Darn -- today's ep ("Families on Fire") is pre-empted here because of election day coverage. I would actually have found it more relaxing to watch "parents who are at odds about how to handle a sexually active teenage daughter who curses at them and a 6-year-old who is constantly throwing tantrums" than sweating it out over the election returns. Those of you who do get to watch, feel free to recap!

I can only say that as I walked past my tv I heard a woman say that she didn't have proof that her daughter was sexually active, only that the girl & her boyfriend had been caught in bed together nekkid as the day they were born. Then, Phil did his deadpan face & the audience threw coins. (No, not really).
He made a stupid joke about the nekkid teenagers and the audience howled. "When we catch a mama possum with a teat load of youngins we know she's been past the chicken coop!" Or something. Something possum. Then they showed lots of people screeching full volume at one another & it reminded me to call my in-laws. So I had to go.

Anybody see the rest? and what WAS the possum quote?

In passing on Friday I thought I heard that there was going to be another show on that harpy Bridget Marks. Anyone know??

I know this was a ways back but I only get to watch the show when I'm home sick....which was the day Bree Walker was on. It is just amazing to me that women like her are so delusional about "beauty" that they cannot see the cartoonish results of plastic surgery. Obviously, the positive self-image bereft Bree thought Goldie looked "great" in 'First Wives Club'! I'm just hoping her beautiful daughter can deal with how embarrassing her mother looks and doesn't follow in her footsteps.

The parents of the wild 6 year-old and the sexually active teen are some of the most sorry excuses for parents on Dr.Phil. The mom was in denial. This just proves that 1) Spreading your legs does not necessarily make someone a good parent and 2) How much attention and guidance children receive from their parents directly relates to how successful they will be and how well they will turn out.

Not every parent is a good one.

Oh boy, you're never going to BELIEVE what Dr. Phil has coming up next week.

"an all-new series premiering on Nov. 8:
Real women, real secrets.
THE REAL LIVES OF DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES."

He's also doing "What you look like drunk," which is a total rip-off of a show Oprah did last season. Ah well, stealing from his pal Oprah, trying to ride the coattails of a hit prime time show... that's our Phil!

I agree, Kat20, and I find Dr. Shill's advice to some parents overly simplistic. He tells people to quit/change jobs, sell their houses/move to cheaper neighborhood, sell/trade in their cars as a solution to their child's emotional/behavioral problems. Maybe some of these kids need LESS time with their ding-dong parents (case in point the stay-at-home mom who let her kid watch TV all day) and MORE time in a more controlled, enriched, stable environment (daycare, grandparents).

I would like to see some of these people who take Dr. Shill's advice a year from now. Hey, Dr. Shill, I quit my job and sold the house. Now we're sleeping in the car and bathing at the gas station rest room! But we're "plugged in" so that's all that matters.

Anyone see yesterday's show that covered destructive, addictive behaviors like teen girls cutting themselves, and people who tear their hair out? The show didn't seem well thought out. Shill could've covered the whole subject in ten minutes; everything else was so much filler. He basically said, These behaviors are dangerous, so don't be ashamed about them, speak up and get some help. And oh, here are a few symptoms that the guest cutter-girl has in common with the teen-cutting "syndrome" (in quotes because I don't know if it's technically a syndrome, or what. I'm not a psychiatrist.)

It's a good topic for a show, I'm just disappointed that Shill seemed to do so little with it: Yes, it's a problem - you need to get help - I/we can help you - the end.

Yeah I thought it seemed kind of a mess too. I like the subject as well and it seems many of the things these girls were saying are a familiar thing to young women/girls. Phil did well, but I don't think he did near enough with it.

That little girl who was pulling all of her hair out - I know what her goal was in doing this, but did the mom think that shaving the girl's head was going to fix it? That seemed kind of weird. I didn't hear Phil mention that at all. He was just like oh don't let her do that anymore. O...k....

I have a solution for these wild kids who are out-of-control: Take them on a visit to the local prison. There's got to be a large one in the LA area. I think I'll go email the show and tell them to do this in the future. This is reminding me of a scene some classmates did in a studio tv directing course in college where they had the principal take a few students to visit the prisoners and let's just say the prisoner's lines in the script were scary enough!

Yeah, but so many shows have done the "scared straight" thing. I would hope Dr. Phil doesn't start doing that. Soon it'll be all Maury sending kids to boot camp.

I had hoped to see something of value on the kids doing destructive things--cutting, pulling hair, etc.

What was I thinking? This is Dr. Shill!!!

No book deals, no value.


