Phil McGraw

Phillip Calvin McGraw (born September 1, 1950), known professionally as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality and author, best known for hosting the talk show Dr. Phil.

McGraw was born in Vinita, Oklahoma, on September 1, 1950, the son of Joseph J. McGraw Jr. and his wife, Anne Geraldine "Jerry" (née Stevens).

He grew up with two older sisters, Deana and Donna, and younger sister Brenda in the oilfields of North Texas where his father was an equipment supplier.

At age 13, he worked at an A&W Root Beer stand and a local chain called Pizza Planet in Oklahoma City.

McGraw moved to Kansas with his father as the latter pursued his lifelong goal of becoming a psychologist.

There, he attended Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kansas.

He played linebacker on the high school football team and, in 1968, earned a football scholarship to the University of Tulsa where he played middle linebacker under coach Glenn Dobbs.

He later transferred to Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas where he graduated in 1975 with a B.A. in psychology.

He went on to earn an M.A. in experimental psychology in 1976 and a PhD degree in clinical psychology in 1979, both at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), where his dissertation was titled "Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Psychological Intervention."

He did a year of post-doctoral training in forensic psychology at the Wilmington Institute.

McGraw's doctoral advisor was Frank Lawlis, who later became the primary contributing psychologist for the Dr. Phil television show.

After obtaining his doctorate, McGraw rejoined his father in Wichita Falls, Texas, where the elder McGraw had established his private psychology practice.

In 1985, McGraw and his father partnered with Thelma Box, a Texas businesswoman, in presenting "Pathways" self-help seminars.

McGraw rose to fame with appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the late 1990s.

In 1990, McGraw co-founded Courtroom Sciences, Inc. (CSI), a trial consulting firm, with lawyer Gary Dobbs.

CSI would perform "dry runs" of court cases in simulated courtrooms, and McGraw would offer advice about what parts of the lawyer's case worked and what parts did not.

McGraw is no longer an officer or director of the company.

The TV show Bull is based on McGraw's experience as a trial consultant, and he is credited as one of the creators of the series.

McGraw began working with Oprah Winfrey through CSI.

In October 1991, six years after joining Box, the younger McGraw sold his share in the company for $325,000.

In 1995, Oprah Winfrey hired McGraw's legal consulting firm CSI to prepare her for the Amarillo Texas beef trial.

Winfrey was so impressed with McGraw that she thanked him for her victory in that case, which ended in 1998.

Soon after, she invited him to appear on her show.

His appearance proved so successful that he began appearing weekly as a relationship and life strategy expert on Tuesdays, starting in April 1998.

Oprah Winfrey then helped McGraw launch his own program, Dr. Phil, in September 2002.

The show is formatted as an advice show.

In September 2002, McGraw formed Peteski Productions and launched his own syndicated daily television show, Dr. Phil, produced by Winfrey's Harpo Studios.

Dr. Phil is an advice show in which McGraw tackles a different topic each show, offering advice to his guests.

In 2005, Phil and Jay McGraw, Phil's eldest son, formed Stage 29 Productions, and a week later, announced a new show called Moochers (similar to ABC's Kicked Out).

Ultimately, the show was not produced.

He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased renewing his license to practice psychology in 2006.

In 2006, the Dr. Phil House (similar to CBS's Big Brother) began airing as part of the Dr. Phil television show.

Following a protest by neighbors, the house in Los Angeles was shut down, and production resumed on a sound stage on a studio back lot.

In 2007, McGraw was named 30th on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list.

On May 21, 2007, Dr. Phil was ranked fourth by Nielsen Media Research, with 6.69 million viewers.

On May 12, 2008, almost one year later, the show was ranked sixth with 5.69 million viewers.

At that time, the only talk show more popular than Dr. Phil was The Oprah Winfrey Show.

He signed a five-year extension of his syndication deal with his show's distributors, King World Productions, Inc. The deal was to pay McGraw $15 million per year and keep the show in production through the 2013–2014 television season.

On December 11, 2018, Dr. Phil was the top syndicated show with a "2.9 live-plus-same-day" national Nielsen rating, ranking first among talk shows for the 117th consecutive week.

His ranking improved, and by 2020, he was in the 22nd spot on the aforementioned Forbes list with earnings of $65.5 million.