens of times as part of her OCD. Liz and her family just wanted her to have a normal life, so Dr. Phil arranged treatment for her. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEASON TWO: 2003-2004 5-7-2004 EXTREME MARRIAGES It's obvious it's sweeps when Dr. Phil does a show like this. Brandon was engaged to Raquel when he told he he's gay just one week before they married. Raquel was devasted, but went through with the marriage anyway! They parent a kid together, but he wants nothing to do with women. Brandon even admitted to cheated on her with men four times. Dr. Phil told them to redefine their relationship and get out of the marriage. NEXT, James and Nancy were married and were proud grandparents, but James was struggling with his gender. He told Nancy he wanted to be a woman and she accepted it, but the family was struggling. James had surgery to become Jamey, but his daughters didn't know how to bring their young kids around their new grandmother. Dr. Phil told them to introduce the kids to Jamey gradually. AND, Ben, 25, married Julie, 53, and was madly in love, but was having trouble telling people how old his wife is. Julie said people think they are mother and son instead of husband and wife. Dr. Phil told them that they should expect people to be shocked. 12-29-2003 FIXING CHRISTMAS CHAOS Allison said her mother, Joan, gives old and stained gifts every Christmas. Cameras followed Joan as she looked at good will shops for bargain gifts that her daughter did not like. Allison said Joan even gave her baby son an girls outfit in 2002! Dr. Phil told Joan she should get people gifts that they would want. After a break, Dr. Phil and his wife, Robin, gave Allison clothes, candles anf gift certificates to make up for the years of bad gifts...Miranda was abandoned by her mom at age 2 and never met her. She searched for her for 25 years and just started speaking with her on the phone. Miranda saidshe was ready to meet mom in April, but she had no idea that her mother, Cynthia, was waiting backstage. Dr. Phil brought mom out and they hugged and cried. He promised he'd fly mom to be with Miranda for Christmas. FINALLY, Jodi didn't want her 11-year-old daughter, Kiki, to have a guitar, but Dr. Phil told her it could be something positive for her. He surprised her with a new $1,000 guitar and she cried tears of joy at the sight of it. She even played a few notes for everyone. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEASON ONE: 2002-2003 9-16-2002 SERIES PREMIERE -- LIVING IN CHAOS As he opened his new show, Dr. Phil joked that his show has everything except for Oprah. He quickly got down to business and introduced Cathy, who said her life was crazy and was having a difficult time raising her kids. Dr. Phil showed tape of her scremaing at her children and forced her to watch herself yelling at her son, Vincent, many times. She apologized to Vincent and told him that things would change. N?EXT, Stephanie and Brett were married and had an infant son, but were also fighting in front of him. They both told Dr. Phil that if they knew their marriage would have been like it was, they wouldn't have tied the knot. Dr. Phil told them that they were holding their son hostage when they acted out in front of him, so they said they would change. 9-26-2002 OUTRAGEOUS OVERWIGHT LAWSUITS Roberta brought her daughter, Ashley, to fast food restaurants as a child and now she is overweight and has high cholesterol. She and her lawyer, Sam, said that fast food joints target children and should give the public more information about the health of the foods. Dr. Phil told Roberta that it was her choice to buy the food for her daughter and no one forced her to eat at these places. NEXT, Gary is 430 pounds and said an airplane forced him to buy two tickets because he is overweight, even though he previusly called them to make sure he would fit in one seat. At the other end of the spectrum, Phillip was forced to sit next to a fat man during a flight and was very uncomfortable, so he decided to sue. Dr. Phil had an airplane seat on the stage and sat Gary and Phillip next to each other to show what fat and skinny people go through on planes. Gary was unhappy because the seat was small and Phillip didn't like how Gary invaded his space. 10-2-2002 TEENS OBSESSED WITH THEIR LOOKS Cortney, 17, thought that she was fat & ugly and needed boob and nose jobs. Cortney said that she even had sex with a guy to make her feel better about herself. Dr. Phil got Cortney to make a list of her good qualities, which he put up on a big monitor for her to look at. Dr. Phil told her that she was looking for self-acceptance and wouldn't find that with surgery. He told her that she is unique and that there will never be another "her," which made many audience members cry because they wished someone would say that to them. NEXT, Kansas, 12, said that she wanted to be a fashion model and wanted to drop out of regular school for modeling school. Her mom, Laura, told her that her looks will fade one day and asked her what she'd be left with. Kansas said she posed in front of her house and didn't hang out with ugly people. Dr. Phil introduced her to model, Roshumba, who encouraged her to mature and stay in school. 11-4-2002 EXCLUSIVE: CONVICTED CHILD MOLESTER TELLS ALL Dr. Phil sat down for an exclusive prison interview with convicted child pedophile, David Hernandez, who preyed upon boys and girls. As soon as he sat down with David, Dr. Phil called his actions disgusting and reprehensible. Hernandez said he molested over 100 children and his first victim was a 7-year-old girl. He told Dr. Phil that he made molesting kids a game by tickling their private areas. Hernandez said that he no longer feels it is okay to molest children, but admitted that he would prey upon them again if he was let out. AND, Kevin was a victim of David Hernandez who told Dr. Phil he was afraid that Hernandez could get out and hurt kids again. He said Hernandez was a camp councilor who made Kevin take showers with him and fondled him when he was 10 years old. |
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