In a case of careful what you pray for, Phil McGraw is having a not-so-great week.
On Monday, the man Oprah introduced us to years ago as Dr. Phil began to try to halt the month old Chapter 11 proceedings of his short-lived Merit Street Media after finding the cost of going bankrupt too expensive, literally. Today, as a federal judge tried to come up with a solution for the financial potholes, Dr. Phil and his Peteski Productions found themselves countersued by Trinity Broadcasting for a $500 million production and distribution deal that went to Hell in a handbasket.
“The response to TBN legitimately and lawfully defending itself from Peteski and McGraw’s bad-faith attacks is to cry foul because they do not like the true facts that they themselves now regretfully put at issue before this Court, revealing McGraw’s true illicit intent and wrongful conduct which he self-described as a ‘gangster move’ and as ’11th-hour poker,’” states the action Tuesday by the faith-based TV network in federal court in Texas.
“TBN now asserts its affirmative claims against Peteski and McGraw related to the years-long fraudulent scheme that they developed and executed to fleece TBN, a not-for-profit corporation, to enrich McGraw, his associates and affiliates,” Fort Worth-set TSN and their Foley & Lardner LLP attorneys added. “TBN is confident that the truth will set it free, and result in Peteski and McGraw being held accountable for their reprehensible conduct.”
To put it simply, TBN claims that Donald Trump’s pal and ICE adjacent Dr. Phil created “a false sense of urgency’ and lied to them about viewership, ad revenue, library ownership, and production costs in early 2023 to secure a fast, lucrative agreement. “Among other things, McGraw falsely represented to TBN that CBS would pay him $75 million per year to renew his contract and TBN must (1) immediately sign some form of binding agreement with Peteski and (2) immediately pay him $20 million as a gesture of good faith to show TBN’s ability to pay and commitment to the deal,” the Christian company’s lawyers claim. “Anything less, McGraw claimed, would be a ‘deal killer.’ TBN relied on McGraw’s false assurances and proceeded with the requested urgency.”
Needless to say, the grand plans for cost-cutting by relocating the one-time clinical psychologist’s show and team to the Lone Star state, the millions invested for multi-platform and streaming success didn’t quite pan out for the 52-year-old TBN and Dr. Phil.
They launched the joint venture in April 2024 and barely kept it going for a year.
“This fresh voice on the national stage is inexorably going dark, going off the air because TBN has refused to honor its commitment to transfer its must-carry rights and thereby provide national distribution for the network,” Merit Street cautioned in its own breach of contract suit of early July. “Merit Street has nowhere to send its broadcast signal and nowhere to air its programming no matter how great it may be.”
Reps for UTA-signed Dr. Phil, who had a 21-year run on CBS that ended in 2023, did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment on what went down in court dockets on Tuesday.
In their countersuit, TBN wants the judicial system to give them a mix of damages, injunctions, and stock amendment deal enforcement – because the Lord giveth, and the Lord certainly taketh away.
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