Matt Lincoln

Matt Lincoln is a television medical drama which was aired by ABC as part of its 1970-71 lineup. Matt Lincoln starred Vince Edwards as Dr. Matt Lincoln, a psychiatrist who had founded a telephone hotline for troubled teenagers. He also operated a free walk-in clinic to help the needy with their mental health concerns, in addition to a private practice which apparently paid the bills for the other two endeavors. The focus of the program centered around the helpline, where he was assisted by Tag and Jimmy, two "hip" young blacks; Ann, an attractive young white woman, and Kevin, a somewhat cynical police officer. The show's theme tune, "Hey, Who Really Cares" was written by Oliver Nelson and Linda Perhacs, and a full version of the song appears on Perhacs' legendary album Parallelograms. Unlike Edwards' previous medical drama, Matt Lincoln never developed much of an audience and was cancelled at midseason.

This was a quality series that dealt with a community psychiatrist who ran a suicide hotline and a walk-in clinic for troubled teens. It starred handsome Vince Edwards, of Ben Casey stardom. All episode titles are the Proper Names of the main character in that episode. It dealt with mental health issues in an adult manner. The scripts were of the highest quality. The only reason it never developed an audience was that it aired at the insane hour of 7:30p. Matt Lincoln was never given a chance in a normal time slot i.e. 8-11:00pm. This series could not be more relevant to what is happening today with young people in crisis. This series deserves to be seen on cable, dvd and or streaming. There are 16 one hour episodes plus the pilot film "Dial Hot Line", which starred Vince Edwards and Kim Hunter. NBC Universal owns the rights.