November 18, 2016

Dr. Phil is disgusting. Is he trying to make it as obvious as possible?

Somebody should get help for him and make a show out of it.

ADDED: I think I've only watched Dr. Phil's show once. It was when Suzy Favor Hamilton was on. I didn't think much of what he was doing:
Phil never got around to asking SFH what treatment she's had or is having, and she looks so strange, that we had to wonder whether she's on any treatment at all. How could he not have asked? He's supposed to be Dr. Phil. Where's the doctor part? Isn't that atrocious set supposed to be kind of like a psychologist's office? And what's with the ominous music playing continually in the background? I had the feeling Dr. Phil was also purveying sex for daytime-TV-watching women who want porn with deniability.

63 comments:

readering said...

Forbes just announced that Dr Phil is the highest paid TV host--$88 million p.a. He cares only about the benjamins. Wonder who might have influenced him in that value system?

Big Mike said...

I don't watch him. That's a decision that looks better and better all the time.

rhhardin said...

Hey, it's your soap opera.

h said...

In 1972, "h" was a beautiful person. You won't believe what she looks like now. (This is two sentences, John Cohen might note, therefore clickbait.)

Maybe we can modify the first amendment to allow us to outlaw this kind of stuff.

mccullough said...

The publicity is good for Dr Phil and Duvall, who should be able to obtain donations from this.

campy said...

He cares only about the benjamins. Wonder who might have influenced him in that value system?

Maybe someone whose name starts with CLIN and ends with TON?

robother said...

There's no business like show business like no business I know
Everything about it is appealing, everything that traffic will allow...

Quaestor said...

Shelley Duvall: I need help.

Quickdraw McGraw: That's why I'm here.

Bullshit.

Unfortunately too many celebrity bullshiters have decided to make an example of Phil McGraw for reasons I suspect are far from praiseworthy.

Etienne said...

TV is like heroin. Some people can't shut it off. You can't blame the heroin, it's the pushers that enable it.

It's the tribe which owns Hollywood. Put them all in the ovens and generate electricity.

Mark said...

That's right. Keep Duvall and her obvious severe mental illness in the shadows. That way people can keep on not getting her the psychiatric help she needs.

Mark said...

What's worse? Exploitation or indifference?

clint said...

I would like to know who signed the consent forms to air that footage. It seems obvious that she's not competent to give her consent.

gadfly said...

It is crappy entertainment television like this that caused us to have to put up with bad-actor Donald Trump. So although I have never before laid an eye on "Dr. Phil" (what a strange stage name!), I will look no further toward broadening my TV experience.

Friday Night Football is about to begin. I am outta here.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

I saw the show when he had OctoMom on- She's hot!

Quaestor said...

Friday Night Football is about to begin. I am outta here.

Outta more than here, methinks.

Quaestor said...

Who consented to the interview? If it was Shelley Duvall, who is either making a bid for reality TV stardom (reality — provokes a chuckle in this context) or is severely demented, why would Dr. Phil's legal team have approved the release given the likely risk of a law suit brought on Duvall's behalf. If it was someone acting as Duvall's guardian, shouldn't we be wondering why that guardian has not gotten her into treatment?

Was Duvall paid? Is she still represented by an agent? It's easily and convenient to blame McGraw, but there must be more to this than meets the eye.

Reposted with typo fixed.

Alice Aforethought said...

See what you have to look forward to watching when you retire?

Bob Boyd said...

If Phil is a real doctor, it seems like him parading a troubled person in front of an audience for money would run afoul of some ethics code. How does this help her? It smacks of the old carnival-freak side shows.

John henry said...

Did you watch it, Ann?

Why?

Oh, yeah, professional duty as a blogger. Or maybe the trains don't go to Waukesha anymore. Either excuse is just as valid.

I read about it earlier today and agree that it sounded disgusting.

People watching it, even moreso.

John Henry

John henry said...

Did you watch it, Ann?

Why?

Oh, yeah, professional duty as a blogger. Or maybe the trains don't go to Waukesha anymore. Either excuse is just as valid.

I read about it earlier today and agree that it sounded disgusting.

People watching it, even moreso.

John Henry

John henry said...

Did you watch it, Ann?

Why?

