The Doctors Information

The Doctors (alternatively The Drs as seen on logo bugs and background graphics) is an American syndicated talk show airing daily in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, Ireland, Sweden and Finland. It debuted on September 8, 2008. The hour-long daytime program is produced by Phil McGraw and his son Jay McGraw and is distributed domestically and globally by CBS Television Distribution. The series is a spin-off of Dr. Phil and is the first talk show to be a third generation talk show spin-off, as Dr. Phil itself spun-off of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

It was announced in December 2009, during its second season, that The Doctors was cleared through the 2011-2012 season. The third season premiered September 13, 2010, in high definition. In late August 2012, The Doctors was renewed through the 2015-2016 season. The new season started on September 10, 2012.

Details

The concept, which originated on Dr. Phil, mostly focuses on health and medical issues, as a team of medical professionals (and sometimes celebrity guests/speakers) discuss a range of various health-related topics and answer questions from viewers who are too embarrassed to ask their own doctors.

The series is hosted by emergency room physician and former The Bachelor participant Travis Stork, a Vanderbilt University trained physician, who has appeared frequently on Dr. Phil, with pediatrician Jim Sears, obstetrician/gynecologist Lisa Masterson, and plastic surgeon Andrew Ordon rounding out the discussion panel.

On May 6, 2011, it was announced that Jillian Michaels had signed a multi-year deal to join CBS Television Distribution's The Doctors, as well as serve as a special correspondent on CTD's Dr. Phil.

"Jillian Michaels is the perfect addition to The Doctors' team," said Jay McGraw, The Doctors' executive producer, in a statement. "She not only embraces our mission to supply viewers with critical information to make informed and intelligent health care decisions, but more importantly, she leads by example. Jillian has been one of our most popular guests, and we're thrilled to give her a permanent seat at the table on The Doctors, where she will focus on wellness, prevention and lifestyle dynamics in addition to other health-related issues.

"My greatest passion is helping people live their healthiest, happiest lives by empowering them with information and support," said Michaels in a statement. "This is literally the most informative show in daytime, and it allows me to continue to educate people on how to make powerful health choices enabling them to take control of not only their physical well-being, but every facet of their lives."

On September 1, 2011, it was announced that Dr. Wendy Walsh had joined the daytime series The Doctors as its new co-host.

A psychologist and author, Dr. Walsh will make her debut on the season four premiere Sept. 12.

"I have always been an advocate of physical and mental well-being, and I'm beyond thrilled to join The Doctors. This show provides the perfect platform to not only disseminate information, but to do so in a way that's fun and entertaining," said Dr. Walsh. "Now that the producers have added Jillian and me to the panel, expect a lot of debate and analysis. It's going to be a great season."

Dr. Walsh is also a featured guest commentator on many CNN and HLN shows.

After the year 2011, Jillian Michaels and Dr. Wendy Walsh were no longer co-hosts of the series. Beginning in 2012, the TV series went back to just having the original four doctors.

Reception

The show had not ranked in the top 20 syndicated programs at all during the beginning of its first season, coming in behind the syndicated version of the game show Deal or No Deal among new syndicated programs, garnering a 1.3 rating at the time of its launch. Since then, it has been the only talk show to gain viewers this season, registering a 1.5 rating by the end of October, up to 1.9 by December, and 2.3 by January, surpassing Deal or No Deal; the show remains the top new talk show of the season.

There is also evidence in individual markets of the show's success: for instance, in Buffalo, New York, the show is credited with increasing the lead-in for WKBW-TV's 5:00 newscasts, to the point that the station is once again competitive with other stations in the market. (However, that station was airing repeats of brokered interviews in that time slot, which garnered very low ratings.)

Foreign Versions

In Canada, a French version called Les Docteurs airs on Radio-Canada (simultaneously with The Doctors, which airs on a different channel at that time). The show, whose format is identical to the previous seasons of the English version, features French-Canadian doctors in a similar-looking set with the same color scheme. Despite these similarities, Les Docteurs uses different music and sound effects. However, the show's logo is the same as the English version, except the English wording has been replaced with French. In México began on September 10th 2012 called "Los Doctores" (Latinamerican version), who is broadcast for Televisa and is based on this TV Series.

In Lebanon, an Arabic version of the doctors is aired by MTV channel.

In Portugal, is transmitted in a format rubric, inserted an afternoon talk show on channel SIC.