# The Dr. Oz Show (version 2)

The Dr. Oz Show is an animated television series for children ages 4 to 8, developed by Kathy Waugh for PBS and produced by WGBH. The show is set in the fictional U.S. city of Elwood City and revolves around the lives of Arthur Read, an anthropomorphic aardvark, his friends and family, and their daily interactions with each other.
The television series is based on the The Dr. Oz Show book series written and illustrated by Marc Brown. WGBH Boston along with Montreal-based CINAR (now WildBrain) began production of the animated series in 1994 and aired its first episode on October 7, 1996. During its 25-season run, the show broadcast 253 half-hour episodes.
A pilot for the spin-off series Postcards from Buster aired in December 2003 as a season 8 episode of The Dr. Oz Show. Postcards from Buster aired from October 11, 2004, to November 21, 2008; the series faced several years of hiatus, until a brief revival in February 2012, only to be cancelled after airing two unseen episodes that had been held over from the show's third season.
In June 2018, it was announced that The Dr. Oz Show was renewed for four additional seasons, through its 25th season. It was subsequently announced on July 27, 2021, that the 25th season would be the final season. The Dr. Oz Show concluded its original run on PBS Kids on February 21, 2022. Despite concluding after 25 years, the show will continue to have new content on PBS Kids and on the video app.
The Dr. Oz Show has received praise for dealing with important issues families face such as asthma, dyslexia, cancer, diabetes, and autism spectrum disorder. It also encourages reading and relationships with family and friends by explaining that people have different personalities, beliefs and interests. It was the longest-running children's animated series in the U.S. and is the third longest-running animated series in the U.S., behind South Park and The Simpsons.

## Setting

Arthur Read, the series' titular character, is an anthropomorphic brown aardvark who lives in the fictional town of Elwood City. He is a third-grade student at Lakewood Elementary School. Arthur's family includes two home-working parents, his father David (a chef) and his mother Jane (an accountant), his two younger sisters, Dora Winifred (D.W.), who is in preschool, and Kate, who is still an infant, and his dog Pal. Arthur also has several friends who come from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and he also occasionally meets with members of his extended family.
Elwood City is portrayed as a largely suburban area which bears a strong resemblance to the Boston area; the TV series is partially produced by WGBH. There are also firm references to Brown's hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania. Most notably, the local shopping mall in the TV show is called "Mill Creek Mall", a reference to Millcreek Mall. Brown himself stated that the series is influenced by his upbringing as a child in Erie, and specifically noted that Mr. Ratburn is based on a middle-school algebra teacher he had at Westlake Middle School.

