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 For many men, midlife transition is a period of emotional turmoil
rooted in the disparity between what they have become and what they had
dreamed of becoming. Halftime takes a candid look into the lives and
emotions of five Yale graduate men at midlife.
The program, profiles five men (seen on the left)
from the Yale University class of 1963. The five men--a Hollywood
producer, a psychotherapist, a prosecutor, a former executive of a large
upstate New York corporation and a Nebraska bank president--struggle
against the taboo of males openly discussing their emotions as they
confront such turbulent issues as career failure, infidelity, virility
and homosexuality.
Halftime emerged from a questionnaire sent to all
members of the Yale Class of 1963 in preparation for its 25th reunion.
From 800 questionnaires mailed, 500 were returned. Some 200 classmates
agreed to be taped for national television, and from those the final
five were selected.
David Sutherland says, "The program focuses on
what these men are feeling in this current chapter of their lives."
Each of the five men was videotaped at home, at work and at play, among
family and friends. Each then individually came to New Haven,
Connecticut, for in-depth, eight-to-nine-hour interviews by Dr. Daniel J
Levinson, whose pioneering study of the male life cycle was reported in
his best seller, The Seasons of a Man's Life. All of the interviews were
taped. Finally, the five returned to New Haven, met for the first time
and spent the weekend talking openly with each other about their
emotions.
There, they candidly discussed issues that they never
shared with their friends, spouses, and sometimes even themselves.
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