Breaking Point

The series focused on two psychiatrists, young Dr. McKinley "Mac" Thompson (Paul Richards) and his boss, Dr. William Raymer (Eduard Franz), who practiced at an outpatient clinic located in a metropolitan hospital. Instead of the usual TV "psychopaths," their clientele consisted mainly of everyday people who'd reached a "breaking point" and needed help getting their lives back on track.

Breaking Point featured teleplays by the likes of Robert Towne (who later wrote the film Chinatown) and guest actors (such as Robert Redford and Telly Savalas) who later became superstars. But, the series itself lasted only one season, and, unfortunately, it seems to be generally forgotten today.

Incidentally, Breaking Point is sometimes confused with Eleventh Hour, a similar series which premiered on NBC in 1962. Although Breaking Point is sometimes described as ABC's answer to Eleventh Hour, both series were actually created at about the same time.

"We're trying to deal with problems that touch the lives of all of us--we're not interested in the shock value of bizarre psychiatric solutions. We deal with people who reach the breaking point, who crack under pressures most of us endure without breaking." - Paul Richards ("Dr. McKinley Thompson")1963

TRIVIA: When Breaking Point aired in Argentina, it was titled Crisis.

Episodes:

1. Solo for B-Flat Clarinet
2. Last Summer We Didn't Go Away
3. Fire and Ice
4. Bird and Snake
5. There Are the Hip, and There Are the Square
6. The Bull Roarer
7. Crack in an Image
8. Pelican in the Wilderness
9. And James Was a Very Small Snail
10. Whatsoever Things I Hear
11. Who is Mimi, What is She?
12. Millions of Faces
13. The Gnu, Now Almost Extinct
14. Heart of Marble, Body of Stone
15. Don't Cry Baby, Don't Cry
16. A Little Anger is a Good Thing
17. And If Thy Hand Offends Thee
18. Better Than a Dead Lion
19. A Land More Cruel
20. No Squares in My Family Circle
21. So Many Pretty Girls, So Little Time
22. A Child of the Center Ring
23. Tides of Darkness
24. The Summer House
25. Shadow of a Starless Night
26. Glass Flowers Never Drop Their Petals
27. Never Trouble Trouble, 'Til Trouble Troubles You
28. Confounding Her Astronomers
29. I, the Dancer
30. My Hands Are Clean