BTW, there are some excellent websites/support groups for hairpulling--trichillotomania--and even people who shave their own heads of their own free will still have the urge--it's a compulsive disorder. Same for cutting, skin picking, etc.

How sad that Schmill can't offer people really helpful resources.

Maybe he can give them gift certificates for wigs! Asshole. What a waste of space. BTW, I dont watch anymore, just read stuff here, or turn the channel briefly during Ellen, to confirm Shill is still fucking people up, which takes about 1 minute.

Well slap me silly, yesterday's Shill wasn't bad. He treid to teach couples some guidelines on how to fight constructively. He placed mics in the ears of a battling couple and fed them both some lines from time to time, to move the fight into more productive lines as one or the other started sliding off the rails. It's the first constructive show I've seen from Shill in a very long time.

Dr.P: "When you're drunk, you don't see yourself as others see you."

Big whoop, chances are they are drunk, too.

My major problem with this episode, other than the fact that virtual pedestrians don't seem to be able to get out of the way, was his completly wrong analysis of ParanoidDad and SocialDrinkingMom.

ParanoidDad said some things that Dr.P barely touched on, if at all. He mentioned his fear of men hanging off his wife and hitting on her, that he wanted her to be home with the kids, etc.

But typical Phil, he didn't even adress the fact that the husband was clearly a paranoid control freak. I guess it's still easier for Phil to blame it on the woman, tell her to change, not really address the fact that the problem stemmed from the husband's childhood trauma, and give some mumbo-jumbo about negotiation.

ParanoidDad was clearly not about negotiation - he woke the kids up, for Chrissakes. He has a bag packed.

Maybe SocialDrinkingWife shouldn't be out until 4 am (I have never personally had a problem with this if Mr.Jean wants to go out with the boys), but he clearly did not want her to go out at all.

This is the stupidest episode I've seen in a while. Betcha you don't know what it's like when you get drunk! Bet you don't know what alcohol tastes like! Yeah, this is a real "experiment"- please, it's no different than a seedy reality show.

Yeah I barely watched about 5 minutes of it until I couldn't watch anymore. I have no need to watch a bunch of idiots act drunk. Phil was doing so well lately too.

Phil ! Visit the TwoP board and listen to what we say about you when we're cold stone sober! We don't need a little John Barleycorn to tell you to put your lips together and blow.

Oh, and Phil? You always add personal info when you're lectur--I mean advising-- your guests, e.g. "In MY house (marriage, family, neighborhood, bedroom) that would be a drop-dead deal breaker!" Like the cattin' til 4 am woman. No way would Robin go out drinking and carousing until the wee hours without you. Nosiree bob! Nuh uh. No way. Says you.
But you know what, Phil? Robin is a one in twenty million gal. Because if I were Mrs Phil McGrunt (and I'm getting dizzy here, pardon) there's no way I'd get through an average Tuesday without a couple (or six) stiff belts at the neighborhood pub.Drink until I could face crawling home to you. Drink just to blot out the sound of your possum pickin voice.
Word.

LOL Gemmadoll. The Phillster has this idea that his family is absolutely ideal- and uses them as a shining example. I don't know how many times I've heard him croon about how he used to tell one of his brood "How'd I get the bestest little boy in the world??"

I also didn't get the exact 'tone' of the drunk behavior show- was it supposed to be funny or sad? B/c Phil doesn't seem to get the oddness of having a show where some parts are supposed to be lighthearted, silly & goofy, and other parts are supposed to shame us all and sober us up.

The new Desparate Housewives group looks like fun - Jerry Springer people only with Beemers. They're much better looking ,too, of course, haven't we figured out Phil won't let ugly people on the show unless he's going to fix that for them? The "alcoholic" drinks white wine instead of beer and the "stalker" just calls and hangs up. What's fun is the trouble Phil is having controling these women. The stalker won't let him get a word in edge wise and the alcoholic obviously doesn't like him one little bit.

I really do feel sorry for Rita, the one who can't bring herself to leave her loveless marriage for fear of losing her nice house. I think Phil needs to "get real" about the plight of this kind of woman. When a woman is over forty and not terribly attractive the odds that she'll find someone wonderful if she leaves her marriage are not really that great. She may end up just as lonely, living in a dumpy apartment, working back at McDonald's.

Which begs the question, why did she go on the show?? Honestly, these people... which is why I watch, of course!

Thanks, percolata. I'll have to watch this when it's on at 5 here and come back later for more snark.

