12:52 PM CDT on Sunday, October 17, 2004

By KAREN BROOKS
The Dallas Morning News

ELGIN, Texas — Four words ran through Kim Richter's mind when she saw the kids' soccer coach from her hometown go on national TV and reveal that he used to beat his wife and look at porn on the Internet: "Oh, my goodness gracious."

It was far more information than the 21-year-old pharmacy clerk wanted to know about a fellow resident in the Sausage Capital of Texas.

But it marked the beginning of a unique social experiment for Elgin, one that, for better or for worse, has trained a spotlight on the town's dark corners for millions of Americans to see. And for everyone in Elgin to see, too.

The Central Texas town is the new adoptee of human-behavior guru Phil McGraw, and his mass psychology machine, labeled "Anywhere, USA" for the third season of his talk show, the wildly popular Oprah Winfrey spinoff.

Erich Schlegel / The Dallas Morning News

At Elgin's 3-H Cattle Company, even the menu has changed since Dr. Phil rode into town.

The character Elgin plays on the No. 2-rated daytime talk show is this: typical town, with a list of typical problems as long as your arm – racism, teen pregnancy, obesity, bullies, drugs, domestic violence, divorce, lazy children.

Dr. Phil's antidote: all of that can be solved with teamwork and the willingness to air some dirty laundry before 8 million viewers.

But not all Elgin residents are sure they're ready to get real. The whole notion of a big-time TV personality swooping in to "save us from ourselves," as one local puts it, rubs some the wrong way.

"We now willingly bow to ... Dr. Phil and his ability to cure all our ills on prime time," resident Win Harbison Jr. wrote to the local newspaper, the Elgin Courier.

Lots of townsfolk declared themselves on board – most of them still seem supportive. But there also are lots of skeptics in Elgin who worry about the town's reputation.

The Courier took an unscientific online survey recently and found the town almost evenly split. Forty-seven percent of people were in favor of Dr. Phil's efforts; 16 percent said, "Thanks, but no thanks"; 35 percent replied, "Please, anywhere but here."

"It's crazy. It has really divided the town, it really has," said Brad Jones, director of Newby Jones Funeral Home and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. "But I think in the end we'll end up smelling like roses."

Supporters say Dr. Phil has brought a unique opportunity to address Elgin's problems, and they understand a reluctance to talk about problems such as adultery and obesity to complete strangers.

"We don't normally just talk about that stuff, not around the dinner table," said Elgin City Manager Jim Dunaway, an intelligent and jovial former cop who quipped on the air recently that, "Some people eat to live. I live to eat."

The show was about fat Elginites.

Elgin, a normal town

Elgin caught Dr. Phil's attention during months of research for a fall season focused on families. He said he picked the town not because it's screwed up but because it's outrageously normal.

And, he said, because city leaders, most of the Chamber of Commerce, clergy, police and school officials were willing to "put [their] community on project status."

He expects to help fix this town of 7,200 on Highway 290 east of Austin.

"We're going to have put a lot of programs in place in the city, improve the partnership and dialogue between parents and teachers. I know we're going to have gotten people involved in their families more directly," Dr. Phil, who is from Dallas, said by telephone last week from his Los Angeles studios.

"I think there are going to be a lot of things we can point to that are present and active and ongoing that weren't there before we got there."

Dr. Phil runs his show like this: Regular people talk with him about their problems, be they with family, friends and workmates. Then Dr. Phil coaches them to "get real," take responsibility for their problems and shape up.

Most daytime TV viewers regard such shows with mix of voyeuristic curiosity and sincere hope that the stories and advice will apply to their own decidedly nonpublic lives.

Not so in Elgin. Every show brings the possibility of new revelations – good and bad – about neighbors, friends, classmates and relatives.

Teenager Brandon Thomas sleeps past noon every day and has never worked a day in his life. Aaron Arbuckle gets picked on at school so much that he lashes out at home. Jennifer Walton cheated on her husband because she wanted to feel attractive to someone.

The good stuff comes out, too. Kay and Jordan Wing, for example, have what Dr. Phil calls a "phenomenal family," and the whole town rallied around them when their 5-year-old daughter died years ago.

With each new episode, there comes a fresh round of arguments over whether the benefits of mass dieting, national exposure and opened minds are worth putting the town through a process that can be as painful and ugly as, well, sausage-making.

"This is something outside their comfort zone," said Jeff Jackson, owner of Main Street Gym, the town's only gymnasium and an integral part of Dr. Phil's plan to help Elginites get healthy. "There's always a resistance to change."

