The Dr.Phil Plane Crash

On Tuesday,Sept.18th,2007 I watched a 'Dr.Phil' show where everybody crashed and burned.The show was about a young lady named Kyla Ebbert.Kyla is a Hooters waitress.She was wearing a mini-skirt and a tank-top covered up by a summer sweater on a trip from San Diego to Tuscon via 'Southwestern airlines.Though various sources say it ain't so,others say that Kyla was exposing her...um...support for bush/No,strike that,she was displaying her privates as she sat down in her seat.


Allegedly,the 'male' attendant-again,according to which source you are going to believe-either told her quietly that she needed to cover herself up[and even offered a blanket],or he did so in a very loud manner(she 'was' asked to buy a souvenir t-shirt,but refused).Eventually she tugged up her blouse and pulled down her skirt and was allowed to proceed.



Now,Dr.Phil.Phil had Kyla,with her mother,and her lawyer( Martin Reed)on the show.Doctor Phil seemed very very sympathetic to Kyla's cause.She wore an outfit very similar to the one she wore the day of the flight.As you can see,it looked nice on her.I didn't think it to be too revealing.Do you?










The doc approached the situation in a seemingly fair way.Questioning people off the street,asking them if she was too revealing.Some said yes-most said no.Some even said that if they had a body like hers that they would have wore the same thing.



Then,Dr.Phil,asked her just what she wanted out of this whole ordeal.Tsk,tsk,Dr.Phil-this was setting her up.She stated that all she ever wanted was an apology.So Dr.Phil,being Dr.Phil,in what she must have assumed to be a hypothetical question,asked"So,if 'Southwestern apologized to you,you would not appear on anymore talk shows?"



Startled,but sticking to her story,she voiced a nervous,"Yes."



Next(good ol' Phil),flashed on the screen behind them a jumbofied letter of an apology from the C.E.O. of 'Southwestern Airlines'.Dr.Phil then handed her two free tickets good for anywhere 'Southwestern' flew.The good doc then said something like(I am paraphrasing him),"So,no more talk shows,right ?"



Kyla's jaw dropped.At first she grabbed the tickets and agreed,and then she reneged.Her lawyer emphatically stated,"No,she wants to make sure this never happens to anyone again.Kyla handed the tickets back to Phil.And then Phil astonished me by saying something like,"But 'Southwestern' has the highest on time rate in the country.'Southwestern is the safest airline there is.

BAM!

Everybody was crashing and burning.Kyla and her mother(though tricked) were showing that they were hooked on the fame of the thing[I do not call the apology a true apology.The C.E.O. should have done it in person at the very least-not in a form of a letter on Dr.Phil].They came across as greedy and mean spirited.

Their lawyer came across the same way.Of course his reasons were more professionally stated,but I do have to agree with one thing that Dr.Phil said.Why should the time and the money of our courts be tied up on something already settled?

But in the end,Big Phil came across as the biggest loser.He came across not as a doctor at all,but as a manipulating,evil,trickster.He was bought out by 'Southwestern' before the show even began(why do I feel like 'He' was the one that came up with the idea?).It appeared that he cared little for Kyla's plight,but much of his own ego.

It was truly one of those shows that made for terrible television.But like any good plane crash...I couldn't stop watching.