Mekeisha Madden Toby

Dr. Oz plans health fair in Metro area with Ch. 4

Hollywood, Calif. -- Dr. Mehmet Oz has his mind on Metro Detroit.

Although uninsured rates are relatively low in the area, thanks in large part to the benefits many auto workers have, the number of people without health insurance will increase as unemployment rates increase, Oz says.

Because of this, the heart doc, surgeon and author who became a household name thanks to his allegiance with talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, is planning a health fair with WDIV-TV (Channel 4), the local station that airs his syndicated "The Dr. Oz Show" weekdays at 3 p.m.

"If you don't have health insurance, you're invisible, or that's how you feel," Oz told me during a recent sit-down interview at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood. "It would be great to attach our name to an existing fair and expand it. In the end, I just want to have a health fair where people can come and consult with practitioners, where nothing crazy or super weird is being sold. Visitors should come in and learn, and walk out smarter with the same money in their pockets they came in with."

As fit and trim as he is handsome, Oz, 49, speaks quickly and honestly like a man with a limited amount of time to spread the gospel of good health. He films his program three weeks out of every month and in the fourth week, he travels all over the country to promote the show, which debuted in September.

Oz, who made an appearance in Southfield last month, says he hopes to return to Metro Detroit in the spring.

"Metro Detroit is a core audience for us," says Oz, a husband, father of four and a Cleveland native. "The average income is $35,000 a year and residents can't always get medical care, and their relationships with doctors are often strained. Someone's gotta be there to fill that gap, and if I can just make people feel a little more comfortable with the conversations they need to have with their doctors, that's half the battle."

Oz's strategy appears to be working. "The Dr. Oz Show" is one of the top 10-rated syndicated offerings and attracts about 3 million viewers nationally and nearly 55,000 local households, beating out "General Hospital" in this market.

"It's very gratifying to know folks watch the show and remember specific parts of it," Oz says. "It's like the metaphor that Oprah uses, 'Hosting a show is like hosting a party -- you don't want to outshine your guests.' "

Etc.

Fans of "Southland" can rejoice. TNT is picking up the gritty cop show and adding the series to its already attractive stable of dramas, the basic cable network announced Monday. "Southland" used to be an NBC offering, but the executives at the Peacock canceled the show recently, saying it was too expensive to produce. Look for "Southland" to make its TNT debut Jan. 12.

Tuned in mmadden@detnews.com (313) 222-2501