A reality TV series meant to spotlight the New York Police Department has spawned a real-life legal drama involving the city and the show’s producer, Jordan McGraw — the son of TV’s “Dr. Phil” McGraw.
The city sued the younger McGraw and his production company this week for breach of contract and obtained a court order that blocks them, at least temporarily, from selling or disseminating any footage from the unfinished and unaired show, tentatively titled “Behind the Badge.”
“Dr. Phil” McGraw— a clinical psychologist turned TV personality — hosted the series, interviewing officials and showing up to crime scenes. Episodes were slated to air on his MeritTV cable and streaming channels, where he’d previously done segments featuring the police department.
On Thursday, McGraw’s lawyers filed to move the case from New York state court to federal court.
The city abandoned “Behind the Badge” late last year, hours before then-Mayor Eric Adams ceded City Hall to Zohran Mamdani, after saying that it had expressed concerns to McGraw about the documentary-style show’s quality and content.
Episode “rough cuts” provided to the city by McGraw’s company, McGraw Media, were mostly “unedited footage” dumps and included material not allowed under McGraw’s production agreement with the city, such as discussions of sensitive operations and the identities of undercover officers, crime victims and witnesses, the lawsuit said.
“Intended to highlight the extraordinary work of the NYPD” with special behind-the-scenes access, “Behind the Badge” at times portrayed the nation’s largest police force negatively, violating the agreement, the lawsuit said.
Jordan McGraw and McGraw Media have since “disavowed their obligations” and attempted to wrest editorial control over the project from the city, “risking immediate and irreparable harm” to the city, the lawsuit said.
Chip Babcock, a lawyer for Jordan McGraw and McGraw Media, said the lawsuit came as a surprise “as publication of any programming was not imminent.” McGraw Media, he said, “had worked with the city to address the edits requested” and is willing to continue to do so. The company will seek to remove the court order as soon as possible, Babcock said, calling it a presumptively unconstitutional prior restraint.
Former mayor says McGraw ‘addressed every concern’
New York City partnered with McGraw Media on “Behind the Badge” last April, inking a three-year contract a day after a federal judge dismissed federal corruption charges against Adams. The case went away, in part, because the Justice Department had wanted the mayor’s help with President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Last week, WNBC-TV reported that Adams’ campaign paid $500,000 for another Jordan McGraw company, Fairfax Digital, to produce social media ads.
Adams defended Jordan McGraw’s work on “Behind the Badge,” writing in a social media post on Wednesday that he “brought exceptional talent in revealing the inside story of the dangers NYPD officers face every day.”
“He and his team meticulously addressed every concern raised by City Hall,” Adams wrote. “I’m proud that the work they did tells the real story of our brave police officers. Heroes don’t wear capes, they wear blue uniforms. I understood that. I hope America will get to see that too.”
“Dr. Phil” McGraw, who hosted a “Behind the Badge” segment on his daytime talk show, made waves last year when he and a camera crew embedded with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for raids in Chicago and Los Angeles.
In a precursor to a show now pitting the city against his son, he went on a ride-along with the NYPD in 2024 for a segment on his MeritTV show “Dr. Phil Primetime.” In it, he spoke with officers at police headquarters and interviewed two top officials, including former Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry and former Chief of Department John Chell. Dr. Phil’s company, Merit Street Media, filed for bankruptcy last July.
Agreement gave city approval over edits and an exit clause
The “Behind the Badge” contract, a five-page production agreement signed by Jordan McGraw and Adams’ chief of staff Camille Joseph Varlack, called for McGraw Media to produce up to 17 episodes per year, but gave the city the right to opt-out by Dec. 31, 2025, the last day of Adams’ term.
On that date, Varlack told McGraw in a letter that the city was “no longer able to fulfill its obligations” to the project. She outlined concerns with the production process, including shoddy editing and the inclusion of content that the city had found objectionable in “rough cuts.”
Under the production agreement, the city reserved the right to nix what it deemed “Non-Usable Content,” including inaccurate or confidential material, footage that revealed investigative techniques and anything that could compromise public safety or public trust.
Among other things, the lawsuit said, the show contained footage of an officer inputting a security code at a police station entrance, discussions of encrypted police communications and the unblurred faces of people who were arrested by police but who have not yet been tried or convicted of crimes.
In her letter, Varlack warned McGraw that releasing any such footage would violate the contract.
According to the lawsuit, McGraw Media indicated that it would not accept any of the city’s edits and that it intended to distribute the flagged material and was looking for a buyer to air the show.