Oh, yeah, professional duty as a blogger. Or maybe the trains don't go to Waukesha anymore. Either excuse is just as valid.

I read about it earlier today and agree that it sounded disgusting.

People watching it, even moreso.

John Henry

mockturtle said...

I have never seen the program but my best friend recently told me that the show's producer asked her and her husband to appear on the program with their adopted daughter, now grown, whom they adopted from a Romanian orphanage when she was a child and has given them nothing but grief. Of course, they declined. She is incredulous that people can agree to air their family problems on national television. So am I.

traditionalguy said...

That's Entertainment!

Joe said...

Not a fan of Dr. Phil, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't aware just how unhinged Shelley Duvall had become. Problem is that Dr. Phil clearly believes his own mythos and so he's probably convinced that he doing her a great service. It is yet another case study in how fame fucks with you.

Gabriel said...

Is it okay for commenters here to call for a new Holocaust? I am not going to quote the comment, made at 6:42 PM.

Bill said...

Yeah, he's a real pig.

Shelley was so wonderful in Altman's 3 Women.

bagoh20 said...

Dr. Phil,

Consider the Golden Rule. Your turn may come, and you can't do a thing about it. That's why it may matter to you. You imagine yourself powerful and in charge of your life, but shit happens to human beings, and we often only have each other to protect us. Will someone at that time consider you more than just an easy payday, leaving your legacy punctuated with your greatest vulnerability?
The Golden Rule never fails a person, but they have to consider it.

traditionalguy said...

It's Hollywood town, Jake.

Earnest Prole said...

I'm now trying to imagine what Dr. Phil wouldn't do for ratings.

sane_voter said...

Dr. Phil is a scumbag. His Jon Benet Ramsey special declared the family innocent and was a whitewash. The CBS special clearly showed the family were involved in the cover-up. I have vowed going forward to never knowingly watch anything he is a part of again.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Dr. Phil, I am so confused."

"I'm here to help. Tell me of this confusion, Lena."

"Well, I have my own TV show, and things should be good, right?"

"I'm not sure having your own TV show is a valid form of self-esteem. Perhaps there is a bigger problem, underneath..."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"No, that is not what I said, Lena..."

"People say all kinds of things to me but I know what they are all saying is that I'm fat. I'm fat fat fat fat fat. I'm that fat girl on that T.V. show. Fat girl. Fat."

"Maybe we are coming closer to the source of your pain..."

"It's not my fault, Dr. Phil. When I read about hateful people it drives me to eat. Mean people make me upset, and being upset makes me hungry. There are so many mean, mean people in the world, and it makes me fat. Fat and sad, but the fat part is the worst."

"You do realize that your excessive eating does not help these people, right?"

"But I try to only buy organic Fair Trade foods where brown people are not exploited. I think THAT makes a difference."

"That's commendable, but --"

"--have YOU ever eaten an organic vegan gluten-free Twinkie at three in the morning? They're awful! The creme filling is NOT creamy, it's lumpy and gross! Why is this world so hard?"

"Dealing with the perceived unfairness of the world is an important step to self-understanding, Lena."

"Dr. Phil, sometimes I stand naked in front of the mirror and I am so disgusted with myself I shove Snickers bars up my ass."

"Lena --"

"I want to give those Snickers to mean people and say "Mean People: eat my Ass Snickers."

"Lena, there are doctors who could help you manage your eating and exercise..."

"Sure. But can they stop the voices?"

"You hear voices?"

"The Internet talks to me. I unplug my laptop and turn off my iPhone but I still hear them. Everyone just keeps talking talking talking and all they talk about is how fat I am. They think I don't hear them, but I do."

"I believe you might be manifesting your fears, Lena. Let's try an experiment. Picture yourself thin: what are you doing? What is thin Lena doing?"

"Thin Lena is smearing her poop over pictures of all the people who called her fat. Icky bad people, and I smear them with my poop, and it makes me feel better. Thin Lena poop."

"Does 'Thin Lena' have any... happier thoughts?"

"No, Dr. Phil. Thin Lena is filled with Hate. Deep creamy Hate. They all thought it was funny when I was Fat Lena, but Thin Lena now wants them all to pay. Thin Lena wants People To Die. Thin Lena wants to drink their blood and desecrate their sexual organs and then dance like no one is watching."

