My wife Robbie and I had a good laugh over the weekend when I realized I’d bugged her three different times to read an article in the current issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. “How many guys do you suppose have to nag their wives to read Oprah?” I said to her. Jeesh, what the hell is Real Joe doing to me?
February’s feature interview is with Phil McGraw, Oprah’s favorite relationship counselor. (Don’t bother clicking that link, as the actual interview is not online–that’s only the table of contents for the issue. Annoying.) There are several things that he says in this interview that I either I disagree with or want to comment on, so I’ve begun work on a longish essay about it.
This guy interests me because he has a lot of clout being on Oprah’s TV show and in her magazine, plus he’s got his own book out now. Oprah likes him, in part because he uses plain language, spiced up with a Texan drawl, colorful analogies, and a sprinkling of swear words. She calls him Dr.Tell-It-Like-It-Is. He sounds like a Real Joe. Millions of women who follow Oprah are likely influenced by what McGraw says, and therefore, the millions of men who are in a relationship with those very same millions of women are affected by him indirectly. I don’t plan to bash him, though. I just want to carefully dissect what he says to understand more clearly where I disagree with him… and where we’re in synch. Stay tuned.