Can We Finally Take His License To Practice Faux Medicine Away?
WHILE MANY AMERICANS WHO SNACK on Reality TV have only known the form since it was added to prime time's menu, savvy couch potatoes recognize that the form has long been a daytime staple.
Crabby had her own foray into talk TV, and toward the end of my stint, I worried that we'd soon be recording murder. That's because every "next show" had to evoke more shock, awe, sorrow, shame, joy or delight than the last one. The environment was 24/7 of fever-pitch for more, better, faster. And if you didn't deliver, well then, you failed. Because the viewers -- and the staff -- had already heard the one about the dog who saved his master from the fire, or about the grandfather who took snapshots of his grandkid naked, or the couples' swapping partners, or mothers who trashed their newborns. And so you better have something even more incredulous today than you did yesterday.
So it seems a little disingenuous that Dr. Phil has suddenly been fingered as sleazeball? Have you people been snoozing? But perhaps the latest brouhaha is because Phil McGraw's recent misstep comes so soon after violating Britney Spears' privacy has left scolds agog: Someone from his vile show bailed out the 17-year-old ringleader in an attack on a teenage girl, apparently with the intent to secure the accused as a show guest.
Show spokeswoman Terri Corigliano is quoted as saying, "We have helped guests and potential guests in the past when they need financial assistance to come on the show — assisting with clothing allowance, lost wages, accommodations, travel and necessities. In this case, certain staff members went beyond our guidelines." Yeah, but someone told this dough-boy to, and the secret was out when he made his "exclusive" claim to 17-year old Mercades Nichols in front of TMZ cameras. And now gossips wonder if McGraw's latest lapse in judgment may have doomed his show.
I'm sorry but I'm confused: I thought capitalizing on people's pathos (Search "Dr. Phil" in file) is what talk shows did every day for fun and profit. Isn't that how Oprah became a billionaire?
Posted April 14, 2008
Home
