Psychologist, Oprah protege Dr. Phil flying solo

<br>LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Dr. Phil strides out onto a sleekly decorated set, a rousing Shania Twain tune blasting from video monitors behind him and a cheering audience before him. <br><br>As the applause

Thursday, September 12th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Dr. Phil strides out onto a sleekly decorated set, a rousing Shania Twain tune blasting from video monitors behind him and a cheering audience before him.

As the applause and strains of ``Man! I Feel Like a Woman!'' ebb, it takes just moments for Phillip C. McGraw, psychologist, best-selling author and Oprah Winfrey sidekick, to strike.

``All right, don't suck up now. It's too late, you're in and the door is locked,'' he says, tweaking the crowd at the taping of his new syndicated talk show.

It's quintessential Dr. Phil _ a slice of straight talk, hold the whipped cream and the whining _ and the largely female audience loves it.

``He's wonderful,'' said Shannon Little, 31, of Anaheim Hills, Calif. ``I think he's brilliant. ... He doesn't mess around. He gets right to the point.''

After some four years of dispensing prickly advice on ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' in regular guest appearances, McGraw has his own one-hour daily program. An impressive forum it is.

``Dr. Phil,'' created by Winfrey's Harpo Productions and produced by Paramount TV, debuts Monday in virtually all television markets ((97 percent), an astounding start for syndicated fare.

Most stations will air the program in the afternoon, a choice slot usually bestowed after shows prove themselves in lesser time periods. What's different here is Dr. Phil's lineage.

``You're looking at the only (talk) show that's ever gotten the Oprah seal of approval and is as close to a spinoff of Oprah as there'll ever be,'' said Bill Carroll, an analyst for media buying firm Katz Television in New York.

(Other Friends of Oprah tried to start their own talk shows _ Gayle King in 1997 and Iyanla Vanzant in 2001 _ but neither were Winfrey creations. And both failed.)

``I think he has a very good chance of success, but there are no guarantees,'' Carroll said. McGraw was able to ensure contractually that he won't compete against Winfrey, a major advantage, the analyst noted.

However, the competitive afternoon time slot may put ``Dr. Phil'' up against (depending on the market) other established talk or courtroom shows or even a network soap opera. Will viewers choose a regular dose of McGraw's directness?

``Dr. Phil'' also must jockey for attention with a pack of other new syndicated hopefuls, including John Walsh, Wayne Brady and Caroline Rhea.

Since stations are forking over substantial fees for McGraw's show, Carroll said, there's ``huge pressure'' for it to be a quick success. There's also recognition that in 2006, if Winfrey ends her run as expected, there will be a golden opportunity for someone _ Dr. Phil?_ to fill the void.

That doesn't mean he must immediately produce Oprah-sized top ratings. But there should be evidence that McGraw is, for instance, beating the competition or drawing bigger numbers than whatever he replaced, Carroll said.

On a recent afternoon at Paramount, McGraw isn't sweating the future. He's working on a mother who yells at her young son, a couple who yell at each other _ and anybody who can learn from lives McGraw describes as ``chaotic.''

``It's not OK,'' McGraw tells the single mom, confronting her in a previously taped sequence. ``I'm not just barking at you. We're headed someplace with this.''

Part of the trip: On stage, the woman is asked to watch a videotape in which she angrily shouts ``Shut up!'' at her son. The image flashes around each of 10 monitors ringing the ``Dr. Phil'' set like a dysfunctional daisy chain.

Faced with the physically imposing, sharp-tongued McGraw, guests are defenseless. (A balding and husky 6-foot-4, he looks uncannily like a bulked-up Jeffrey Tambor, who played sidekick Hank ``Hey now!'' Kingsley on ``The Garry Shandling Show'').

``Tell him it stops here. And it stops now,'' McGraw commands, stage-managing the weeping mother and son, and she complies.

This is tough TV medicine indeed. But McGraw doesn't apologize for his blunt, quick-hit approach to counseling, so removed from the standard therapy he once offered in private practice.

``Is there another layer to the onion? Sure,'' he says in an interview. ``But you could spend a year figuring out why you do something and when you get through with that you're gonna have to deal with how to change it. ... In the meantime, stop screaming at that little boy.''

With little patience for therapy's ``unclear'' outcomes, McGraw was drawn to work as a trial-preparation consultant in civil cases. In 1989, he joined with a Wichita Falls, Texas, neighbor, lawyer Gary Dobbs, to found Courtroom Sciences Inc.

``In law, 12 people go into a room, shut the door, hold an election and you've got a winner and a loser and they write a number down to go with it,'' McGraw said.

(He worked for the defense, McGraw said, because ``I think suing is kind of whiny. ... But also, practically, defendants are usually the deep pockets and they're the ones who can afford my kind of services.'')

His firm's clients included Exxon in the Exxon-Valdez oil spill trial and, in 1996, Oprah Winfrey in a libel case involving the Texas beef industry and mad-cow disease.

The TV career that began on Winfrey's show will enable him to reach millions of people each day, said McGraw, 52, whose tone is softer and manner more reserved than on the air.

He expects viewers to ``go to school'' on his guests and their flaws. Those on the program may not always gain insight, he said, although they are offered follow-up counseling. But viewers could _ and it might even take.

``Now, there will be some people who get a wake-up call and then go right back to sleep. No question about it,'' he says in colorful Dr. Phil-speak. ``But let's say you wake up 10 million people and you keep a million of 'em. If you've saved a million kids from getting screamed at today, that's a good thing.''

He plans to address the traditional issues, such as marriage and parenthood, that were part of his ``Oprah'' portfolio. McGraw has cachet when it comes to family stability: There was a brief post-high school marriage, but he and second wife, Robin, have been wed 26 years and have two children, Jay, 23, who works on ``Dr. Phil,'' and Jordan, 15.

Also on the program's agenda will be what McGraw calls his great passions, including legal cases and the intersection of psychology and physiology manifested in aging and other areas.

Through it all, Winfrey remains his TV angel. ``I had the best teacher in the history of television in Oprah,'' McGraw said.

When it comes to reviews, he's already gotten a key one.

``That boy's good!'' Winfrey exclaimed during a recent set visit.

As McGraw recounts the moment, he smiles a most un-Dr. Phil smile.