The Name of the Game is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 television series

Television program

A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry

Gene Barry

Gene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City and The War of The Worlds and for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Bat Masterson, among many roles.-Personal life:Barry was born...

, and Robert Stack

Robert Stack

Robert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...

 that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series

Wheel series

A wheel series is a term applied in the broadcast television industry to a television program in which two or more regular series are rotated with the same time slot...

, setting the stage for the likes of The Bold Ones

The Bold Ones

The Bold Ones is the umbrella title for several television series. It was produced by Universal Television and broadcast on NBC from 1969 to 1973...

and the NBC Mystery Movie

NBC Mystery Movie

The NBC Mystery Movie is the general name of an American television series, produced by Universal Studios, that was broadcast by NBC from 1971-77...

in the 1970s. The show had a relatively large budget for a television series.
The series was based on the 1966 television movie

Television movie

A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

 Fame Is the Name of the Game

Fame Is the Name of the Game

Fame Is the Name of the Game is an American TV-movie, directed by Stuart Rosenberg, that aired on NBC and served as the pilot episode of the subsequent series The Name of the Game. The film stars Tony Franciosa as an investigative journalist and presents the screen debut of 20-year-old Susan...

directed by Stuart Rosenberg

Stuart Rosenberg

Stuart Rosenberg was an American film and television director whose notable works included the movies Cool Hand Luke , Voyage of the Damned , The Amityville Horror , and The Pope of Greenwich Village .-Early life and career:Born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Rosenberg studied Irish...

 and starring Tony Franciosa.