"You know, Lena, there may be more here than we can address in a single episode..."

"It's because I'm fat, right? A skinny hour isn't big enough for the Fat Girl..."

"Perhaps we can have you back for another episode, Lena..."

"Did you know I put pebbles in my baby sister's vagina when I was little? Do you think that might have caused me to be fat? Am I fat because I put pebbles in my baby sister's vagina?"

"Lena..."

"Eat my Ass Snickers, America! Eat my Ass Snickers...!"


I am Laslo.

grimson said...

This brings to mind the first episode of Black Mirror entitled "National Anthem."

There needs to be a live broadcast of the Prime Minister having sex with a pig, or else kidnappers will kill the hugely popular Princess.

It's a huge event, and the country comes to a standstill to watch. Initially, everyone is cheering. But eventually, they become disgusted and ashamed.

But they don't turn it off.

Fen said...

Celebrity doctor uses celebrity actress as a prop for ratings.

SMOD paused for the election, is waiting for the Oscars instead.

And I wish Trump would just deport all the celebrities who threatened to leave the US for Canada. Dime a dozen. Easily forgotten and replaced. Shut up and sing.

Fen said...

Gabriel: Is it okay for commenters here to call for a new Holocaust? I am not going to quote the comment, made at 6:42pm

This is the new vector by the Left - imply something that didn't happen (racism! sexism!) but refuse to support your vague accusation with proof, because the actual quote would reveal you are a liar. Here is the quote:

"It's the tribe which owns Hollywood. Put them all in the ovens and generate electricity."

There is nothing here suggesting the "tribe" is Jewish. And eradicating all the Hollywood jackasses would not equate to a "holocaust". Or even a "genocide".

mockturtle said...

Agreed, Fen! Ship them out! They said they would leave so let's make it mandatory.

Laslo: LOL!

Gabriel said...

@Fen:This is the new vector by the Left

Huh? When did I become a Leftist?

the actual quote would reveal you are a liar.

I only ever heard of one people, described by some as a "tribe", who have ever been put into ovens. And I have frequently heard that same people described as "owning Hollywood".

Gabriel said...

But really Fen, coupe should explain what he meant. If he insists on dealing in tropes used by anti-Semites he's going to get misunderstood. I'll accept his explanation if he clarifies.

mockturtle said...

So what if coupe does get 'misunderstood'? You can always ignore him, just as I do R&B and Unknown.

Oso Negro said...

@ Laslo - The problem with your last missive, dear Laslo, is that I am unable to tell whether it is another burst of brilliance from your fevered imagination, or mere reportage.

Oso Negro said...

@ Gabriel - I am not a fellow "tribesmen", but I think the reading of that post is clear.

Ken B said...

I am disappointed in you mockturtle. Of course coupe meant Jews. The "tribe" is a well known way of referring slightingly to Jews, and the stereotype is that Jews run Hollywood. And put them in ovens? And you think Fen is right? WTF.

Gabriel is right, and I don't care if he's Left or not.

mockturtle said...

While I don't approve of his comment, I will defend [but not to my death] his right to make it.

Gabriel said...

@Ken B: I don't care if he's Left or not.

I'm not and my many years' posting at Althouse show it pretty definitively.

Gabriel said...

@mockturtle:I will defend [but not to my death] his right to make it.

That was never at issue. I simply asked if comments of that type are "okay" around here. coupe certainly has the right to express it, somewhere where he is entitled to do so.

Anonymous said...

Anti Semitism, it's all out in the open now, thanks to Trumpism.

Anonymous said...

I love how mockturtle says she ignores me while mentioning me in her comment, LOL!

Gabriel said...

@Unknown:Anti Semitism, it's all out in the open now, thanks to Trumpism.

The anti-Semites donated to Hillary. They're out in the open, thanks to college campuses and the Israel divestment movement. That's nothing to do with Trump, whose daughter is Jewish.

tcrosse said...

I have to look through the halloween candy for Lena Dunham's ass snickers.

Earnest Prole said...

Call me old-fashioned but I find the use of the word ovens in a conversation always seems to deaden it

Gabriel said...

@coupe:some of you should be in your safe spaces, and wearing your diaper pin.

