{{For|the physics book by Roger Penrose|The Road to Reality}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = | caption = | runtime = 30 minutes | creator = | executive_producer = | presenter = | narrator = Joel Crager | language = English | company = | country = United States | network = ABC | first_aired = {{start date|1960|10|17}} | last_aired = {{end date|1961|3|31}} | num_episodes = }} '''''Road to Reality''''' was a half-hour American daytime television show that aired on ABC from October 17, 1960 to March 31, 1961, at 2:30pm EST.<ref name=Soap>{{cite book |last1=Schemering |first1=Christopher |title=The Soap Opera Encyclopedia |date=1987 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=0-345-35344-7 |pages=189–190 |edition=2nd}}</ref> The daily program dramatized group therapy sessions that were apparently written from transcripts of actual sessions. The show was ABC's first daytime drama, and the first to bring psychoanalysis to daytime television.<ref name=Transient>{{cite book |last1=Freedman |first1=Eric |title=Transient Images: Personal Media in Public Frameworks |date=2011 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-4399-0327-8 |page=102 |chapter=Intervention and the Kodak Moment}}</ref>
The show starred John Beal as the moderator of the group, Dr. Lewis,<ref name=Soap/> and was announced by Joel Crager. The five (later six) patients were played by professional actors. Issues that the patients discussed included fear of intimacy, and shyness.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rabkin |first1=Leslie Y. |title=The Celluloid Couch: An Annotated International Filmography of the Mental Health Professional in the Movies and Television, from the Beginning to 1990 |date=1998 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810834620 |page=244}}</ref> The UCLA Film and Television Archive holds two episodes in its collection.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jay |first1=Robert |title="Lost" TV Case Study: Thursday, January 12, 1961 (ABC) |url=https://www.tvobscurities.com/2023/07/lost-tv-case-study-thursday-january-12-1961-abc/ |website=TV Obscurities |access-date=26 December 2023}}</ref>
==Premise== The daily introduction to the series said: {{blockquote|You are about to see and hear the reenactment of sessions of group psychoanalysis which actually took place and were recorded. The men and women know each other only by first names. Their parts, and that of the psychoanalyst, are played by actors. The actual people involved have consented to this portrayal. Names have been changed to protect their identities. What they say may sometimes embarrass or even shock you. But only by speaking frankly can they help themselves and each other and perhaps also find the road to reality.<ref name=Transient/>}}
==Cast== The cast included Eugenia Rawls (Margaret), Robert Drew (Vic), Judith Braun (Joan), Kay Doubleday (Chris), James Dimitri (Lee), and Robin Howard (Rosalind).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Terrace |first1=Vincent |title=The complete encyclopedia of television programs, 1947-1976 |date=1976 |publisher=A.S. Barnes and Company |isbn=0-498-01561-0 |page=248}}</ref>
== Reception == The show was described favorably by psychiatrists working in psychoanalytics at the time, although it had limited popularity with the general audience.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-11-12 |title=Road to Reality – Nostalgia Central |url=https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1960s/road-to-reality/ |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=nostalgiacentral.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==References== <references/>
Category:Black-and-white American television shows Category:American Broadcasting Company soap operas Category:1960 American television series debuts Category:1961 American television series endings Category:Works about psychoanalysis