Starting Over Talk - Peer Coaching Support Site

Serena wrote:I watch Dr. Phil now (a Texan, yay! down home boy.) but he's doing something very different. Little segments, not people you get to stay with and see them progress and interact over time. Too much Jerry Springer goin' on. He's should've called it "Totally Messed Up Triage". He has a board, but not like here at all.[/quote]

I watched Dr Phil religiously two seasons ago.
Last season, when he started going "Oprah" on us with all the celebrities, I cut down to a few times a week.
Now, I can go weeks without watching him.
When it isn't celebrities, it's the same old stuff all the time. Usually parents, who after years of letting the kids have their own way, wonder why they won't mind. Well. duh!
I loved his MB first and second season. When the mods let our posts go through right away. And, only intervened when users started bashing each other.
Third season, censorship set in. They reviwed every message before posting it. Everyone of my messages comparing Dr hil to Oprah never made it.
The new MB is even worse. Impossible to navigate. The posts are now listed in reverse chronological order.
As for Dr Phil, I think he's "whipped". He says his wife is very "assertive" and he finds it safest to say "Yes, dear. No, dear".

Either he's whipped or he's well aware of his predominantly female audience and says what he thinks they want to hear.

I have an idea in case SO really does fold. The idea for the show is this: they take Dr. Phil and Dr. Stan and put them into a house of co-eds(half womem and half men) to be called, THE NEW STARTING OVER HOUSE, to help the hg with relationship issues. They are two licensed psychologists so they can do the therapy and, maybe bring in guest star life coaches who work with the hg for a few week or so, then rotate, such as Rhonda and Iyanla or others.

Yes, I'm just kidding. But, Dr. Phil's ratings are so great, I'm sure it would get a good following. I know it sounds too Real Worldish, but if you watch the realty shows such as Real World, The Surreal Life, etc., you will know that those people really need help!!

Wow. I feel the same way and feel an almost desperate rush to make contact on this message board. What will we do without SO? Well, after a period of floundering, I will try to remember the words, the essence of each of the life coaches to help me get along. Which means I will still want to visit this board. We don't know FOR SURE that the show is gone, but if it were so, could we still have this board?

valtina wrote:

QUOTE:
Either he's whipped or he's well aware of his predominantly female audience and says what he thinks they want to hear.

Telling people what they want to hear isn't doing them any favors.

True enough Turtle. But I don't think Dr. Phil is unmindful of who his audience is, or what they would appreciate if he is to remain someone they admire enough to watch his show and buy his books. My personal take is that he is the Boss in every aspect of his life where he wants to be, at home and at work, and that the concessions he makes to his wife's alleged control or dominance in some areas are largely tongue in cheek, or simply in those areas he chose to delegate to her. I have never viewed him as "whipped," although he does play at that sometimes on the show.

Unfortunately, he rarely follows his "cases" to see how things turned out, or gives them the same in-depth coverage as SO does. So for me, it doesn't have the same therapeutic value as SO and is more of a common sense advice show - without the digging deep I enjoy so much on SO.