Nick Gordon Intervention Scores 'Dr. Phil' Best Ratings of Season

CBS Television Distribution’s Dr. Phil scored the highest ratings of its season so far with Wednesday’s episode featuring Dr. Phil McGraw’s intervention with Nick Gordon, the boyfriend of Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown. Brown is on life support in an Atlanta hospital, according to reports, after being found unconscious in her bathtub in January.

The episode averaged a 3.9 rating/11 share in households for its metered market primary runs, according to Nielsen Media Research, and won its time period in the top three markets. It also finished first in its time slot in 25 of the country’s top 30 markets. The show’s best performance came in Dayton, Ohio, where it hit a 14.0 rating/39 share. Dr. Phil also outperformed its year-ago time period average (March, 2014) by 39% and grew 144% from its lead-in.

In the episode, Dr. Phil offers treatment to Gordon, who is battling depression and addiction. With his mother, Michelle, by his side, Gordon discussed the pain, mental anguish and panic attacks he says he has been suffering since Brown was discovered and since her mother died three years ago.

Dr. Phil was created by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and is produced by Peteski Productions in association with CBS Television Distribution, which also distributes the show. Carla Pennington and Dr. McGraw are executive producers.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.