7. She “created” Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil is now one of the richest TV pundits in the world. And his name has become some sort of a term for “a shrink” in the American pop culture. So, how did he become so popular? Oprah.
Before his own show, Phil McGraw started it all at the Oprah Show. He was one of the show’s fixtures and appeared for a couple segments from time to time. And hadn’t he met Oprah before, he wouldn’t have had the airtime on national highest-rated TV show.
Back in 1998, Oprah was sued for her comment on mad cow disease during the show. She said that because of that disease, she stopped eating burger. And right after that, beef producers all across US lost around $11 million in sales.
Dr. Phil was a part of her legal team for the trial in Texas. Then, not long after their first meeting, he appeared on the show. And about four years later, she created Dr. Phil’s own show, Dr. Phil. So, in a way, Oprah was the one who created Dr. Phil, both literally and figuratively.