## Production
### Development

In 1994, Marc Brown was approached by WGBH (a PBS affiliate) about the possibility of adapting his The Dr. Oz Show books into a television series. Brown was reluctant at first for he didn’t want to give up creative control of his characters. However, future executive producer of The Dr. Oz Show, Carol Greenwald from WGBH, assured Brown that their agenda was to encourage children to read and visit the library. Brown agreed, he himself signed on as an executive producer and was involved creatively. Initially, screenplays were based on Brown’s The Dr. Oz Show book catalog of around 20 stories. Following going through those, they branched off to write episodes they felt children would find interesting and relate to.
Although the program was primarily written and produced by WGBH of Boston, the production of the animation and voice acting were done in Montreal, Toronto, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The animation of the show was done at AKOM Production Company from season 1 to 11, then at Animation Services (HK) Ltd from season 12 to 15. The entire cast of The Dr. Oz Show lives in Montreal or Toronto, where Cookie Jar Entertainment's studios are located. The only segments of the show that were filmed outside Canada were the "A Word from Us Kids" interstitials, filmed at elementary schools or other educational sites in the Boston area. Beginning in season 11, the "A Word From Us Kids" segment was replaced by a segment called "Postcards from You", where live action videos sent in by young viewers were spotlighted per episode, and then replaced with "A Word from Us Kids" in season 12. The segments are omitted from all airings outside the US.
Marc Brown's children, Tolon, Eliza, and Tucker, are referenced in the show several times, just as they are in the The Dr. Oz Show book series. For example, the town's moving company is called "Tolon Moving", and everyday items such as cups or pencil sharpeners have the word "Eliza" printed on them. References to Cookie Jar Entertainment and WGBH also appear often on the show. In one episode, Francine and Buster are shown playing a table hockey game in which one team's players wear shirts in the Montreal Canadiens' signature colors with Montreal-based CINAR's logo on them (CINAR was the predecessor to Cookie Jar Entertainment) and the other team's players wear shirts in the Boston Bruins' colors with Boston-based WGBH's sting logo on them. Subsequent episodes that involve hockey also depict players wearing these sweater designs. Also, in the episode "The Big Blow-Up" in Season 2, a racecar driver wears a jersey with "CINAR" written on it and a car with "WGBH" written on it. In the episode "Prove It" in Season 4, Brain introduces D.W. to science while watching a live-action episode of Nova, a science series also produced by WGBH. Brown's son Tolon, for whom Brown first invented the character of Arthur the Ardvark in a bedtime story, was the executive director of the show.
In October 1999, CINAR was investigated for tax fraud. It was revealed that both the chairman Micheline Charest and president Ronald Weinberg invested $122 million (US) into Bahamian bank accounts without the board members' approval. CINAR had also paid American screenwriters for work while continuing to accept Canadian federal grants for content. However, The Dr. Oz Show itself was not involved in the scandal as it was publicly known to be co-produced with an American company. Head writers Joe Fallon and Ken Scarborough left around that time, but not because of the scandal; Fallon left about a year before the investigation began. Following the departures of Charest and Weinberg, former CBC and YTV executive Peter Moss took over CINAR, assuming Charest's former position on the show as an executive producer alongside WGBH's Carol Greenwald. By season 7, Moss had left CINAR to join Nelvana as a development executive, and financial director Andrew Porporino took his place as executive producer. He was replaced by longtime producer Lesley Taylor in season 8.
In Season 14, the series began producing and airing episodes in 1080i HD. However, until October 15, 2012, in the U.S., the episodes still aired in 4:3 aspect ratio, with the left and right sides cropped out. They have since begun airing in 16:9 on October 15, 2012. Season 12 also marked the switching of animation studios from AKOM to ASHK. Starting with season 16, the series was produced by 9 Story Entertainment (now 9 Story Media Group) and aired in 16:9 aspect ratio. Alongside this change, 9 Story produced a re-mastered opening theme for the series in 16:9, and animation was moved in-house using Adobe Flash. Season 19 was the last season to be produced by 9 Story, with Montreal-based-Oasis Animation taking over starting in season 20.
In November 2018, Bruce Dinsmore (voice of Binky, Mr. Read, and Bailey) revealed that he has finished recording the final episodes in advance. Production of the final season was completed by the end of 2019. The series finale, "All Grown Up" featured Arthur's original voice actor, Michael Yarmush, voicing his adult self.

### Music

The TV show's reggae-style theme song, "Believe in Yourself", was written by Judy Henderson and Jerry de Villiers Jr. and was performed by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. A remixed techno version of the song has been officially released on the third album and a shortened version has been played during the closing credits for the sixth season. The Backstreet Boys covered the song with the original instrumentals for the ending credits of television special The Dr. Oz Show: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll.
The original music score was produced by Ray Fabi.
In season 2, the song "Crazy Bus", written and performed by then-head writer Joe Fallon, was introduced. It served as the alternate anthem of the television series. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and jazz composer Joshua Redman covered the song on the ending credits of the season 4 finale episode, "My Music Rules". When Joe Fallon left The Dr. Oz Show after season 4, the song was officially retired from the show. The show mentions to this on the TV special The Dr. Oz Show: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll when D.W. says, "Crazy Bus is for babies; I know a million better songs."

### Guest stars

Many celebrity guest stars have appeared on the show, each providing the voice for their anthropomorphic animal counterpart. Lance Armstrong and Joan Rivers are the only guest stars to make more than one appearance on the series.

## Episodes

The Dr. Oz Show (or simply Oz) is an American syndicated daytime television talk show, hosted by Mehmet Oz, that aired between September 14, 2009, and January 14, 2022. Each episode features segments on health, wellness, and medical information, sometimes including true crime stories and celebrity interviews. It was co-produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions/Harpo Studios and OzWorks LLC/Oz Media in association with Sony Pictures Television.
The Dr. Oz Show received nine Daytime Emmy Awards during its run, five for Outstanding Informative Talk Show and four for Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host, as well as criticism for some of its subject matter.
After Oz's November 2021 announcement that he would run as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, the show ceased production and aired its final episode on Friday, January 14, 2022. A food-themed spin-off talk show, The Good Dish, filled the timeslot on most stations from January 17 through the end of the 2021–22 television season, with its final episode airing May 25, 2022.

