Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Family Values - Dr. Phil's opportunistic parental-advice franchise.

Dr. Phil has a new prime time show about how to raise children, and Slate helpfully provides a summary of the basic idea:

Dr. Phil has a new book, Family First, tied to the show. He claims families are "systems" in which each member plays an important role, and he lays out a 7-point "toolkit" that includes things like setting up a "discipline" contract between parents and children. But his ideas don't live up to their claims, because he uses it all to create a reality show with underage kids confessing their secrets to parents in front of cameras. Sick.

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