It was all about the free booze! I don't really think that these people are heading out on a Friday night and drinking 13-15 drinks/shots. There was an open bar with a free ride home, and they seized the opportunity to get obliterated.

At least the drinking segment Oprah did earlier in the year seemed to have a point.

From my local Dr. Phil affiliate's web site. Do you think Robin will be serving her famous faux-nanner pie? What a great opportunity to get a close-up look at her collection of nutcrackers.

Win a Trip to Dr. Phil and Robin's Holiday Party
YOU can win a trip to Dr. Phil's Holiday Party!

Dr. Phil and Robin are throwing a Holiday Party at their house and two lucky Bay Area fans will be able to attend.

Beginning Monday, November 15th, watch Dr. Phil from 8-9pm on KRON 4. When you see the Dr. Phil "Word of the Day" go to www.KRON4.com and enter the word and your information. There will be a new word each night (Monday-Friday) that week. You can only enter once per night! The contest ends on Friday, November 19th.

Official Rules will be posted shortly on KRON4.com

Phil, Phil, Phil (shakes head)....

Where do I start? Let's see. Take women who feel beaten down and beat on them some more! Phil must be in heaven - no husbands around, so he has only the wives to blame.

Where to start?

DrunkLady: Note to Phil - two glasses of wine from someone that drinks like 3 bottles a day is not doing to make her drunk. I am actually willing to believe that she was all crazy from traveling and not eating, hell, it happens to me. I get very, very nasty if someone is rushing me around and I haven't eaten. I'm not saying it was pleasant of her, but Phil barely gave her a chance to explain herself, he just got self-imporant and defensive. I loved that she didn't roll over and play dead for His Royal Philness.

ConstructiveAbandonmentLady: Poor lady, she's like a dog that has been beaten. You cannot just talk these people better, and I am certain the thing she needed was for another man to berate her (good job, Dr. Phil). People in her situation KNOW their life is no good for them, they just feel helpless.

StalkerLady: Did Phil use the phrase "dog in heat?" I don't remember. Then he's all like, "You are passing judgment on him, you think you are better than him." To which she responds, "No, I just said he was no better than my husband." I half expected Phil to say, "Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy? Ok, ok, you're right?!?! Feel better?!?!?"

I bet Phil holds a glass of water in front of his face at night, desperately trying to turn it into wine.

I know that I'm missing the show to end all shows by refusing to watch Desperate Housewives. Apparently, it is both the Dynasty and Dallas of today and I'm outside the loop. But, I decided not to watch it because of the title. That horrible, horrible title.

Those of you old enough to remember the 60's might conjure a different mental picture of "desperate housewives" that doesn't include beautiful women having 21st century antics. Back then (some socio economic groups more so that others) a housewife was desperate because she had few choices. The deck was stacked against women so much that only a Miltown or a vodka martini kept body & soul together. Anything besides marriage and kids and housework made you a selfish anomaly and certainly not a real woman.

Why do I think Phil McGraw would refer to those times as "the good ole days"? He seems so frickin out of touch with everything that I felt as if I were watching a group of women so subjugated to his position he may have been the prison warden advising their circle of chained heat. A woman with alcoholism, life spiraling out of control (SHE HAS KIDS,DAMMIT PHIL!)and you're pumping your balls over how she spoke to your staff? If not responding pleasantly to the Phil-Lites is such an offense, then cut those guests loose who do it. Before you film. But don't chastise a grown woman like that, you dink. Yes, women are supposed to be NICE. We have heard that since infancy. Glad you have made it policy. But NICE is often at the root of severe dependence, anger, depression and addiction. Hell, look at Kitty. She's so nice she's plastic. Her only facial expression is utter complacency, buoyed by Botox.

He wants to Kittify us all! Run!

When my daughter and I watch Shill we get a kick out of spotting the quick close-up views he shows of female audience members. They are ALWAYS pretty--ever notice that? We go "There's another one!"
I'm siting here nodding my head to this comment. Oh no--I'm nodding my head excessively!! HELP IT"S STARTING!!

Word, Gemmadoll, let's just gloss over the fact that she has kids to support and her ex-husband got sent to jail for 17 years. Don't know about you, but that would make me cranky. And probably drive me to drink.

"I have the footage! You want me to show it to you?" We know, Phil, we know (eyeroll).

I guess that no matter how bad your life is, if you are not as mentally botoxed as Bobbin'HeadRobin, you don't deserve to live.

About Drunkletta, I don't believe for a second that she only had two glasses of wine, unless they were in the 18oz goblets they showed in the taped piece. I'm inclined to think that she was mostly peeved that the film crew got in the way of her drinking routine -- making her pose to drink without letting her actually down her fill...