Dan Bennett, the local pharmacist and a board member of the Greater Elgin Chamber of Commerce, said he has no problem with change. He wishes only that it could be done in a more private, professional setting.

He suspects that Hollywood will benefit more than Elgin.

"I don't approve of it, but we'll just have to make the best of it," he said.

Dr. Phil beseeches the town to stay tuned.

"I don't know that any growth process or change process is ever painless," he said. "Is it painful to get real with yourself about what's going on in your life or your community? Yeah."

"I think the net effect is going to be hugely positive. "

Anywhere, USA

Elgin, established in 1872, has a downtown district that looks like an Old West movie set. The roads are narrow, and there's one stoplight on Main Street.

The town is no stranger to show business.

Camera crews come through regularly to make movies, including the recent hit Friday Night Lights. So, when a couple of producers signed a nine-month lease in a little purple storefront next to the railroad tracks just off Main Street, it felt like just another Hollywood moment.

On Aug. 27, a balmy Friday night at the beginning of football season, two-thirds of the town's population showed up to the brand-new football stadium and roared a deafening Texas welcome to Dr. Phil. He promised 5,000 spectators he would use all his resources and help them "become an absolute inspiration to America."

But reality came down hard, as it often does, and Elginites found that this was no ordinary 15 minutes of fame.

This was getting personal.

Cameras started appearing regularly on Main Street, and at school. A poster went up in the window of the purple storefront calling on Elginites to make contact if they wanted to talk. People started asking each other, "Who's going to be next on The Show?"

Kirby Hawkins, who owns the 3-H Cattle Company steakhouse and Lone Star Music Hall, accepted a copy of Dr. Phil's Ultimate Weight Solution cookbook and promised to add shrimp teriyaki and other healthy alternatives to his menu.

Gigi's Boutique started selling T-shirts that say "Get Elginized. Anywhere, USA."

Mr. Jackson changed the hours at his gym so residents who commute to Austin can exercise on state-of-the-art equipment (donated through the show) when they get home.

Resident Molly Alexander worried the project would cause residents to gossip. She started a new column in the Elgin Courier that focuses on the show and its effects on the town.

When Mr. Dunaway, the city manager, was sick, he got a 6 a.m. phone call. It was his friend, a local preacher.

"You haven't been out here exercising in two days," the preacher said. "I'm going to tell Dr. Phil on you."

Painful first steps

Two Elgin shows have aired since that first jolting episode Sept. 13.

On that show, Dr. Phil introduced Elgin to the nation, praised its virtues and spelled out its struggles. There were interviews with former students who described having sex in the high school courtyard. And there was the troubled family of the porn-watching soccer coach.

It was a painful, but necessary, first step, Dr. Phil said. Problems must be identified before they can be solved.

Many Elginites, including some local city officials who support the show idea, were not amused.

Interim school superintendent Charlie Uselton was outraged by the portrayal of teen sex in the courtyard. The courtyard hasn't existed since a new school was built nearly four years ago. Also, he notes, a statistic about teen pregnancy was twice as high as the numbers he had.

The show's Los Angeles representatives flew in for an emergency meeting and were told that the show was going to have be more responsible in its portrayal of problems.

The fact was, Mr. Uselton reasoned, a town this small could close ranks so fast that Anywhere, USA, could turn into Nowhere, Fast.

"We had a little set-down with them," Mr. Uselton said, with a small grin. "They apologized for not taking the time to check out their facts. We got on good terms. The situation is going great now, and they've had more positive shows since then."

There have been some positive effects, too:

• During the segment on Brandon Thomas (the teen with deadbeat tendencies), Gigi's Boutique gave him a job, and Dr. Phil's staff set him up with general equivalency classes.

• A show to be aired in a few weeks spotlights outstanding students and teachers and shows how several Elginites are starting to shed the pounds (Mr. Dunaway is more "eating to live" now.)

• Dr. Phil's son Jay is setting up an anti-bullying program at school to help young people like Aaron.

• After two years of trying to get Time Warner Cable to install cable TV at school, a phone call from Dr. Phil staffers appears to have greased the wheels of progress.

• A show about a teen mother spurred lively debate on the Web site of the Elgin Courier about why teen girls get pregnant, what should be done to help them and whether they are being shown enough compassion.

All of which begs this question, supporters say: How can dealing with problems in the light of day be bad?

"I think the major thing that will come out of this is a more open-minded and sympathetic public," Mr. Dunaway said. "To what degree, I have no idea."