Staffers with headsets and "Dr. Phil Loves Philly" T-shirts arranged part of the crowd into two long lines facing each other. As the show began, the host walked to the stage through this cheering human gauntlet, slapping hands like a boxer entering the ring.
Dr. Phil - Phil McGraw - certainly pulled no punches during the first segment, a discussion of controversial football player Michael Vick and whether the Eagles were right to hire him after his release from prison after serving time for animal cruelty.
While panelists like Gov. Rendell and sportscaster Beasley Reece took measured on-the-one-hand positions, Dr. Phil insisted that Vick suffered from a "sociopathic adjustment to life" and was probably incapable of empathy.
The good doctor also served as a peacemaker. During a later segment to air tomorrow, he got the owners of rival cheesesteak meccas Pat's and Geno's to swallow their bile and finally sample each other's fare. Mangia!
Dr. Phil is carried locally on CBS3 and every one of the station's on-air personalities, from Leslie Van Arsdall to Chris May, seemed to be at the event, either taping standups or merely registering face time.
There were so many National Park Service rangers on the fringes of the crowd in their olive uniforms and straw hats that you'd swear Yogi Bear was the next guest.
While Oprah gridlocked Chicago for three days when she commandeered Michigan Avenue for a block party to celebrate her new season, her more practical protege barely slowed traffic on Fifth Street.
The prospect of going live was not a source of trepidation for the TV pyschologist.