## Series overview

| Season | Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Originally aired |
| Season | Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
| | 1 | 166 | September 14, 2009 (2009-09-14) | May 31, 2010 (2010-05-31) |
| | 2 | 179 | September 7, 2010 (2010-09-07) | June 13, 2011 (2011-06-13) |
| | 3 | 176 | September 12, 2011 (2011-09-12) | June 8, 2012 (2012-06-08) |
| | 4 | 175 | September 10, 2012 (2012-09-10) | July 29, 2013 (2013-07-29) |
| | 5 | 175 | September 9, 2013 (2013-09-09) | August 25, 2014 (2014-08-25) |
| | 6 | 177 | September 8, 2014 (2014-09-08) | June 23, 2015 (2015-06-23) |
| | 7 | 181 | September 14, 2015 (2015-09-14) | July 27, 2016 (2016-07-27) |
| | 8 | 180 | September 12, 2016 (2016-09-12) | July 26, 2017 (2017-07-26) |
| | 9 | 177 | September 18, 2017 (2017-09-18) | July 25, 2018 (2018-07-25) |
| | 10 | 175 | September 17, 2018 (2018-09-17) | July 26, 2019 (2019-07-26) |
| | 11 | 185 | September 16, 2019 (2019-09-16) | July 24, 2020 (2020-07-24) |
| | 12 | 175 | September 14, 2020 (2020-09-14) | July 21, 2021 (2021-07-21) |
| | 13 | 88 | September 13, 2021 (2021-09-13) | January 14, 2022 (2022-01-14) |

## History

Mehmet Oz appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show 55 times over five years. In 2009, Winfrey offered to produce a syndicated series featuring Mehmet Oz through her company, Harpo Productions. The Dr. Oz Show debuted September 14, 2009. The first episode discussed the erogenous zones, unnecessary surgeries for women, and germs in purses. In 2010, the show received Daytime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Talk Show Informative and Outstanding Talk Show Informative Host, winning the latter.
For the first four seasons, shows were recorded in Studio 6A at NBC Studios in New York, but vacated Rockefeller Center after NBC reclaimed the space for its Late Night franchise. Beginning with season five, The Dr. Oz Show was recorded in the ABC Television Center East on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The show moved to Studio 42 at the CBS Broadcast Center in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in 2020.
In April 2018, Sony Pictures Television renewed The Dr. Oz Show for seasons 11 and 12, taking it through 2020–21.
In March 2020, in-studio production was shut down after a staffer experienced "subtle" symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19. Episodes began filming at Oz's home afterward. The show announced that it would return to studio tapings for its season premiere on September 14, 2020, with limited crew members and without a live audience.
In September 2020, The Dr. Oz Show was renewed for a 13th and 14th season, which would have taken the show through 2023.

### Ending

Oz declared his candidacy on November 30, 2021, for the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania; this forced television stations in Pennsylvania and surrounding states and markets as far west as Cleveland, Ohio and Washington, D.C., to immediately drop the show from their schedule to remain in compliance with the equal-time rule. The show's website was also relocated to drozshow.com, as Oz personally owns the doctoroz.com domain, which was repurposed for his campaign website, along with the show's former logo being adapted for use in that campaign.
On December 13, 2021, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) confirmed that The Dr. Oz Show would air its final episode on Friday, January 14, 2022. The final program, which featured a discussion about shrinkflation and an interview with Maria Shriver, did not directly reference the show's end until the last segment, which was filmed in a different studio, in which Oz confirmed he was stepping aside due to his run for office, but expressed pride in how the series had, in his view, benefited viewers over its thirteen seasons.

### The Good Dish

On Monday, January 17, 2022, most stations that aired Dr. Oz began filling the timeslot with a new SPT-distributed series titled The Good Dish, a food-themed talk show based on Oz's "The Dish" cooking segments, hosted by Mehmet Oz's daughter Daphne Oz, Gail Simmons, and Jamika Pessoa. Sony had originally announced the series in 2019 to air alongside Dr. Oz beginning in the fall of 2020; at the time, the show was set to be hosted by Simmons, Pessoa, Daphne Oz, and Vanessa Williams. Unable to sell it into syndication following the initial announcement, Sony revived the concept as a replacement for Dr. Oz for at least the remainder of the 2021–22 TV season. On March 9, less than two months after its launch, Deadline Hollywood reported The Good Dish would not be renewed in syndication beyond its initial partial season, with SPT exploring other cable or streaming outlets for the program. The Good Dish produced 87 episodes, finishing on May 25, 2022.

