Anthony Franciosa was fired during the show's third season. Instead of being replaced by one actor, he was replaced by a series of actors filling in on his rotation, including Robert Culp twice appearing as reporter Paul Tyler. Peter Falk as reporter Lewis Corbett, and Robert Wagner as reporter Dave Corey, each were billed as 'Guest Starring in...'. Earlier in Season Two, both Darren McGavin (as freelance newsman Sam Hardy in Goodbye Harry (1969)), and Vera Miles (as reporter Hilary Vanderman in Man of the People (1970)), took guest starring roles (both put under the Gene Barry segment, as he made cameo appearances in each).
Anthony Franciosa's character, Jeff Dillon, worked for "People Magazine". This was 6 years before the real People Magazine existed.
The pilot for this episode was a two-hour TV-movie produced by Universal for N.B.C. called Fame Is the Name of the Game (1966). Universal and N.B.C. were the same entities that pioneered the made-for-TV movie (with 1964's See How They Run (1964), the first full-length film produced especially for home television). "Fame is the Name of the Game", aired in 1966, starring Anthony Franciosa as 'Jeff Dillon' and was the first tele-film produced as a pilot that was picked up for a regular TV series. The Later 'Gene Barry' TV series role as publisher 'Glenn Howard' was played in an elderly version by George Macready.
Parodied by "Mad" magazine as "The Game is Inane."