Original title
The Name of the Game
Released
9/20/1968
Origin country
US
Genre
Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Production companies
Universal Television
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
3
Number of episodes
76
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.
An investigative reporter looks into the murder of a call girl. His investigation unearths her diary, with the names of many prominent people in it. He sets out to find her killer from among the names contained in it.
Jeff Dillon investigates the death of a beautiful model, which involves an industrialist who is about to assume an important government post.
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.
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.
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.
Dan Farrell patiently prepares to exact his revenge upon the robbers that murdered his wife.
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.
A woman accuses a shrewd financial manipulator of being responsible for her brother's death.
While in Rome, publisher Glenn Howard finds corruption, illicit romance and narcotics at every turn.
Glenn Howard goes up against a bigoted millionaire who sets out to solve the nation's racial problems with his own private army.
A woman sitting on death row hopes that Dan Farrell can find enough evidence to prove that she did not murder her husband.
Glenn Howard travels to Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he and other rival journalists try to get custody of an ailing author's latest work.
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.
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.
Peggy Maxwell is kidnapped while digging up information on a famous rock star.
Glenn Howard helps an exiled president of a South American nation regain control in the midst of a counter-revolution.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dan Farrell (RS) convinces a moll to help him prove that the mafia is controlling a tiny island.
Jeff Dillon (TF) investigates a doctor who is really a bungling killer.
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.
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.
Howard (GB) tries to save a Howard Publications editor kidnapped by a man who hopes to use the ransom to overthrow an African government.
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.
Howard (GB) is the victim of a conspiracy hatched by his own attorney, the lovely-but-lethal Bethany Cromwell, and plaintiff Harold Wyler.
A happy marriage might be a front for the wife's fear and guilt as Howard (GB) suspects.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Howard (GB) and a young Greek woman are forced to flee for their lives when they challenge an ancient Greek custom.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Dillon (TF) investigates when an ancient and invaluable manuscript is found, and a girl disappears increasing the mystery.
Farrell (RS) investigates deaths caused by an illegal dilution of medical supplies in a small African nation.
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.
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.
When a young actress becomes suicidal, Jeff Dillon (TF) attempts to prevent her suicide attempts.
Howard's research girl has romantic daydreams about him as they try to locate an eccentric conniving industrialist who is trying victimized her.
Dillon (TF) investigates a chemical plant that has blown up only to discover industrial espionage as the motive.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Howard (GB) investigates the death of a moderate black educator at a campus torn into a struggle between militants and moderates.
Farrell (RS) investigates the death of an old friend and discovers an international weapons-smuggling operation.
When an Indian kills the friend of a reporter, Paul Tyler (RC) investigates.
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.
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.
Dan Farrell (RS) looks into the strange bombing of an odd-ball artist.
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.
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.
A district attorney up for a judgeship is deemed unfit and an investigation ensues by Lewis Corbett(PF).
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.
The real personality of a famous cowboy star is exposed by David Corey (RW).
Dan Farrell (RS) runs into many dead ends as he endeavors to discover why an important scientist suddenly died.
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.
Dan Farrell (RS) looks into a conflict involving loggers and the filming of a documentary.
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.
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.
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.
Howard's (GB) ancestor, an old west gambler, tries to stay alive in the face of a showdown.
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