My favorite moment though was when Born-Again-Hooch was going on (and on and on) about her righteous self & when BrowbeatenBetty said: "Gosh, you're hard on yourself..."

Unfortunate titling aside, I'm much more interested in these ladies than in the RR-DesperateDuos from last season... They gives plenty of chances for PP to be at his all-time best AND at his ultimate worst. YAYAY~

I wanted to wrap my arms around Judy (the shoplifter). The home movie that was shown of her abuse should have been prefaced with a stern warning and the footage not shown more than once.

I'm going to have nightmares about the little girl in that black & white film, struggling for air as her father taped her near drowning. I'd like to see film of her father going under for the third time in say, a septic tank.


Edited to add a soupcon of levity: Phil mentioned that one's family would accept her if a woman had "an ass like a forty dollar mule!" Excuse me? Ass like a forty dollar mule? Ass. Like. A. Forty. Dollar. Mule. What's that, a large, droopy, weak ass I guess?
Hmmm.Kitty? Is that true? Go on an all Krispy Kreme and sausage diet & report back to us. I want Phil to put his money where is metaphor is.

Not a big enough WORD in the world for that.

I couldn't stand the way Shill laid into Born-Again Hooch. Her marriage was in trouble, her husband blamed her for the problems, then she discovered he was looking at porn a lot; so she felt betrayed, she snapped, started an affair and now she's stalking the guy. This poor woman has so many problems that can't be fixed with a stern-daddy lecture from Shill. "You had... ORAL SEX with him... in a hotel room... your husband... PAID FOR!" Who cares who paid for it? Shill's more concerned about the offense to the guy's wallet than the fact that this woman's spiralling out of control.

I'd like to see Drunkletta (good name) stand her ground with Shill but I don't think it'll happen. The only possible outcome is for these women to give in to the tyranny of the big bald one. Just give in and get it over with.



This? made my day!

That was the most pathetic thing I've ever seen on television. I was sickened. I hope people who know her father ostracize the shit out of him. And by ostracize I mean "pelt him with bricks and whack him with sharpened pointy sticks".

Man no kiddin! That was really disturbing. Forget the father not speaking to her, I'd have strangled the man by now. Poor woman.

I think I might take this Desperate HW's things a little more seriously, but I can't get past the pastel sweaters with matching earring and necklace sets. They are so made up and packaged. feh.

Lord yes, Hexele, I would just love to see the DH's have a "pool party" at the end of all this and invite her father for a little taste of his own medicine - and I'm not usually vengeful, but, MAN!

These women are all breaking my heart. I hope they spend enough time with each other to really get better - I think it's the support and friendship they're finding together that's going to help them - not flippant Phil.

Edited to say, I'm glad Gemmadoll and Stinkylulu are going to watch, we're going to need all the levity we can get to make it through this.

-----
Today - anorexics. I know this is a serious and deadly illness but I'm always just a tiny bit offended by girls who would literally rather die than look like me.

Re that film of the little girl near-drowning: even more terrifying to me was the look on her face before she jumped in the water. That spoke volumes. Even at that very young age, she was already dead scared of her father. Beast!

Some of the problems these women have, and the reasons for them, are chilling. They need some serious, carefully-thought-out therapy, not the shit that Shill pulls. For TV ratings.

RE: film of the girl swimming/drowning. I thought that was a "re-creation" not the original film. So does that make it better or worse?

I thought that was the original film. You mean it's not? The little girl in it sure looked like a (much) younger version of the adult woman - to me, at least.

I'm not sure how you could recreate that scene with a child. Since very little water would have to be aspirated to put a child in danger, it seems probable that that was real footage.

I think Phil is capable of all manner of PT Barnum antics, but not that.

Word that we have women here with tremendous challenges, probably most critical to Phil as fodder during November sweeps. For shame, Phil. (You forty dollar ass).

I thought right away that Shoplifting Woman was suffering from a dissociative disorder -- she seemed to be not all there when she was talking about her shoplifting. That was confirmed the second day when Phil said she had two personalities -- one regular, one when she shoplifts/talks about shoplifting -- and she told him how she had to cope with severe physical abuse from her father. (A lot of children who are victims of physical or sexual abuse will learn to detach themselves or go numb so that it's almost as if they're not really there while they're being abused.) Dissociative disorders take YEARS of therapy to deal with; I don't think Phil's gonna cure this one in a 2-day seminar. It's very likely she'll resume shoplifting because her "shoplifting personality" will take over and she will be helpless to stop it. Along with getting her a lawyer to keep her out of the slammer, Phil had better hook her up with a top-notch therapist specializing in dissociative clients, stat.

