The Name of the Game (TV series)
| The Name of the Game | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Robert Stack, Gene Barry, and Tony Franciosa |
|
| Format | Adventure/Mystery |
| Created by | Jennings Lang |
| Starring | Tony Franciosa Gene Barry Robert Stack Peter Falk Robert Culp Robert Wagner Darren McGavin Susan Saint James Mark Miller Ben Murphy Cliff Potts |
| Theme music composer | Dave Grusin |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 76 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Richard Irving David Victor Leslie Stevens Dean Hargrove |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Production company(s) | Universal Television |
| Distributor | NBC Universal Television Distribution |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 20, 1968 – March 19, 1971 |
The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for the likes of The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s. The show had an extremely large budget for a television series.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The series was based on the 1966 television movie Fame Is the Name of the Game directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Tony Franciosa. The Name of the Game rotated among three characters working at Howard Publications, a large magazine publishing company — Jeff Dillon (Franciosa), a crusading reporter with People magazine (before there was a real-life People magazine); Glenn Howard (Gene Barry, replacing George Macready, who'd played the role in the earlier film), the sophisticated, well-connected publisher; and Dan Farrell (Robert Stack), the editor of Crime magazine. Serving as a common connection was newcomer Susan Saint James as Peggy Maxwell, the editorial assistant for each.
The show had a striking, imaginative rotating opening graphic, which in turn put up the three lead actors with their faces forming out of repeatedly appearing collages of their names, each slightly differing, along with a jazzy, pulsating theme by Dave Grusin. This graphic originally put the featured lead first, then the other two as 'starring in...', Franciosa set on pale blue background, Barry on red, and Stack on green. All three leads were thus depicted, although usually only one then actually appeared. Each episode then carried individual credits with the featured lead name 'in' followed by title and guest cast. When the show ran on Encore Mystery channel (1996-99), a single 'Stack-Barry-Franciosa' opening graphic was shown on every episode.
Gene Barry made brief cameo appearances 'as Glenn Howard', for series continuity purposes, in four of each of his two co-stars featured first season episodes. Tony Franciosa did likewise 'as Jeff Dillon' in a single first season Gene Barry segment story ('The Taker'). However, Tony Franciosa and Robert Stack never appeared in the same episode. Robert Stack's character Dan Farrell was however mentioned by name in the Tony Franciosa episode, 'Collector's Edition', in which Gene Barry cameos and Peggy Maxwell phones Farrell, but he is not seen. This is the closest the show ever came to including/mentioning all the three leads. Robert Stack never made any cameo appearances in the other two lead's episodes.
Although the producers would have us believe that each actor would appear every third week, in actuality, in the first season there were eleven Gene Barry segments, nine Robert Stack segments and only six Tony Franciosa segments. The actual rotating order of the lead actors episodes was inconsistent over the three seasons, sometimes Barry or Stack appeared for two consecutive weeks running, while it was not unusual for Stack and Barry episodes to occasionally repeatedly alternate without any Franciosa story between. Towards the end of season two there were two Franciosa episodes only two weeks apart, suggesting the series original transmission order was possibly rushed.
Tony Franciosa's 'Jeff Dillon' segments were 'current affairs' stories ranging from industrial espionage ('The Other Kind of Spy'), to bogus doctors ('Keep The Doctor Away'), racial tensions ('The Black Answer'), or shady goings on in an Army training camp ('The Prisoner Within'). The charismatic Jeff Dillon was a stylish, charming, likable character with an infectious, boyish smile, but had a razor sharp mind with an attention to detail, and a dogged persistent investigative style later utilized by (and now more associated with) the seventies 'Mystery Movie' character 'Columbo'. Susan Saint James' award winning character Research assistant 'Peggy Maxwell' was ever-present in the 'Jeff Dillon' segments. She even shared the lead with him on one occasion in the season two episode 'The King of Denmark'. The 'Jeff Dillon' segments featured an incidental theme tune featured throughout his episodes unique to his stories.
Gene Barry's Glenn Howard was a cool self-made businessman and cut an elegant 'Impeccable' Playboy millionaire figure but had a great sense of fairness. Gene Barry's 'Glenn Howard' tales were usually either big business ('The Perfect Image') or political intrigue affairs ('High Card') set in powerful, wealthy circles. Barry also had a small but memorable number of more surreal 'offbeat' escapades, such as 'Love In At Ground Zero', in which Howard was abducted by fanatical hippies and forced to witness their protest mass suicide during a secret chemical weapons test. Other memorable episodes included the spooky 'Tarot', wild 'One of The Girls in Research', and the Western set episode 'The Showdown'. Howard's assistant 'Andrew Hill' (Cliff Potts) appeared in some first season episodes. Mark Miller was also featured as 'Ross Craig' in some Barry tales.
