Dr. Phil and Maury

In 2008 over 30 million people in the United States admitted to watching day time TV talk shows, and that number is progressively climbing. These talk shows range from cooking secrets, to bizarre life situations, to more serious national news stories such as interviews with the parents of Treyvon Martin. Two of these TV talk shows include: the serious psychologist, Dr. Phil McGraw and the syndicated tabloid talk show host, Maury Povich. Although, Dr. Phil and Maury are both national TV talk shows, they differ in content, targeted audience, and national news. The most noticeable difference between Maury and Dr. Phil is the content of each talk show. Maury is a bizarre, outrageous talk show that includes topics such as; paternity test, lie detector test, shocking sex secrets, controlling and abusive men, out of control teenage girls, transsexuals, and transformations. The most famous topic is paternity testing; for instance, a mother appears on air in an attempt to prove or disprove that a man is the biological father of her child or children. Usually the man is certain that the child is not his, acts with hostility, and accuses the mother of being a lair. On the other hand, Dr. Phil covers a wide variety of topics, including weight loss, financial planning, errant children, mental health issues, drug abuse, depression, suicide, child abuse, domestic violence, personal and social issues; however, the list continues on and on. For example, Dr. Phil has taken on the task of interviewing the family of Treyvon Martin and the best friend of the accused killer. Since there is a huge content difference, naturally there is also a difference in the viewing audience. Right now, Maury has the youngest audience of any talk show out there. His targeted audience is between the ages of 18 and 35; the younger audience is drawn to the real life comical drama the show brings. While not as popular and not in as many markets today as it once was, Maury maintains a solid audience