The Name of the Game

The Name of the Game

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 Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s. The show had an extremely large budget for a television series.

Action & AdventureSci-Fi & Fantasy

Seasons

1. Fear of High Places

Air Date: 1968-09-20

Jeff Dillon investigates the death of a beautiful model, which involves an industrialist who is about to assume an important government post.

2. The Witness

Air Date: 1968-09-27

When a Mafia informant is assassinated, Dan Farrell, senior editor of Crime Magazine, looks for the only other witness to a major mob crime. She allegedly committed suicide eight years earlier.

3. The Taker

Air Date: 1968-10-04

Crime Magazine publisher Glenn Howard refuses to support a powerful businessman who backs a crooked political candidate and finds himself in a battle of wits over the takeover of his publishing empire.

4. Collector's Edition

Air Date: 1968-10-11

Photographer Peter Max had once saved Jeff Dillon's life when the two were on assignment in Vietnam. Now Max is accused of murder, and he's counting on Dillon's help in clearing his name.

5. Nightmare

Air Date: 1968-10-18

Dan Farrell patiently prepares to exact his revenge upon the robbers that murdered his wife.

6. Incident in Berlin

Air Date: 1968-10-25

Glenn Howard goes to Berlin to arrange the release of one of his top editors, who has been arrested in East Germany as a spy.

7. Shine On, Shine On, Jesse Gil

Air Date: 1968-11-01

A woman accuses a shrewd financial manipulator of being responsible for her brother's death.

8. Lola in Lipstick

Air Date: 1968-11-08

While in Rome, publisher Glenn Howard finds corruption, illicit romance and narcotics at every turn.

9. The Protector

Air Date: 1968-11-15

Glenn Howard goes up against a bigoted millionaire who sets out to solve the nation's racial problems with his own private army.

10. Ordeal

Air Date: 1968-11-22

A woman sitting on death row hopes that Dan Farrell can find enough evidence to prove that she did not murder her husband.

11. The White Birch

Air Date: 1968-11-29

Glenn Howard travels to Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he and other rival journalists try to get custody of an ailing author's latest work.

12. High On A Rainbow

Air Date: 1968-12-06

When drugs start appearing in the hands of schoolchildren, Dan Farrell and Peggy pose as a truck driver and car-hop as they investigate a narcotics ring.

13. The Black Answer

Air Date: 1968-12-13

Jeff Dillon is investigating the fire-bombing death of a black newspaper editor who advocated nonviolence. The chief suspect is Joe X. Lee, a leading black militant.

14. Pineapple Rose

Air Date: 1968-12-20

Peggy Maxwell is kidnapped while digging up information on a famous rock star.

15. The Revolutionary

Air Date: 1968-12-27

Glenn Howard helps an exiled president of a South American nation regain control in the midst of a counter-revolution.

16. Swinger's Only

Air Date: 1969-01-10

Farrell (RS) takes a hand in the investigation of a murder at a ""Swinging Singles"" apartment. The victim is the mistress of one of Farrell's editors. The wife of the victim who despite her despair over her husband's pecadilloes urges Farrell to find the guilty party.

17. The Inquiry

Air Date: 1969-01-17

Howard (GB) is called before a Senate committee to answer charges that he stole a fortune in U.S. Army funds while serving with the OSS in Italy during World War II.

18. The Incomparable Connie Walker

Air Date: 1968-01-24

Conway ""Connie"" Walker is the first black mayor of a large unnamed city. In addition to suffering the slings and arrows of racism, Walker is the target of accusations that he has been accepting kickbacks. Crime magazine reporter Jeff Dillon (TF) investigates when a city accountant is murdered.

19. Love-In At Ground Zero

Air Date: 1968-01-31

Howard (GB) is kidnapped by a group of protestors who demand he witness their suicide and then write an expose of the army's testing of chemical warfare weapons.

20. The Suntan Mob

Air Date: 1969-02-07

Dan Farrell (RS) convinces a moll to help him prove that the mafia is controlling a tiny island.

21. Keep the Doctor Away

Air Date: 1969-02-14

Jeff Dillon (TF) investigates a doctor who is really a bungling killer.

22. The Bobby Currier Story

Air Date: 1969-02-21

Currier (Brandon de Wilde) is a young, small-town perennial loser. He kidnaps the daughter of the local sheriff and goes on a murder spree. Dan Farrell (RS) tries to unearth the circumstances that turned the hapless Currier into a murderer.