Robert Stack's Dan Farrell was a resolute, stern ex-F.B.I. investigator, a righteous figure with a great and tireless sense of justice. His stories were normally crime capers, though often more unusual types of crimes such as spree killers ('The Bobby Currier Story'), corruption in sport ('Brass Ring'), illegal use of prisoners as slave labor ('Chains of Command') and crooked charities ('Give Till It Hurts'). Most Robert Stack episodes concluded with a negative image that transformed into the latest cover shot of 'CRIME' magazine.
Some notable guest stars included a young, pre- 'Alias Smith And Jones' Ben Murphy as Farrell's assistant Joseph Sample; Cliff Potts as Andy Hill in season one's 'Pineapple Rose' episode, Darren McGavin as freelance newsman Sam Hardy, and Vera Miles as Howard's top female Reporter Hilary Vanderman.
Tony Franciosa was fired from the series during the third season of the show's run, after completing three episodes. His contracted rotation stories were taken by various characters played by guest actors, such as Peter Falk as Lewis Corbett in 'A Sister From Napoli', Robert Culp as Paul Tyler in two episodes; 'Cynthia is Alive...' and 'Little Bear Died Running', and Robert Wagner as David Corey in 'The Man Who Killed A Ghost'. Tony Franciosa's face was still featured on the opening graphic for season three, however the guest leads were billed as: 'Guest Starring in...' on the episodes credits, then depicted with their photos (from each episode) set on the closing credits as background.
[edit] Guest Stars
Many famous guest stars appeared in the series, including; Boris Karloff, William Shatner, Roddy McDowall, Steve Forrest, Barry Sullivan, Pete Duel, Jack Klugman, Dennis Weaver, Leslie Neilsen, James Whitmore, Louis Jourdan, Burl Ives, Frank Sinatra, Kevin McCarthy, Robert Young, Joseph Cotton, Charles Boyer, Donald Sutherland, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Peter Graves, David Carradine, Honor Blackman, Julie Harris, Sal Mineo, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lawford, Russ Tamblyn, Sharon Farrell, Sammy Davis Jnr, Noel Harrison, Suzanne Pleshette, Ike & Tina Turner, Mel Torme, Shirley Jones, Dionne Warwick, Barry Nelson, Anne Baxter, Brandon de Wilde, Claudine Longet, Robert Webber, Yvonne De Carlo, John Kerr, Hoagy Carmichael, Rosanno Brassi, Chuck Connors, Van Johnson, Pernell Roberts, Laurence Naismith, Jessica Walter, Frank Gorshin, Nigel Davenport, Pamela Franklin, Gypsy Rose Lee, Will Geer, Brenda Vaccaro, Ricardo Montalban, Ivan Dixon, Edward Andrews, Robert Goulet, and many more.
[edit] Production
The Name of the Game provided Steven Spielberg with his first long-form directing assignment: the dystopic science fiction episode, "L.A. 2017," written by Philip Wylie (who earlier wrote Barry's memorable offbeat episode 'Love in at Ground Zero' in season one). In the episode, Glenn Howard is hunted down in a lethally polluted Los Angeles of the future, where the fascist government is ruled by psychiatrists and the populace has been driven to live in underground bunkers to survive the pollution, while a rather obvious explanation was included at the episode's end to return to the contemporary stance of the modern day Non Science Fiction nature of the series.
Steven Bochco received one of his first writing credits on the series, and served as story editor for the third-season Robert Stack episodes.
Segment Producers / Executive Producers included David Victor ('The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' etc.), Dean Hargrove (U.N.C.L.E., Perry Mason Returns, Diagnosis Murder, etc.), Gene L.Coon (Star Trek, etc.), and Leslie Stevens ('The Outer Limits', 'Mystery Movies', etc.)
The Universal Studios headquarters building was used for exterior shots of the "Howard Publications" building.[2]
[edit] Video
The Name of the Game has never had an official release on any home video format.
[edit] Cast
- Tony Franciosa as Jeff Dillon (first and second seasons; 3 episodes in 3rd season.)
- Gene Barry as Glenn Howard
- Robert Stack as Dan Farrell
- Robert Culp as Paul Tyler (third season, 2 episodes only)
- Peter Falk as Lewis Corbett (third season, 1 episode only)
- Robert Wagner as David Corey (third season, 1 episode only)
- Darren McGavin as Sam Hardy (2nd season, 1 episode only)
- Vera Miles as Hilary Vanderman (2nd season, 1 episode only)
- Susan Saint James as Peggy Maxwell (supporting role, one co-lead role)
- Ben Murphy as Joe Sample (supporting role)
- Mark Miller as Ross Craig (supporting role)
- Cliff Potts (credited as Cliff Potter) as Andy Hill (first season; supporting role, one lead role)
[edit] References
- ^ "The Name of the Game". http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/N/htmlN/nameoftheg/nameoftheg.htm.
- ^ Waters, Harry F., "Universal's Fim Factory," Newseek, Vol. 81, No. 6, Feb. 5, 1973, page 91.
