Les règles du jeu

I used to love this show. I have not seen it recently, and I do not know how it would play today. However, my younger self remembers this as one of the best tv dramas ever. I remember one episode when Tony Franciosa returns to New York City to visit his mother and astranged older brother played by Martin Balsem. Franciosa throughout is trip is reading Thomas Wolf's "You can Never Go Home Again." He reunites with is brother, but later find that his grocery store owner brother is also a local drug dealer. It ends with Franciosa turning his brother into the police. His mother forgiving him, but she leaves to live in her home country of Italy. Susan Saint James played one of the magazine's researchers, and stared in one episode opposite Joseph Cotton. This was a 90 minute show that had three rotating stars. Tony Franciosa played the star reporter for a fictional magazine called "People," his millionare publisher was Glenn Howard played by Gene Barry, and Robert Stack played Dan Farrell, a former FBI agent turned crime reporter.

Here's a great series that really should be released on DVD. Each 90 minute episode was a self-contained movie with one of three stars: Gene Barry played Glenn Howard, the self- made man who built his publishing empire from the ground up; Robert Stack played Dan Farrell, an ex-FBI agent who became the editor of "Crime" Magazine to better pursue and expose criminals; and Tony Franciosa as Jeff Dillon, who played the impetuous reporter for "People" Magazine (yes, and this was way before the actual "People" Magazine we now know). Many now well-known directors shot these episodes, including Steven Spielberg. And Billy Goldenberg's score for each show was always melodic and cutting edge. Hey Universal Home Video, PLEASE release a boxed DVD set of this series! As one of the first (if not THE first) rotating series of shows, it was both groundbreaking and entertaining. It should be enjoyed by a new generation of viewers... THANK YOU!

I saw most of the episodes in the late '60s and in syndication the following decade. Ambitious and not bad on the whole, especially in view of the 90 minute mini-movie running time. One was supposed to get, and at least I did at times, a "bigger than TV" fell from THE NAME OF THE GAME. I recall especially a fine early episode inspired by the "Prague Spring." Some of the camera work was so good that I recall discussing it with a photography buff friend at the time.

That said, I did get tired of Gene Barry playing himself. Far worse, the series seemed to come apart after the second season perhaps from writing, perhaps from budget cuts. Robert Culp added nothing, and I think his coming on board signified deeper problems.

Anyway, THE NAME OF THE GAME was American television at its most studiously spectacular thirty years ago.

This series to me was in a class by itself. The stories were first-rate and the stars were very charming and sophisticated. I always did admire Gene Barry as an actor and his work in this series made me a lifelong fan. I loved the clothes that he wore on the show and hence have tried to emulate his sophisticated style ever since. I feel that there were very few actors at that time other than Craig Stevens and Robert Wagner that had the same aura and screen presence. I also greatly enjoyed the episodes that Tony Franciosa and Robert Stack headlined. This series had the feel of a theatrical motion picture and one could tell that big bucks were being spent to produce it. I have some episodes on tape and still think that they hold up very well as compared to dramatic television today. Like the old saying goes; "They don't make 'em like that anymore".

After more than 35 years, I still remember The Name of the Game as one of my all-time favorites. The format was original and the overall vibe cool and classy. The stories were well-written with interesting plot twists. Back then, I had no idea who the writers were but now, of course, Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues) is a TV icon and I'm not surprised to learn his superb career had its genesis here. The actors were on a par above other shows of the day -- movie stars doing a TV turn. not the norm at that time. Susan Saint James made her career on this show. Her character was vivid and sexy and it was obvious she was destined for bigger parts.