With Dr. Phil coming to its conclusion earlier this year, it’s the end of an era for daytime television. Wrapping up in May, the show had been on the air for 21 seasons, originally launching in 2002. It served as a spinoff of sorts of The Oprah Winfrey Show, where Phil McGraw had previously been making guest appearances using his Dr. Phil persona. It was announced in January of this year that the show would be ending with the current season, though reruns of the series will continue to air.

In a new interview for Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? on Max and CNN, McGraw commented on the end of his talk show. He was asked why now was the time to stop, as the series has continuously pulled in high viewership over the past two decades. McGraw tells Chris Wallace that he feels he’s accomplished what he wanted to do with that show, happy with the part he played in bringing more awareness to mental health and other serious issues. As McGraw says:
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAYSCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

“Well, you know, I’ve – 21 years is a long time. And I’ve done the things that I’ve set out to do. And the first question I was ever asked was for a sales reel — tech guy said what’s this show going to be about? And I said two things. I said, I want to talk about things that matter to people who care. And talk about the silent epidemics, talk about the things that had such a stigma about them that you just didn’t talk about them. And I really wanted to push mental illness to the forefront of the narrative in America.”

Related: Kelly Clarkson Responds to Allegations of Her Talk Show Having a Toxic Work Environment

Dr. Phil Is Still Offering His Insight

Certainly, the landscape of daytime television is very different without new episodes of Dr. Phil hitting the air. But McGraw himself isn’t going anywhere necessarily, still around to offer his insight on various issues plaguing the country as he used to do on his TV show. Wallace asked McGraw about the recent studies that say anxiety, stress, and depression have been increasing in recent years, with teenage girls in particularly struggling with suicidal thoughts more than ever. McGraw shares his thoughts, refuting that the pandemic is to cause and noting that this has been a problem that’s been building up for years.

“Well, you know, everybody thinks that the pandemic is perhaps behind this. But that trend really started back in 09, 10. it’s like a big freighter flew over the United States and dropped smartphones on everybody. And young people started watching people live their lives, instead of living their own lives. And those lives they were watching, were fantasies, and we compare our reality to other people’s fantasy. And by comparison, we come away feeling worse about ourselves.”

For more from Dr. Phil, you can stream the full interview with McGraw on Look Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? on Max.