23. A Wrath of Angels

Air Date: 1969-02-28

Dan Farrell (RS) investigates as a man and a priest try to clean up the slums and end up having a showdown with a powerful Mafioso.

24. The Third Choice

Air Date: 1969-03-07

Howard (GB) tries to save a Howard Publications editor kidnapped by a man who hopes to use the ransom to overthrow an African government.

25. Breakout To A Fast Buck

Air Date: 1969-03-14

Dan Farrell (RS ) is called in to investigate a prison break. One of the escapees is an elderly former building contractor, who didn't want to join his fellow cons in their breakout. Farrell suspects that the contractor is being sprung in order to help break into one of the buildings that he designed.

26. An Agent of the Plaintiff

Air Date: 1969-03-21

Howard (GB) is the victim of a conspiracy hatched by his own attorney, the lovely-but-lethal Bethany Cromwell, and plaintiff Harold Wyler.

1. Lady On the Rocks

Air Date: 1969-09-19

A happy marriage might be a front for the wife's fear and guilt as Howard (GB) suspects.

2. A Hard Case of the Blues

Air Date: 1969-09-26

Blues singer Jesse Boone's business manager has just died under mysterious circumstances. He also swindled Jesse out of $200,000. Thing of it is, Jesse couldn't care less--and Crime magazine editor Dan Farrell (RS) wants to know the reasons for her apathy.

3. Blind Man's Bluff

Air Date: 1969-10-03

An ex-district attorney gives Crime magazine reporter Jeff Dillon (TF) a phony story. It's all part of a complex plan for revenge. He was blinded several years earlier, and his wife's face was mutilated; now the former D.A. wants to trap the man responsible for his sightlessness.

4. The Emissary

Air Date: 1969-10-10

An old-line French Marxist who happens to be an old friend of Crime magazine publisher Dan Howard (GB) would like him to help him pull off a delicate diplomatic mission. The Red Chinese delegation has just stormed out of an international health conference, and Howard has been assigned to woo them back.

5. Chains of Command

Air Date: 1969-10-17

Farrell (RS) is investigating charges that the officials of a prison on the Mexican border are shipping out forced labor to local farms. It has been further charged that the officials are getting rich on kickbacks. Assuming a false identity and taking a job in the border town becomes very hazardous.

6. Goodbye Harry

Air Date: 1969-10-24

Roving reporter Sam Hardy's boss, Crime magazine publisher Glenn Howard (GB), sends Hardy and magazine researcher Peggy Maxwell on a dangerous fact-finding mission. Their quarry is American missile scientist Harry Roarke. While it appears as though Harry has defected to Cuba, he may very well be hiding out in the States, in fear for his life.

7. Give Till It Hurts

Air Date: 1969-10-31

The object of Farrell's (RS) latest investigation is a professional fundraiser. The editor recognizes him as a notorious con man, so it should be no problem to expose his racket. But problems there are, especially when an unknown gangster type pressures him to lay off.

8. The Perfect Image

Air Date: 1969-11-07

Howard (GB) has recently been instrumental in getting the new mayor of Chicago elected. Recently uncovered evidence, however, suggests that he is in bed with the Mob. Howard and Crime magazine researcher Peggy Maxwell try to weed out the truth.

9. The Prisoner Within

Air Date: 1969-11-14

Dillon (TF) investigates the story of a young man who is challenged by an Army officer to undergo prisoner of war training. He accepts the survival training challenge.

10. The Civilized Men

Air Date: 1969-11-28

Farrell (RS) heads to Florida to probe into a cattle scam. Someone has been selling tainted meat, the end product of a rustled shipment of government livestock. Could the Mob be involved?

11. High Card

Air Date: 1969-12-05

A U.S. Senator claims to have photographic proof that Howard (GB)was the man who tipped off the Cubans about the Bay of Pigs.

12. The Power

Air Date: 1969-12-12

Dan Farrell (RS) sets about to investigate corruption on the waterfront. Farrell finds himself in the middle of a power struggle between two brothers battling for control of the longshoreman's union.

