Dr. Phil insists new cable network is ‘consistent with family values’ — but not religious: ‘We need good common sense in this country’

Dr. Phil McGraw has launched Merit Street Media, his new cable network, in a time where the fractured TV landscape makes it difficult to find a footing.

But McGraw, 73 — who famously hosted “Dr. Phil” for 21 seasons — said he’s confident the new network, in partnership with Trinity Broadcasting Network, will resonate with viewers.

“It’s something I wanted to do in terms of being able to get involved in the news cycle,” McGraw told The Post. “I’m not going to be a news anchor or anything, but I did want to have a news department where I could give people information about the news without so much spin.

“You turn on Fox News and you hear all that and you turn on CNN and you hear the flip side. But it’s hard to get the straight and skinny and I think we’re going to endeavor to tell people what happened and let them make up their minds about whether it’s good or bad news.

“This is a family-oriented network and I want it to be a destination network that you can turn on in the morning and leave on and not be worried about what your kids are going to see during the day,” he said.

“We’re not a religious network, and we’re not pushing our values on anyone. But I do think we’re consistent with family values.”

The 24/7 network’s lineup features a newsy morning show, “Morning on Merit Street” (8 p.m. to 10 p.m.), with the primetime lineup anchored by “Crime Stories with Nancy Grace” (6 p.m. to 7 p.m.), “The News on Merit Street” (7 p.m. to 8 p.m.) and McGraw’s new show, “Dr. Phil Primetime” (8 p.m. to 9 p.m.), which has a live studio audience a la “Dr. Phil.”

“I want to talk about things that matter to viewers,” McGraw said. “I care about those things and they need to tell me what those things are — whether they’re moms, dads, husbands, wives, whatever. I really care about those issues and we’ve been really good [over the years] of listening and paying attention to what people are talking about.”

Merit Street Media also features reruns of Steve Harvey’s NBC daytime talk show, “Steve”; McGraw and Harvey will appear together in a show in which they host a retreat in Georgia for young men growing up without fathers.

On the programming horizon is a new morning show helmed by former “Bachelor” host Chris Harrison and his wife, Lauren Zima. (Harrison is also working on a primetime dating show.) Other shows include “Bear Grylls: The Island,” “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” — with “Dirty Jobs” guy Mike Rowe — and the Sunday-morning “Scott Rasumussen Show,” hosted by the public opinion pollster.

McGraw was particularly enthused about Merit Street’s show called “The Behavior Panel.”

“I don’t know if you’ve ever run across them in their show on YouTube, but these guys are really great in interrogation and body language and stuff,” he said. “They’ve worked with homeland security, military law enforcement … different walks of life.

“They’re great at getting to the truth and they’re really good at what they do.”

McGraw stressed that the network’s shows will tackle topical issues, with himself — and his brand — at the forefront.

“Somebody said, ‘You know, you talk about a lot of things that are political issues.’ And I said, ‘No, politicians talk about a lot of things that are cultural issues,'” he said. “I think my brand across time has been common sense … I think we’re in a time where there’s a lot of agendas getting pushed in this country that are trying to hijack the narrative of America.

“I think we need some good down-to-earth common sense in this country,” he said. “I don’t think you can just completely rewrite science, history, biology, economics because it isn’t what you wish it was.

“We’ve got too many of our colleges fostering that kind of — I don’t know if you call it socialist mentality or whatever — but it used to be that they would talk about toxic masculinity. Now they talk about masculinity as toxic. And it just it just doesn’t make sense to me.

“And I think somebody needs to stand up and talk about that.”