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The Best Episodes of The Name of the Game Season 1

Every episode of The Name of the Game Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Name of the Game Season 1!

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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

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 1 - Fear of High Places
    7.4/10(38 votes)

    #1 - Fear of High Places

    S1:E1

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

    Director:William A. Graham
    Writer:Mark Rodgers

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  2. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 2 - The Witness
    7.3/10(20 votes)

    #2 - The Witness

    S1:E2

    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.

    Director:Lamont Johnson
    Writer:Dick Nelson

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  3. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 3 - The Taker
    7.9/10(27 votes)

    #3 - The Taker

    S1:E3

    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.

    Director:Harvey Hart
    Writers:William Link, Richard Levinson

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  4. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 4 - Collector's Edition
    6.9/10(16 votes)

    #4 - Collector's Edition

    S1:E4

    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.

    Director:Leslie Stevens
    Writers:Leslie Stevens, Eric Peters

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  5. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 5 - Nightmare
    7.7/10(26 votes)

    #5 - Nightmare

    S1:E5

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

    Director:Alvin Ganzer
    Writer:Ed Adamson

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  6. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 6 - Incident in Berlin
    7.4/10(18 votes)

    #6 - Incident in Berlin

    S1:E6

    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.

    Director:Seymour Robbie
    Writers:William Link, Richard Levinson

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  7. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 7 - Shine On, Shine On, Jesse Gil
    6.7/10(15 votes)

    #7 - Shine On, Shine On, Jesse Gil

    S1:E7

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

    Director:Leslie Stevens
    Writer:James M. Miller

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  8. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 8 - Lola in Lipstick
    7.0/10(13 votes)

    #8 - Lola in Lipstick

    S1:E8

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

    Director:Don Taylor
    Writer:Richard Alan Simmons

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  9. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 9 - The Protector
    7.8/10(20 votes)

    #9 - The Protector

    S1:E9

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

    Director:Richard Irving
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 10 - Ordeal
    7.8/10(28 votes)

    #10 - Ordeal

    S1:E10

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

    Director:Ralph Senensky
    Writer:Alvin Sapinsley

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  11. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 11 - The White Birch
    7.9/10(49 votes)

    #11 - The White Birch

    S1:E11

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

    Director:Lamont Johnson
    Writers:Luther Davis, Dean Hargrove

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  12. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 12 - High On A Rainbow
    7.2/10(17 votes)

    #12 - High On A Rainbow

    S1:E12

    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.

    Director:Richard A. Colla
    Writers:Robert L. Collins, Irv Pearlberg

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  13. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 13 - The Black Answer
    6.9/10(15 votes)

    #13 - The Black Answer

    S1:E13

    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.

    Director:Leslie Stevens
    Writer:Leslie Stevens

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  14. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 14 - Pineapple Rose
    7.5/10(31 votes)

    #14 - Pineapple Rose

    S1:E14

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

    Director:Nicholas Colasanto
    Writer:Richard Neubert

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  15. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 15 - The Revolutionary
    6.0/10(8 votes)

    #15 - The Revolutionary

    S1:E15

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

    Director:Seymour Robbie
    Writers:Ronald Austin, James D. Buchanan

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  16. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 16 - Swinger's Only
    6.6/10(33 votes)

    #16 - Swinger's Only

    S1:E16

    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.

    Director:Barry Shear
    Writer:Anthony Spinner

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  17. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 17 - The Inquiry
    7.6/10(28 votes)

    #17 - The Inquiry

    S1:E17

    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.

    Director:Sutton Roley
    Writer:Harold Livingston

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  18. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 18 - The Incomparable Connie Walker
    7.5/10(21 votes)

    #18 - The Incomparable Connie Walker

    S1:E18

    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.

    Director:Abner Biberman
    Writer:Leslie Stevens

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  19. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 19 - Love-In At Ground Zero
    7.6/10(24 votes)

    #19 - Love-In At Ground Zero

    S1:E19

    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.

    Director:Richard Irving
    Writers:Dean Hargrove, Shimon Wincelberg

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  20. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 20 - The Suntan Mob
    6.5/10(13 votes)

    #20 - The Suntan Mob

    S1:E20

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

    Director:Alexander Singer
    Writers:Dick Nelson, Robert Buckner

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  21. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 21 - Keep the Doctor Away
    6.5/10(14 votes)

    #21 - Keep the Doctor Away

    S1:E21

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

    Director:Barry Shear
    Writer:Robert M. Young

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  22. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 22 - The Bobby Currier Story
    7.2/10(10 votes)

    #22 - The Bobby Currier Story

    S1:E22

    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.

    Director:Lamont Johnson
    Writer:Robert L. Collins

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  23. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 23 - A Wrath of Angels
    7.7/10(18 votes)

    #23 - A Wrath of Angels

    S1:E23

    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.

    Director:Alvin Ganzer
    Writers:Dick Nelson, Gilbert Ralston

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  24. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 24 - The Third Choice
    7.8/10(11 votes)

    #24 - The Third Choice

    S1:E24

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

    Director:Seymour Robbie
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. The Name of the Game Season 1 Episode 25 - Breakout To A Fast Buck
    7.1/10(19 votes)

    #25 - Breakout To A Fast Buck

    S1:E25

    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.

    Director:Michael Caffey
    Writer:Sy Salkowitz

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Fear of High Places" is the best rated episode of "The Name of the Game" season 1. It scored 7.4/10 based on 38 votes. Directed by William A. Graham and written by Mark Rodgers, it aired on 9/20/1968. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "The Witness".