"L.A. 2017", written by Philip Wylie and directed by Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

, is a 1971 episode of the television series The Name of the Game

The Name of the Game (TV series)

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 pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for the likes of The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s...

. Sometimes referred to as "Los Angeles: AD 2017" (the name of Wylie's subsequent novel based on his script) or "Los Angeles 2017," this was a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 piece, shot for only $375,000, about a publisher, Glenn Howard (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...

), who finds himself suddenly plunged 46 years into the future only to learn that the people of Los Angeles are living underground to escape the pollution and under the thumb of a fascist government run by psychiatrists. The 24-year-old Spielberg used imaginative camera angles to drive his first movie-length television episode across and remarked in later years that the show "opened a lot of doors for me."

At the end, Howard wakes up to discover it was all a dream—although there is a chilling final image of dead birds that hint at a troubled future ahead. Presenting the story as a dream was the only way that Wylie's science fiction tale could be fitted into the peculiar format of The Name of the Game, a show about the magazine business set in the present and rotating between Gene Barry, Tony Franciosa, 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:...

 (and in the third season also Peter Falk

Peter Falk

Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo...

, Robert Wagner

Robert Wagner

Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...

, and Robert Culp

Robert Culp

Robert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...

).

This was the sixteenth episode of the third season, and the cast included Barry Sullivan

Barry Sullivan (actor)

Barry Sullivan was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s.Born in New York City, Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football...

, Edmond O'Brien

Edmond O'Brien

Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...

, and (in a brief cameo) Spielberg's friend Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....

. The episode is 76 minutes long (90 minutes including commercials).

Cast

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...	Glenn Howard
Barry Sullivan Barry Sullivan (actor) Barry Sullivan was an American movie actor who appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s.Born in New York City, Sullivan fell into acting when in college playing semi-pro football...	Dane Bigelow
Edmond O'Brien Edmond O'Brien Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...	Bergman
Severn Darden Severn Darden Severn Teakle Darden, Jr. was a comedian and actor, and an original member of The Second City Chicago-based comedy troupe as well as its predecessor, the Compass Players...	Cameron
Paul Stewart Paul Stewart (actor) Paul Stewart was an American character actor known for his tough, guttural voice. He frequently portrayed villains and mobsters throughout his lengthy career....	Dr. Rubias
Alicia Bond	Dr. Barton
Regis Cordic Regis Cordic Regis John "Rege" Cordic was an American radio personality and actor.His career in entertainment divides roughly in half: from 1948 to 1965, he was the dominant morning drive-time radio host in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, he was a successful voice, television,...	Chairman (as Regis J. Cordic)
Joan Crawford Joan Crawford Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....	Board Member
Walt Davis	Technician
Sharon Farrell Sharon Farrell Sharon Farrell is an American television and film actress.-Career:Born as Sharon Forsmoe in Sioux City, Iowa, she made her acting debut in the 1959 film Kiss Her Goodbye...	Sandrelle
Michael C. Gwynne Michael C. Gwynne Michael C. Gwynne is an American film, television and radio actor. Noteworthy film roles include Payday, The Terminal Man, Harry Tracy and more recent films like Private Parts....	Dr. Parker
Steven Karpf	Karpf (as Stephen Louis Karpf)
Geoffrey Lewis	Bates
Sarah Lord	Technician
Gloria Manon	Dr. Arnold
Phil Montgomery	Keeger
Stuart Nisbet Stuart Nisbet Stuart Nisbet is an American character actor.He's guest-starred on the television shows Murder, She Wrote; L.A...	Dr. Simmons
Jason Wingreen Jason Wingreen Jason Wingreen is an American actor.-Biography:Born in 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, he grew up in Howard Beach, Queens, attended John Adams High School, and graduated from Brooklyn College in 1941. Wingreen lent his voice to Boba Fett in the original and 1997 theatrical versions of The Empire...	Hammond