It was definitely staged:
First and foremost, MANY employees made the introductory tape for the Bumfights guy. IE the video that introduces the guest. They had to take clips and put it all together in a coherent way that would also inspire the emotional response they are looking to create.
After the video is created, clearly the shows producers, Dr Phil and others, would view this tape due to the strict regulations that follow the public TV network, as well as personal PR reasons.
They also choose the guest they have. This was not some guest that "I've heard about before but I don't really know what he does or why he does it..."
And, as noted above, it was turned off at the end of the video.
Complete and utter publicity stunt. Does anyone know if Dr. Phils ratings are dropping? Has he not been covering any particular push button issues as of the late? Is there some sort of public discrepency that he's trying to avoid? The only one I can think of is that the two brothers who were suspects from the Natalie Holloway incident are suing him because he supposively aired phone conversations that were suppose to be private.
Link
So, that's my two cents. I don't watch Dr. Phil enough to answer some of the above questions.