In addition to hosting Dr. Phil Primetime, a revamped version of McGraw’s long-running talk show, Merit Street Media’s new cable station will host content from Steve Harvey, Nancy Grace and former Bachelor Nation host Chris Harrison.
All three were in attendance at the ribbon-cutting, along with Robin McGraw (Dr. Phil’s wife and collaborator), the anchors for Merit Street’s upcoming morning and nightly news programs and a slew of “special guests": journalists, social media influencers and all 200 Merit Street staff members.
The “special guests” did not include Mark Cuban, although it appeared that they were expecting him at one point. A guest sitting next to us who RSVP’d at the last minute was given a nametag meant for Cuban with their name scribbled on the back.
The new studio for Dr. Phil Primetime is at Merit Street Media headquarters in Fort Worth.
Carly May Gravley
At 11.25 a.m., the ceremony opened with a prayer, setting the tone for McGraw’s mission right off the bat. The prayer called upon God to bless the studio in every aspect. This included, and the preacher explicitly clarified this, “financially.”
The prayer was followed by directions to stand, as Jennifer Chung Quintard of the Fort Worth Opera performed “God Bless America.” Quintard is a talented vocalist, but as we looked around and saw some attendees with their hats removed and their hands on their hearts, we were distracted by the fact that “God Bless America” is not our country’s national anthem and curious as to why we had to stand for it.
After Quintard’s performance, we sat back down to watch a sizzle reel for Merit Street’s content. The network’s morning news show, called Morning on Merit Street, will be hosted by Dominique Sachse and Fanchon Stinger. The show was described as mixing news and lifestyle content to present information in a more entertaining way.
The News on Merit Street, the nightly news program, will focus on “not just the what, but the why.” The show will be anchored by Loni Coombs, Kris Gutierrez and Lyndsey Keith.
The sizzle reel boasted that Merit Street Media would be the exclusive home of Steve Harvey and Nancy Grace’s programs. It also promised that the Dr. Phil Primetime show would be more hard-hitting than its predecessor, teasing a segment where McGraw visits the nation's southern border and conducts interviews with people he meets there.
State Senator Tan Parker and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick took the stage to pay their respects to what Patrick believes might be “the top film and television studio in the country.”
“Mark my words!” he insisted.
Patrick ended his remarks with a message to McGraw and Merit Street Media on behalf of all Texans: “We love God. We love family. We love country. We love you.”
(At this time, there is no word from Patrick on whether Texans also love lamp.)
Later, Robin McGraw took the stage for a rousing introduction of her husband, who, she claims is “brilliant.”
“Either run for president or build your own fabulous network,” McGraw says she has told her husband. “You have much more to say than an hour a day.”
After her speech, the back wall of the set opened up (just like on TV!) and the man of the hour, Dr. Phil himself, emerged to greet the crowd and share his vision for his new network.
“We’re going to talk about family," McGraw told the crowd. "We’re going to talk about core values. We’re going to talk about history and science and biology and all the things that make sense to how we got to be the country that everybody in the world wants to come to.”
These topics will apparently be presented by people with no professional experience or knowledge of them.
“This is not going to be some cable talking head expert show,” McGraw emphasized. “We’re gonna deal with these things through the eyes of the people that are impacted by them.”
As a reminder, “these things” include history and biology.
Before concluding his speech and cutting the ribbon, McGraw presented a statistic claiming that 80% of the content on Twitter is posted by 10% of its users. He used this information to support his contention that issues that receive the most airtime don’t actually matter to most people.
“They’re driving the narrative,” he said in that stern tone we’ve all heard him direct at guests on his show. “That’s got to stop, and we’re going to help stop it.”
In his speech, McGraw did not offer specifics as to what this narrative was. However, the myriad of conservative guests, the staunch religious angle and perhaps even McGraw’s own history of alleged racist and abusive behavior shown by his previous tirades against COVID-19 precautions and transphobic rhetoric might help us fill in those blanks.
Merit Street Media is now airing on most cable providers and has a tool on its website to help you find your channel. Fans of Dr. Phil Primetime can get on the waiting list on the show’s homepage to attend a taping for free.
