Psychiatry has always been an iffy sell on television. It's tough to build in the life-and-death drama of medical series - unless, of course, the patient is absolutely bananas, with violent tendencies. "Breaking Point," a spin-off of the hugely popular "Ben Casey," lasted only one season. It's on-the-couch contemporary, NBC's "The Eleventh Hour," didn't do much better, running from 1962-'64.
But "Breaking Point" managed to combine good writing with topical subject matter to be a memorable series, however short-lived. Issues like race, the family unit and the modern malaise were nudged at in what was then a unique approach to television drama. And Paul Richards and Eduard Franz were first-rate, insightful actors. Topping it all off was some really quirky casting: In one episode, veteran bad-guy Henry Silva played a priest! Reading through the episode titles here at IMDb makes me wish I'd seen more of them. Have you ever read more clever, poetic TV titles?
But "Breaking Point" managed to combine good writing with topical subject matter to be a memorable series, however short-lived. Issues like race, the family unit and the modern malaise were nudged at in what was then a unique approach to television drama. And Paul Richards and Eduard Franz were first-rate, insightful actors. Topping it all off was some really quirky casting: In one episode, veteran bad-guy Henry Silva played a priest! Reading through the episode titles here at IMDb makes me wish I'd seen more of them. Have you ever read more clever, poetic TV titles?