I don't think anyone feels threatened by you. It's just that you said a very stupid thing that damages any other good idea you may be in favor of, by your association with it.

Your comment lives up to the stereotype of you that the safety pin brigade is weeping about. It's usually not very smart to live up to a stereotype.

But you go on being brave in your anonymous calls for Jew cremation on someone else's blog.

Yancey Ward said...

Like Quaestor, I have a feeling there is more to this story than appears on the surface; but the surface of it really does make Phil McGraw and his producers look like heartless money-grubbing assholes.

Ann Althouse said...

"Did you watch it, Ann?"

No. And I didn't put the name in the post. I wrote only to denounce Dr. Phil.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Ha, if you people didn't have jobs and go to work (exactly like chained slaves did by the way) you would know it is standard fare on TV to humiliate the stupid, especially in court shows or Jerry Springer-like soaps such as Dr. Phil/Oprah.

I do it, satisfy my real inferiority temporarily by watching others even worse than me on the teevee, but through Dewey Crowe, fictional Nazi. You can laugh at oil' Charlie for missing that ball we was a gonna kick, and Incan laugh at Dewey with little harm done other than to ourselves on a long-term spiritual scale.

Participants in these shows all around are people who looked into the abyss and don't yet realize the abyss is looking into them finding them wanting. Small. Limited. A non-famous or rich Tom Cruise taking his first Xenu testing.

Stick with Steel Panther, trust me on this.



Guildofcannonballs said...

Despite all the reviews I read, all the ass snickers I have had, not from famous ass' mind you, were too messy from the melted chocolate to really savor and get the taste I was looking for. Giving it more thought than I had originally considered, I have determined that freezing the snickers before the ass insertion will allow the snickers to remain unmelted even in the heightened temperature environment.

If it ain't froze,
Keep 'ER away from where shit blows.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Cedarford probably talked about ovens too, but did/has Joel Stein?

Hugh Hewitt really really very much likes Joel, peas/pod.

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/19/opinion/oe-stein19

Ann Althouse said...

By the way, I use a DVR and I have U-Verse On Demand. There's no way that my TV viewing is determined by what time the shows are on.

If I wanted to watch TV in the middle of the day — which I almost never do — I wouldn't feel stuck with the programming networks put on.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Gabriel said...
Is it okay for commenters here to call for a new Holocaust? I am not going to quote the comment, made at 6:42 PM.

11/18/16, 8:17 PM

Gabe, don't pay any attention to coupé, he's a wet-brain. Letting him upset you would only make his day.

Fen, don't kid yourself, he's quite obviously Jew-baiting, but it's okay, he is what he is. Freemasons and gum-chewers and little green men are next.

I can't even bother to be insulted by a Frenchman, anyway. It's like a horny ant climbing up a cow's leg and promising that he will be gentle.

He's almost cute. You've seen hundreds of his posts, wanting to kill masses of people for no particular reason, bragging about having killed someone and liking it and wanting more, pretending that he knows or has ever consensually touched a woman, that he served our country, that he was allowed near nuclear weapons (scary, that), and lots of other bushwah like the visions inside a schizo's head when the medicine stops working.

It's either a moderately masterful trolling project, or one long cry for help.

Ken B said...

Mockturtle
You said Fen was right. Fen said it wasn't about Jews. You did not just defend coupes right to post antisemitic drivel, you whitewashed the drivel.

mockturtle said...

Ah, the syllogistic argument. Just drop it, Ken.

John henry said...

Apologies, Ann. I should not have assumed that you watched.

John Henry

Darrell said...

Shelly Duvall is the most sane entertainer out there. All the others are more deluded.

jr565 said...

All work and no play mak s Shelley a dull girl. Staying at the overlook hotel seemed to make a lot of people crazy.

jr565 said...

"And Vivian Kubrick, 56, whose late father directed Duvall in the 1980 thriller “The Shining” opposite Jack Nicholson, deemed the interview “exploitative” and “appallingly cruel” in a letter to the talk-show host that she posted on Twitter Thursday.

She is now leading an effort to raise funds for the ailing actress.
Would she be doing anything for Shelley if this hadn't been aired? No ones knew or cared that Shelley needed help and was having such problems. It was only DR Phil airing it thst got all these people to even notice. So, I'm not going to denounce him for it.