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strange oils from fish and flaxseed. To collect “superfoods” as if the
food pyramid were a game of Pac-Man and quinoa and açai were
extra lives. To revere the humble blueberry as a sacred orb.
As the obesity crisis swelled in America, the advice of experts
such as Dr. Oz seemed urgent. But no other television doctor had
the same appetite or constitution for stardom as the high-school
football player raised by Turkish immigrants in Wilmington, Dela-
ware, who studied biology at Harvard and earned dual degrees
from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the
Wharton School before following his father, a thoracic surgeon,
into the family trade. By the mid-1990s, Dr. Oz was a celebrated
surgeon at Columbia-Presbyterian, and in 1996, after taking part
ina high-profileheart transplantperformedonYankeesmanager
Joe Torre’s brother, Frank, he found that he loved being the public
face of medical advancement.
As both Dr. and Mrs. Oz have told the story, it was Lisa who man-
aged her husband’s career from the operating room to the green-
room. She had studied to be an actress and had some connections to
the entertainment industry, and she conceived of her husband’s TV
career long before it was a reality. “I feel like I haven’t had a career at
all.I’ma professionaldilettante,”sheoncesaid.“My favoritething
todois hangoutwithmy husband... butI couldn’t dosurgerywith
him,andwhat helovestodois work.Sowedeviseda way towork
together.”In 2003,sheexecutive-produceda 13-episodeseriesfor
theDiscovery HealthChannelcalledSecondOpinionWithDr. Oz.
Oprahwasthefirstguest.
Whenshediscoveredtheunusuallytelegenicsurgeon,Oprah
solicitedtheopinion ofanotherdaytime-TV personality.
“S heaskedme whatI thought,” thispersontoldme.Thisperson
thoughtthepotentialwasobvious:“He wasreallysmart. A great-
lookingguywhohasthat ‘It’ factor.”
Dr.OzbecameanOprahregular, andwhenTheDr.OzShow
premiered,it tookoff. He fit ineasilyamongthecelebritiesinhis
newsocialstratumandnowcountsamonghisfriendseveryone
fromhedge-fundbillionaireRay Dalio(whodidnotwishtodiscuss
theirrelationshipwithme)toBrooke Shields(whodidnot
respondtoa textseekingcomment)andMarthaStewart
(whosaidshecouldn’t talkowingtoher“busyyear-end
schedule”).AndthenDr. Ozseemedtochange.
“He’s oneofthosepublicfigureswhoreallyhauntme,”
Fr ankBrunioftheNewYorkTimessaid.Brunimet Dr. Oz
whenhewroteabouthimin 2010 forTheNewYorkTimes
Magazine.Brunispentweeksobservinghissubject, work
thatrequiredhimtoexperienceforhimselftheincongruity
ofDr. Oz’s dualexistence.Oneday, hewasinanoperat-
ingroom,peeringintotheopenchest cavityofa patientasDr. Oz
stitchedaroundherheart. Thenext,hewashangingoutat a studio
asDr. Ozandhisproducersdiscusseda plantocreatepropbody
partstohandouttotheaudienceat a tapingofTheDr. OzShow.
Duringtheprocess,Brunisaid,“twothingscameintoequally
vividrelief: Thisis a manwhois orwasa seriousdoctor.Seriously
trained.Seriouslytalented.Gifted.Andwitha recordofperfor-
manceinwhichhecontributedanenormousamounttohumanity.
Butat thesametime,I’msittinginonthesestorymeetingswhere
th ey’retalkingabout‘DoescottonorSillyPuttyorsomethingelse
betterstandinfortesticles?’I mean,howdo yougo fromAtoB?
Whydoesheseemmoreexcitedaboutthefake testiclesthanthe
open-heartsurgery?Theansweris becausethelatterwastheroute
tofameandriches—andthat’stheFaustianbargain.” Thatobserva-
tionwasnotjust someconvenientmythicdevice,Brunisaid,buthis
honestconclusionabouta subject he’d thoughthardaboutformore
thana decade.“I’vemet an d very few if any peoplewhoso
embody the wages of ambition.” In this allegory, the Devil gave the
doctor wealth and fame in exchange for his reputation.
