Dr. Phil McGraw bet big on his reinvention as a conservative media mogul, and the gamble has gone bust. After leaving behind his daytime TV empire and embracing the MAGA movement during Donald Trump’s second presidential term, McGraw’s new venture, Merit Street Media, has crumbled under financial losses, legal drama, and plunging ratings.
McGraw launched the network in 2024 with soaring rhetoric about “defending American families and core values,” vowing to fight for the “soul and sanity” of the nation. What was meant to be a new home for right-leaning lifestyle and commentary shows instead became a cautionary tale in overreach. Within months, Merit Street Media was averaging a meager 27,000 weekly viewers, a dismal figure in a saturated market. By summer 2025, the network filed for bankruptcy.
According to Slate, the fall of Merit Street was swift and brutal. The operation went through several rounds of layoffs, with more than 40 staffers cut in June, and multiple partnerships dissolved as bills went unpaid. Viewers tuned out, and McGraw’s marquee program, Dr. Phil Primetime, quietly went on “hiatus,” a pause that insiders say is unlikely to end. “A total collapse finally kicked off this summer,” one industry analyst said. “The numbers just never made sense.”
The financial wreckage wasn’t the only blow. McGraw’s company was hit with a lawsuit from Trinity Broadcasting Network, one of its main distributors, accusing him of fraud and misrepresentation. The legal dispute centers on a half-billion-dollar distribution deal that TBN claims McGraw’s team mishandled. McGraw has denied wrongdoing, blaming the network’s struggles on unfair contract terms and what he called “a politically motivated smear campaign.”
Merit Street’s identity crisis didn’t help. Marketed as an “alternative to woke media,” it never found a clear audience. McGraw positioned himself as a patriotic truth-teller, often showing up at Trump administration events and volunteering as a media surrogate. He attended ICE operations, spoke at RFK Jr.’s swearing-in, and appeared alongside Trump in Texas after flooding, branding himself as a voice for “real Americans.” But to viewers, the pivot felt forced, a far cry from the psychologist who once counseled daytime audiences through family disputes.
Critics say McGraw’s MAGA makeover alienated his long-time fans without bringing in new ones. “He tried to go from talk-show doctor to Fox News firebrand, and nobody wanted it,” said one former employee. “He bet his reputation on a political brand instead of what made him famous, empathy and advice.”
Industry experts note that McGraw’s downfall reflects the larger challenges facing television’s conservative startup space. Competing against entrenched giants like Fox News and Newsmax, smaller outlets often rely on personality-driven loyalty, and when that personality falters, so does the network.
For now, McGraw insists the bankruptcy is just “a restructuring,” promising that Merit Street will return “stronger than ever.” But with mounting lawsuits, unpaid contracts, and vanishing viewers, few believe a comeback is in the cards.
Dr. Phil’s attempt to turn his brand into a political media empire may have been the ultimate misdiagnosis, one that ended not with a talk-show finale, but with a courtroom and a balance sheet in the red.
