'Dr. Phil' Officially Ending After 21 Years... And It's About Time!

It's the end of an era as a few days ago, daytime television psychologist “Dr. Phil” McGraw announced that he will be ending his talk show after 21 years.

The "Dr. Phil" show began as a spinoff from Oprah Winfrey’s show, and took over daytime television, however, after over two decades, it's refreshing to see it will be coming to an end.

Dr. Phil McGraw has helped millions of people over the years thanks to not only his knowledge and background in psychology, but thanks to his patience and practice.

“With this show, we have helped thousands of guests and millions of viewers through everything from addiction and marriage to mental wellness and raising children,” McGraw said in his statement when he announced the show would be ending. “This has been an incredible chapter of my life and career, but while I’m moving on from daytime, there is so much more I wish to do.”

It is incredible to see how many people and lives Dr. Phil has helped and saved, but it is also relieving to hear that the 72-year-old has decided to close this chapter.

Although it is great to see Dr. Phil help millions of people over the years, we can't forget that this was still daytime television, meaning episodes were edited before they aired and, to some degree, there was still a script that Dr. Phil and/or his guests had to follow. Many viewers have even said the show is staged, which would not be surprising.

It is also argued that there is a generational gap between Dr. Phil and some of those he brings onto his show. The psychologist is in his 70s and may have a different outlook on certain topics than say a 20-something-year-old, meaning that the only thing coming out of the meeting is drama and arguing, which makes for great television, however, it does not make for a great therapy session.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, reports have come out, stating the work environment is toxic, much like what happened with "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." In February 2022, several former and current employees claim they have been "mentally and emotionally" scarred from working on the daytime talk show due to "verbal abuse in a workplace that fosters fear, intimidation, and racism.” If this is true, it is about time the show ends as this is not the type of environment anybody should have to work in.

And, not to mention, this show wasn't just on for a few years, it was on for over two decades -- and, despite still bringing in 2 million viewers, according to Deadline, the show has steadily dropped in viewership and ratings over those years. The show also currently has a 3.9/10 rating on IMDb and a 3-star rating on Google.

It will be refreshing to see new, updated content coming to daytime television after 21 years of the same show.

And it seems that other fans feel the same way as one Twitter user wrote, "Good riddance. I just hope he's not planning to run for Senate or anything.😖."

Another said, "We won. There is nothing helpful about that show. It was so staged and only hurt people more after they went on."

One user didn't even realize this show was still on, Tweeting, "This show still airs?? Isn’t this a 90s thing…?? 😳😳," while one social media user wrote, "Good, no more exploring and embarrassing people that clearly need help."

Another Twitter user did not hold back when they wrote, "After 21 years spent psychologically abusing, embarrassing, browbeating and berating his "Guests" dr. Phil is finally calling it quits. Think he's unleashed enough suffering on the general public???"

CBS has stated that it hopes to continue airing reruns of the show, but there will be no new episodes filmed once the 2022–2023 season comes to an end.