Dr. Mehmet Oz won’t be on TV much longer.
Sony Pictures announced Monday that “The Dr. Oz Show” will be ending its 14-year run on Jan. 14, so that Oz ― a celebrity heart surgeon with a record of making questionable medical claims ― can focus on his run for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania.
But the show replacing “Dr. Oz” will have a familial connection: “The Good Dish,” a spinoff series of Oz’s show, will be co-hosted by his daughter Daphne Oz, formerly of “The Chew,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
After Oz announced his Senate run on Nov. 30, numerous TV stations pulled his show to avoid “equal time” rules that give rival candidates the ability to request matching air time.
Oz said he’s running because “during the pandemic, I learned that when you mix politics and medicine, you get politics instead of solutions.”
Some critics have wondered if Oz might have a problem convincing voters he actually lives in Pennsylvania, since his longtime family residence is in New Jersey.
But it may not present an issue. A recent poll showed Oz narrowly behind Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, 44 to 42 percentage points among likely voters, Politico reported.