Thanks, Debbie. Exposing this fraud is long overdue! It’s the inexplicable worship of Oprah that allows blowhard phonies like Dr. Phil to succeed. Anybody ever endorsed by Oprah is automatically suspect. Her blessing makes instant gazillionaires out of people who should be cutting my lawn. Amazing!

Skippy on August 22, 2006 at 4:37 pm

Look at that drawing! The top of his head looks like someone has been sitting on it leaving butt-cheek impressions, and the chin looks like a pair of testicles. Whoever the artist is, good job!

CornCoLeo on August 22, 2006 at 9:42 pm

This piece really doesn’t tell me anything except that Dr. Phil is on when afterschool kids can watch him and maybe then there’s a conflict of interest for him talking about “latchkey kids” as such.
But the real reason he’s on at 3pm is that a lot of stay-at-home moms are really into him, for better or for worse. Ironically, for the first time in decades, there’s a few more of those than in previous years as the drive toward longer hours in the workplace are making it harder for two parents to work.
I know you’ll rant about how the reason for all these “latchkey kids” are single parents who couldn’t somehow stay with their spouse or women who have kids but can’t bear to deal with them afterwards but in many cases both parents HAVE to work and can’t afford to have one stay home when school ends. While I do not think it is the only reason for the “latchkey” phenomenon I think it is more of a cause than you think.

hairymon on August 23, 2006 at 4:59 pm