Thursday's Game is a 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...

 comedy

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 written by James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks

James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the...

 and directed by Robert Moore

Robert Moore (director)

Robert Moore was an American stage, film and television director.-Biography:Born in Detroit, Michigan, Moore is best known for his direction of the ground-breaking play The Boys in the Band, his Broadway productions , and his collaborations - three plays and three films - with Neil Simon,...

. Though filmed in 1971, it first aired in 1974 as an ABC Movie of the Week

ABC Movie of the Week

The ABC Movie of the Week is a weekly television anthology series, featuring made-for-TV movies, that aired on the ABC network in various permutations from 1969 to 1975.-History:...

.

The film stars Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder is an American stage and screen actor, director, screenwriter, and author.Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. His first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers...

 and Bob Newhart

Bob Newhart

George Robert Newhart , known professionally as Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart came to prominence in the 1960s when his album of comedic monologues The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was a worldwide...

 as friends who meet each Thursday to play poker

Poker

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

 and get away from their wives. After the weekly game breaks up over a disagreement, the two men decide to continue meeting for other activities...which leads to trouble when the wives discover they're no longer playing poker and suspect them of infidelity.

In addition to Wilder and Newhart, Thursday's Game starred many actors familiar to '70s television viewers, including John Archer

John Archer (actor)

John Archer was an American movie and television actor.-Biography:Born Ralph Bowman in Osceola, Nebraska, Archer moved to California at the age of five...

, Ellen Burstyn

Ellen Burstyn

Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...

, Norman Fell

Norman Fell

Norman Fell , born Norman Noah Feld, was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers.-Early life:...

, Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...

, Rob Reiner

Rob Reiner

Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...

, Richard Schaal

Richard Schaal

Richard Schaal is an American television actor.He was married to actress Valerie Harper from 1964 to 1978. His daughter is actress Wendy Schaal by his first marriage to Lois née Treacy....

, Martha Scott

Martha Scott

Martha Ellen Scott was an American actress best known for her roles as mother of the lead character in numerous films and television shows.-Early life:...

, and Nancy Walker

Nancy Walker

Nancy Walker was an American actress and comedienne of stage, screen, and television. She was also a film and television director...

. The film was lauded by critics for its perceptive look at adult relationships, and furthered James L. Brooks's reputation as a writer and producer.