Lots of horrible secrets -- pill-popping/drug-pushing, stalking/giving BJs to married man, alcoholic, etc. -- and then we have the woman whose terrible secret is that she wants to be a choreographer and she's afraid her husband won't support her?! Which one of these things is not like the other?

Was it just me, or is Phil waaaay nicer to people who eat too little than he is to people who eat too much?

Just asking.

KimberleeJean,
You said: Was it just me, or is Phil waaaay nicer to people who eat too little than he is to people who eat too much?

I was thinking the same thing. I didn't even watch that episode today.

Maybe he runs from "fat chicks" because his mommy Oprah is one. Just a thought.

I have been reading pages of this topics for the last few days, and I can't resist anymore... I too noticed DP's attitudes toward the thin guests... I was also disturbed by how he mentioned twice that the second girl might even want to lose a little weight, once she was off the diet pills, of course. I'm sure that's just what she needed to hear Phil. I suppose, despite her massive problem, that she still didn't live up to his feminine, waifish, "Save me Dr. Phil!" standards.

With the anorexic Australian, he was all, "What would happen to you if you weighed 50 pounds more?"

To which I thought, "She'd be on your show, Phil, and you'd be telling her she needed to lose weight!"

See I thought he just said to the pill girl that she'd be able to lose more weight if she wanted because she honestly believed that if she stopped taking the pills she would automatically go back to 300. She needed to believe that "better" things could happen in her eyes than when she was on the pills. These girls are me a month ago. I wasn't nearly as bad as they are, but their mentality is almost exactly what would go through my head so I know the kind of psychology Phil was shooting for. I think his hope is that when she sees that life is better without the pills, she can do whatever she wants weight wise in a healthy way. It may not work, but I see where he was going with it. And yes I think he is way harsher on people who eat too much rather than eat too little.

Was anyone else surprised when Kitty stood up at the 118lb. prompt? I don't doubt she weighs more than 118, but this is Kitty we're talking about here! She's puurrrrfect.

You're probably right. I understand where you're coming from. I went through a few very fanatical years concerning my weight. If those girls are like I was, you become so wrapped up in your own world, that just the mention of "you might even be able to lose more weight, in a healthier way," even with the best of intentions would have been immediately construed as "you could stand to lose more weight" to me. I know that's kind of absurd, but most things are when you get trapped in that mentality.

*totally*! As I was watching the Aussie bulimic, he said "these people ::gestures to her family:: don't give a damn what you weigh!" And I thought, "shyeah, they don't care what you weigh until you get to be too heavy, and THEN we'll bring you back on Dr Phil so we can get you down to a more acceptable weight." I hate this see-saw game Phil's doing w/weight- it's like, "don't weigh TOO MUCH... that is totally gross & unhealthy and we don't like to look at that; nobody wants to see that. What is wrong w/you!?" The other side is "don't weigh too little. No body wants to see a sad skinny girl either." My point is, Phil (and I'm not just singling out him; he's part of a larger culture) completely demonizes overweight people- they're sad, pathetic, can't get their life in order, and are headed towards an early death... and then there are people like the woman who used to weigh 300 lbs & took drastic measures to get thin, and then blames her for being vulnerable to weight prejudice. GAH!

You tell it, RML! Phhil is getting to be a real menace on this subject -adding to the gigantic weight obsession in this country.

That said.
Yep, Katymo. I weighed 110 before I quit smoking and ballooned like a self-inflating boat. I always figured Kitty was about the same size I was during the 2-pack years. I wasn't skinny, either! Observant friends were always looking at my upper thighs and telling me what I could do for that. (Glad you're better, Katy, nothing is worth more than you're health.)

Awww I heart percolata. Thank you! Glad you aren't 2-packing it anymore too.
I guess it would really depend on the person you're dealing with when deciding what to say to them or how to say it. The mind is too complicated!

Phil told a cheated-on wife today that it was OK that she gained weight! She gained because she had three babies for cheatin husband! Omigosh, do you know what this MEANS? If Phil is granting dispensations, I'm going to fax him a pic of my inner thighs and explain about my broken treadmill & weak ankles. He may grant me favor too!! Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

He later said that she may have some responsibility for the problems in her marriage and she could hit the tread mill once in a while.

We should all be hitting the treadmill at 5 AM, just like Kitty. Get up, ya' lazybones!