13. Laurie Marie

Air Date: 1969-12-19

When Laurie Marie gets lost on the vast country estate of millionaire industrialist Robert Coates, he posts a $10,000 reward for anyone who can return the girl unharmed. This results in a stampede of mercenary characters who make a shambles of Coates' estate. Watching from the sidelines is reporter Jeff Dillon (TF) and his girl friday Peggy.

14. The Tradition

Air Date: 1970-01-02

Howard (GB) and a young Greek woman are forced to flee for their lives when they challenge an ancient Greek custom.

15. The Brass Ring

Air Date: 1970-01-09

A Boxer is suspended when he punches out an obstreperous reporter. Feeling partly responsible, Dan Farrell (RS) tries to help the young fighter. Farrell soon learns that the boy's manager may be arranging a fixed bout.

16. Island of Gold and Precious Stones

Air Date: 1969-01-16

A late millionaire's millions have disappeared, and reporter Jeff Dillon (TF) wants to find out why. Together with his crack researcher Peggy Maxwell, Dillon checks out the deceased man's relatives. Each, it seems, has a reason for wanting the man dead, and each had opportunity to make off with the inheritance.

17. The Takeover

Air Date: 1970-01-23

As special envoy, Howard (GB) visits a crisis-torn Asian nation whose Chief of state allegedly robbed the treasury and vanished. The ladies reinforce Howard's suspicions of a frame-up and sparks a probe that sends him into guerrilla territory.

18. The Garden

Air Date: 1970-01-30

Dan Farrell (RS) is on the trail of a possible scam. A ""Pop"" psychiatrist who is strong on placebos but short on ethics, treats his wealthy patients at a lavish remote retreat called The Garden. Farrell is convinced that he is a phony, and tries to prove it

19. Tarot

Air Date: 1970-02-13

Glenn Howard (GB) tries to prove that a young girl did not really kill herself and finds himself dangerously entangled with a coven of deadly witches.

20. The King of Denmark

Air Date: 1970-02-20

Dillon (TF) investigates when an ancient and invaluable manuscript is found, and a girl disappears increasing the mystery.

21. The Skin Game

Air Date: 1970-02-27

Farrell (RS) investigates deaths caused by an illegal dilution of medical supplies in a small African nation.

22. Man of the People

Air Date: 1970-03-06

Jilted by ""populist"" tycoon Cesar Rodriguez, Hilary thirsts for revenge. She plans to publish a series of articles exposing the popular Rodriguez as a fraud, using his Mexican heritage to hornswoggle his own people.

23. Echo of a Nightmare

Air Date: 1970-03-20

The crime in question occurred some 25 years ago. Now the kidnapper has been mysteriously murdered, compelling Dan Farrell (RS) to investigate. Curiously, the partner of the abduction victim's millionaire father tries to bribe Farrell to drop the case.

24. Jenny Wilde Is Drowning

Air Date: 1970-03-27

When a young actress becomes suicidal, Jeff Dillon (TF) attempts to prevent her suicide attempts.

25. One of the Girls in Research

Air Date: 1970-04-03

Howard's research girl has romantic daydreams about him as they try to locate an eccentric conniving industrialist who is trying victimized her.

26. The Other Kind of Spy

Air Date: 1970-04-10

Dillon (TF) investigates a chemical plant that has blown up only to discover industrial espionage as the motive.

1. So Long Baby, and Amen

Air Date: 1970-09-18

Dan Farrell (RS) reports his findings at a Congressional committee hearing on addictive drugs. Later he finds himself entangled with a self-destructive, drug-addicted young girl.

2. A Love To Remember

Air Date: 1970-09-25

At his college class reunion, Howard (GB) meets a strange, beautiful woman who tells him how a crush she once had on him has ruined her life.

3. Cynthia Is Alive and Living in Avalon

Air Date: 1970-10-02

Cynthia is a reclusive jet-setter who has of late become a political activist. She refuses all interviews and keeps hidden in a rambling house on the island of Avalon. At the urging of his pal, reporter Paul Tyler decides to make a name for himself by getting the exclusive story on Cynthia.

4. Battle at Gannon's Bridge

Air Date: 1970-10-09

An ex-convict Eddie Gannon, who holds the lease on a converted church used as a halfway house for recently released prisoners,is endangered by a rash of unsolved crimes in the neighborhood. Gannon asks Crime magazine editor Dan Farrell (RS) to prove that none of his fellow ex-cons are responsible for the thefts.

