'You Are Not Forgotten': Hurricane Katrina One Year Later

'You Are Not Forgotten': Hurricane Katrina One Year Later

In a Special Two-Part DR. PHIL, Dr. Phil McGraw Returns to New Orleans to Listen and Ask the Tough Questions

Guests Include Mayor Ray Nagin, Current Police Superintendent Warren Riley, Former Police Superintendent Eddie Compass, FEMA Director R. David Paulison, and the Citizens of New Orleans

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- As DR. PHIL prepares to launch its fifth season, Dr. Phil McGraw, America's most noted psychologist and life strategist, returned to New Orleans, Louisiana as he promised he would, one year after Hurricane Katrina hit the Crescent City and the Gulf Coast, changing its landscape and its people forever.

What he found there will be included in a special two-part DR. PHIL, to be broadcast on Monday, August 28 and Tuesday, August 29 (air dates vary; check local listings for times in your area).

Among Dr. Phil's guests are new director of FEMA, R. David Paulison, who agreed to meet Dr. Phil at a FEMA trailer camp in St. Bernard's Parish. For the first time, some of the disenfranchised citizenry of New Orleans who have lost everything but who still need help to rebuild their lives, get the chance to come face-to-face with FEMA, and express their concerns to the Director himself: what will FEMA do about too-large families in too-small trailers, frequent power outages, the burgeoning crime in the encampment and the increasingly alarming threat of West Nile virus? Will FEMA return to the trailer camp after Dr. Phil's cameras leave?

Current Police Superintendent Warren Riley meets Dr. Phil in the Lower Ninth Ward where the levees were breeched, to show him what has been done -- and shockingly, what has not been done -- in the past year.

Former Police Chief Eddie Compass, for many the public face of New Orleans in the confusion of a major catastrophe, refutes the story of his resignation, and talks publicly about being fired in an e-mail by the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin. Dr. Phil, who tours the Mayor's own neighborhood with Mr. Nagin, then asks the mayor to explain what really happened between himself and Compass, a friend since they attended first grade together.

Also included in the show will be footage from a concert that Dr. Phil organized to benefit the New Orleans first responders -- police, fire department and EMS -- which was held on August 10. The sold-out Dr. Phil and Friends event, hosted by McGraw and his son Jay, drew over 5,000 people to the New Orleans Arena to party with the generous performers who donated their time and talent for the night -- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend Allen Toussaint, singer Brian McKnight, comedian Jeff Foxworthy, and the multi-Grammy-winning country duo Brooks and Dunn.

About The DR. PHIL Show

Carla Pennington-Stewart is executive producer of DR. PHIL. Angie Kraus Bell, Kandi Amelon Sawyer and Kathy Giaconia are the supervising producers and Paul Casey directs.

The syndicated series "DR. PHIL," created by Harpo Productions, produced by Peteski Production in association with CBS Paramount Domestic Television and distributed by King World Productions, is seen on over 212 stations representing 99.9%. Since its debut, in September 2002, the series has been ranked second in the talk show category, and consistently ranks among the Top Ten of all syndicated strips (Source: NSS Ranking Report).

Source: The DR. PHIL Show

CONTACT: Theresa Corigliano, +1-323-956-3357, or Louis DiCenzo,
+1-323-956-3405, both Media Relations of The DR. PHIL Show

-------
Profile: intent