Reply #8: Loved that show!! Gene Barry, from Wiki..

[BrklynLiberal]

* 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)
* Peter Falk as Lewis Corbett (third season)
* Robert Wagner as David Corey (third season)
* Darren McGavin as Sam Hardy (2nd season, 1 episode only)
* Susan Saint James as Peggy Maxwell
* Ben Murphy as Joe Sample (supporting role)
* Mark Miller as Ross Craig (supporting role)
* Cliff Potts going as Cliff Potter, as Andy Hill (first season; supporting role)

The series was based on a 1966 television movie called Fame Is the Name of the Game directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Franciosa. The show had a relatively large budget for a television series.<1> Franciosa was fired from the series during the third season of the show's run, and his rotation taken by various characters played by actors including Peter Falk, Robert Culp, and Robert Wagner. Serving as a common connection was newcomer Susan Saint James as Peggy Maxwell, the editorial assistant for each. Franciosa, Barry and Stack occasionally crossed over into each others' shows as well, though all three leads never appeared on screen simultaneously. Although the network would have had viewers believe that each actor would appear every third week, the reality was thus, for example: In the first season there are eleven Gene Barry segments, nine Robert Stack segments and only six Tony Franciosa segments. In order to provide continuity (in the first season only), Barry appeared in four Stack episodes and four Franciosa episodes.

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. In the episode, Barry's character, 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.

Steven Bochco received one of his first writing credits on the series, and served as story editor for the third-season Robert Stack episodes.