5. The Enemy Before Us

Air Date: 1970-10-16

Crime Magazine reporter Jeff Dillon (TF) is back in his old neighborhood in New York's ""Little Italy"", Dillon hopes to take a break from his hectic responsibilities and recapture ""something real"" from his younger days. Unfortunately, he is bombarded by pain and disillusionment from every side: his stepmother is gravely ill, and her son is deeply involved with drug dealing.

6. The Time Is Now

Air Date: 1970-10-23

Howard (GB) investigates the death of a moderate black educator at a campus torn into a struggle between militants and moderates.

7. The War Merchants

Air Date: 1970-10-30

Farrell (RS) investigates the death of an old friend and discovers an international weapons-smuggling operation.

8. Little Bear Died Running

Air Date: 1970-11-06

When an Indian kills the friend of a reporter, Paul Tyler (RC) investigates.

9. All the Old Familar Faces

Air Date: 1970-11-13

Howard (GB) tries to find out who is behind a series of death threats levelled against him. He interviews several likely suspects who, in flashback, explain just what might have prompted them to kill.

10. I Love You, Billy Baker (1)

Air Date: 1970-11-20

Las Vegas superstar Billy Baker, who is known far and wide for his reluctance to grant interviews,is particularly close-mouthed on the subject of a beautiful young dancer with whom he'd once been in love--and who now is very much dead. Crime magazine reporter Jeff Dillon (TF) wants to know why.

11. I Love You, Billy Baker (2)

Air Date: 1970-11-27

12. Why I Blew Up Dakota

Air Date: 1970-12-04

Dan Farrell (RS) looks into the strange bombing of an odd-ball artist.

13. Aquarius Descending

Air Date: 1970-12-11

Glenn Howard (GB), who is instrumental in discrediting a corrupt politician. Seeking revenge, the politician orders a young hard-case to romance Howard's impressionable 17-year-old niece. The plan is to involve the girl in a scandal and ruin Howard and his magazine.

14. The Glory Shouter

Air Date: 1970-12-18

A fire-and-brimstone tele-evangelist is plagued by gremlins from within his organization who are tapping his till. Dan Farrell (RS), investigates only to deduce that he may be the one siphoning from his own flock's donations.

15. A Sister From Napoli

Air Date: 1971-01-08

A district attorney up for a judgeship is deemed unfit and an investigation ensues by Lewis Corbett(PF).

16. Los Angeles 2017

Air Date: 1971-01-15

Glenn Howard finds himself suddenly plunged 46 years into the future only to learn that the people of Los Angeles are living underground to escape the pollution and under the thumb of a fascist government run by psychiatrists.

17. The Man Who Killed A Ghost

Air Date: 1971-02-05

The real personality of a famous cowboy star is exposed by David Corey (RW).

18. Seek and Destroy

Air Date: 1971-02-05

Dan Farrell (RS) runs into many dead ends as he endeavors to discover why an important scientist suddenly died.

19. A Capitol Affair

Air Date: 1971-02-12

Howard Publications journalist intervenes when a misguided Washington gossip columnist tries to destroy the career of a promising government official who happens to be her boyfriend.

20. The Savage Eye

Air Date: 1971-02-19

Dan Farrell (RS) looks into a conflict involving loggers and the filming of a documentary.

21. Appointment in Palermo

Air Date: 1971-02-26

Howard (GB) goes to Italy to research a story, then finds himself mistaken for a Sicilian patriarch. He is kidnapped by one of the families involved in a centuries-old blood feud.

22. Beware of the Watchdog

Air Date: 1971-03-05

Dan Farrell (RS) investigates a consumer advocate who is currently masterminding an expose of the fish-canning industry. When several attempts are made on his life, the advertisers are under suspect.

23. The Broken Puzzle

Air Date: 1971-03-12

The governor of an unnamed state though popular with his constituents runs the state like a banana-republic dictatorship, complete with uniformed thugs. Glenn Howard (GB) finds that the source of his power may have bigger political stakes in mind.

24. The Showdown

Air Date: 1971-03-19

Howard's (GB) ancestor, an old west gambler, tries to stay alive in the face of a showdown.

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Rating

6.8/10

Release Date

1968-09-20

Episodes

76 (3 seasons)

Status

Ended

Cast

Production Companies

Universal Television

Universal Television