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I cannot stand Dr. Phil. I think he’s a dangerous idiot and I genuinely have no idea how or why there’s anyone out there who still takes him seriously or pays attention to him at all. As far as I know, he’s laid pretty low since he went on Fox News in April 2020 and waxed poetic about why the US needed to reopen the economy, deadly virus be damned. In addition to his problematic views, he’s also done some pretty questionable interviews through the years. I guess we should all be grateful that he didn’t run for US Senate like Dr. Oz did. (#Crudités4Eva)
After 21 long years, Dr. Phil’s talk show finally ended back in May. If you’re thinking to yourself, “That douchebag was still on air?” you aren’t alone. He was! I was hoping that the end of his talk show meant that he was going to sail off into the distance with his nest egg, never to be heard from again, but alas. Not only is Dr. Phil returning to our screens, he’s also launching a new news and entertainment cable TV network called Merit Street Media. The network’s flagship show will be Dr. Phil Primetime, which will premiere at 8:00 p.m. ET, beginning on February 26, 2024.
Following the end of his long-running daytime syndicated talk show, Dr. Phil McGraw is launching Merit Street Media, a new news and entertainment cable TV network. It will be anchored by Dr. Phil Primetime, which will premiere Feb. 26, 2024 and will air nightly at 8 PM ET. No details have been revealed yet about the new network’s distribution. It is expected to have nationwide carriage, which would be no small feat in the current challenging business environment of declining linear ratings and cord-cutting.
Merit Street will be based in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where a new state-of-the-art broadcast center, spanning over 5 acres, is completing construction. Dozens of longtime Dr. Phil staffers have relocated their families to Texas to continue working alongside McGraw.
In the coming months, Merit Street will announce its full primetime lineup; the network is expected to initially offer multiple hours of original daily programming, including live news broadcasts. Dr. Phil Primetime will stay close to the format of McGraw’s daytime show, with him continuing to offer no-nonsense advice in addition to conducting interviews with headline makers.
“I absolutely love talking to real people about real problems. People who aren’t just complaining but are actively looking for real solutions to better their lives,” McGraw said. “It all begins and ends with real people dealing with these issues for real, using common sense, fact-based information, and action plans to create results.
The new show also is expected to feature some of McGraw’s conservative views on family values, immigration and education curriculum which he shared in the final years of his daytime talker. He hinted at that in his official comments about the launch of Merit Street.
“American families and our core values are under attack,” he said. “I love this country, and I believe family is the backbone of our society. Together we are going to stand strong and fight for the very soul and sanity of America and get things that matter back on track.”
[From Yahoo]
Meh. Honestly, I cannot think of anything I’d want to watch less than a new Dr. Phil show, let alone a whole network from him. Does anyone plan on watching anything he puts out? What does “no-nonsense advice” look like from a self-professed conservative who believes that our core family values are “under attack?” Did he see Tuesday’s election results? His advice should be something along the lines of, “Hey y’all, women want bodily autonomy and parents want you to leave teachers, librarians, and LGBTQ+ kids alone. You should do that.” I’m sure it won’t be, though, because people like that never learn. I probably won’t pay attention when Dr. Phil Primetime and Merit Street TV are up at bat, but it sure will be fun to hear about when they swing, miss, and strike out. It’s also kinda funny in a terrifying way that all of these little baby conservative networks keep popping up, like they’re trying to dethrone Fox News. Good luck!
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