“Somewhere, I’m not sure how, he started to sell out—it happens
to a lot of people when they get money and success; they want more
money and more success. He went from doctor to entertainer to
scam artist,” a veteran daytime producer said. “Dr. Oz is dangerous
because he believes he’s got some divine power.”
Despite his critics, Dr. Oz remained in syndication until he
decided to walk away for his next act, something that, in Trumpian
fashion, he has spun as a sacrifice that demonstrates his com-
mitment to his country. Yet Dr. Oz leaves his show with one year
left on his contract with Sony Pictures Television, and those with
knowledgeof thedealtoldmeit wouldhavebeena struggletoget it
renewed again. “The ratings of The Dr. Oz Show had been going way
down for years and years,” a former producer on the program said.
(The Oz campaign denies the show was in decline.) By this time,
Dr.Oz had received so much criticism for promoting pseudo-
science that the show hummed with a kind of anxiety, everyone—
including the host—fearful of using the wrong word to hype a seg-
ment and getting ensnared, once again, in a PR crisis. “You could
notusethewordmiracle,” forinstance,theformerproducersaid.
“I hadfriendswhowouldsay, ‘Ugh!I can’t believeyou’reworking
forDr. Oz!’Andtheway I’d defendit wastosay that it wasa dif-
ficultplacetoworkbecausethecontentwascomplicated;youhad
tofinda way totake a complex medicalissueandmake it easyto
understandandentertaining.I knowtherewerecontroversies,but
I hadneverseenanythingindaytimeTVvettedsocloselyinmy life.”
Aftera while,though,Dr. Ozseemedtorelaxhisconcernsabout
runningafoulofgoodadviceortasteinpursuitofbetternumbers.
Whenthehost madeplanstoincorporateregularsegmentsabout
truecrimeintotheprogram,“I waslike, ‘What?!Howthefuckare
wegoingtodotruecrimeonTheDr. OzShow?’ ”theformerpro-
ducersaid.“Andthenit wastwicea week,sometimesthreetimes
a weekduringratingsweek.It wasa stretch.Theonlyway that
youcouldtieit tosomethingmedicallywastotalkaboutsome
DNAevidence.It wasa signtomethat thisguyis willing
todowhateverit takesformoney. Soit wasn’t a shockora
surpriseformewhenI saw that hewasrunningforoffice,
becausehejust wantstofuckingwin.”nelite,pro-choice, anti-gun,transgender-child-
supporting,MichelleObama–huggingMuslimcarpet-
baggerandTurkish-armyveteranwhoonceannouncedon
nationaltelevisionthat histesticlesdescendinsucha way
thathispeniscurvestotheleft.Thatis a sampleofthedata
conservativeRepublicansciteasproofthat Dr. Ozis a threat totheir
planstowintheSenate in2022.Andthat’sjust what they’veidenti-
fiedinthevastpublicrecordavailablecourtesyofDr. Ozhimself.
Theopporesearchershavebarelystarted.
WhenSenatorPatToomey,a Republican,announcedinOcto-
berthat hewouldnotseekreelection,hecreateda new opportu-
nityforpoliticaldramaanduncertaintyinthecommonwealth
thatTrumpwonin 2016 bylessthanonepercentage pointand
thatJoeBidenwonbackbyfractionallymorein2020.In the
macho,self-assuredterminology ofelectionpunditry, Pennsyl-
vaniais a battlegroundwheretherareexcitementofa toss-upis
theresultofa quarter-centuryofdeliberatenegativepartisanship
urgingthepopulation’ssmallnumberofvotersintopolarizedand
predictableenemy camps.Withmost racesinthe 2022 midterms
ontheedge ofmeaninglessness,Pennsylvania’supcomingSenate
contestis theclosest thingtothiscycle’smainevent.Andsobefore
Dr.Ozcanwoointovotersthesuburbanwomenwhohavemade