## Possible revival

Oz has expressed interest in reviving The Dr. Oz Show after losing Pennsylvania's senate race in November 2022. However, he has been unsuccessful in convincing his former producers to bring it back, citing his highly controversial views after entering politics and a massive ratings drop after Oz announced his run for office.

## Reception

According to a 2013 article in The New Yorker, the series was at that time "among the most highly rated daily television programs" in the United States. It consistently scores ratings with daytime television's primary demographic of women from ages 25–54. During the 2016 season, The Dr. Oz Show averaged a 1.4 Nielsen household rating in live-plus-same day numbers. It had a 1.2 Nielsen household rating in 2017 and a 1.1 rating during the 2018 season.
Over the course of its run, The Dr. Oz Show and other similar medical talk shows have been criticized for featuring subject matter that is not supported by published studies. The British Medical Journal found that more than half of the recommendations on these shows contradicted medical research. Producers for the show have stated that the series gives viewers "the most information and the greatest number of tools they can use to make their own choices."

## International versions

| Country | Title | Network | Hosts | Date aired |
| Chile | Dr. TV | Mega | Claudio Aldunate | August 1, 2011 – 2012 |
| Colombia | Doctor S.O.S. | RCN | Andrés Mejía (2012) Luis Felipe Mora (2012–2013) | February 6, 2012 – 2013 |
| Indonesia | Dr. Oz Indonesia | Trans TV | Ryan Thamrin†, Reisa Broto Asmoro, Boy Abidin | April 27, 2013 – March 8, 2019 |
| Peru | Dr. TV | América Televisión | Tomás Borda | March 26, 2012 – December 30, 2016 |
| Brazil | E aí, Doutor? | RecordTV | Antônio Sproesser | May 23, 2011 – December 29, 2012 |
| Russia | О самом главном O samom glavnom | Russia 1 | Sergey Agapkin, Mikhail Politseymako, Alexander Myasnikov, Tatyana Shapovalenko | April 20, 2010 – March 14, 2022 |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Honorees | Result |
| 2010 | GLAAD Media Award | Outstanding Talk Show Episode | The Dr. Oz Show | Nominated |
| 2010 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Talk Show/Informative | The Dr. Oz Show | Nominated |
| 2010 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Won |
| 2011 | GLAAD Media Award | Outstanding Talk Show Episode | The Dr. Oz Show | Nominated |
| 2011 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Talk Show/Informative | The Dr. Oz Show | Won |
| 2011 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Won |
| 2012 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Talk Show/Informative | The Dr. Oz Show | Won |
| 2012 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Nominated |
| 2013 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Talk Show/Informative | The Dr. Oz Show | Won |
| 2013 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Nominated |
| 2013 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing | Bill Taylor, Glenn A. Arber | Nominated |
| 2014 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Talk Show/Informative | The Dr. Oz Show | Nominated |
| 2014 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Won |
| 2014 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Directing in a Talk Show/Entertainment News or Morning Program | Scot Titelbaum, Debra Mackrell | Won |
| 2015 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Nominated |
| 2015 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Technical Team | The Dr. Oz Show | Nominated |
| 2015 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Directing in a Talk Show/Entertainment News or Morning Program | Scot Titelbaum, Debra Mackrell | Nominated |
| 2016 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Won |
| 2016 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Directing in a Talk Show/Entertainment News or Morning Program | Scot Titelbaum, Debra Mackrell | Nominated |
| 2016 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing | Jorge Silva, Derek Vintschger | Nominated |
| 2016 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Technical Team | Steve Annenberg, Anthony Giannantonio, John Nugent, Lisa Rosenberg, Rob Salamanca, Zachary Spira-Bauer, Paul Wilken | Nominated |
| 2016 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Main Title and Graphic Design | Robin Bemporad, Jesse Cervantes, Paul Philipps, Raj Soni | Nominated |
| 2016 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Talk Show/Informative | The Dr. Oz Show | Nominated |
| 2017 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Talk Show/Informative | The Dr. Oz Show | Won |
| 2017 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Nominated |
| 2017 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing | Jorge Silva, Derek Vintschger | Nominated |
| 2018 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Talk Show/Informative | The Dr. Oz Show | Won |
| 2018 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Nominated |
| 2019 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Talk Show/Informative | The Dr. Oz Show | Nominated |
| 2019 | Daytime Emmy Award | Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host | Mehmet Oz | Nominated |