The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)


The Odd Couple, formally titled onscreen Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, is an American sitcom television series broadcast from September 24, 1970, to March 7, 1975, on ABC. It stars Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison, and was the first of several sitcoms developed by Garry Marshall for Paramount Television. The show is based on the 1965 play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon, as well as on the play's 1968 film adaptation. Felix and Oscar are both divorced. They share a Manhattan apartment, and their different lifestyles inevitably lead to conflicts and laughs.
In 1997, the episodes "Password" and "The Fat Farm" were ranked No. 5 and No. 58, respectively, on TV Guides 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. The show received three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Its fourth season, from 1973–74, remains the most recent nominee for a show that aired during a Friday time slot.

History

The success of the 1968 film version of the stage play of The Odd Couple, which starred Jack Lemmon as Felix and Walter Matthau as Oscar, catalyzed production of the television show. Mickey Rooney and Martin Balsam were also considered for the part of Oscar and Dean Martin and Art Carney for Felix.
Eventually Tony Randall and Jack Klugman were hired. Both had starred in different productions of the play. Randall, who was hired first, had still wanted Mickey Rooney to play Oscar. Co-executive producer Garry Marshall, had to lobby hard to get Klugman successfully hired. Once the casting was in place, the show's writers came up with a multitude of situations for Felix and Oscar to be in, while staying true to the soul of the play, which always reverted to the human tensions between the two that created the comic situations.
The show premiered on ABC on September 24, 1970. The first season was filmed using the single-camera method and a laugh track, utilizing the same apartment set featured in the 1968 film version. Klugman and Randall both expressed displeasure with using a laugh track without a live audience. Marshall also disliked the practice; theatre veteran Randall particularly resented the process of having to wait several seconds between punchlines in order to allot enough space for the laughter to be inserted. The production team eventually experimented with omitting the laugh track altogether for Season One's 21st episode, "Oscar's New Life". By the second season, ABC relented, and the show was then filmed with three cameras and performed like a stage play in front of a live studio audience, with laugh sweetening completed during post-production.
The change also required construction of a new, larger set within a theatre at Paramount.
With an audience present, Randall and Klugman enjoyed the spontaneity that came with it; any missed or blown lines usually went by without stopping. In addition, it gave the show a certain edge that had been lost during the first season, although actors had to deliver lines more loudly, since they were on a larger sound stage, as opposed to a quiet studio with only minimal crew present.
Klugman later recalled, "We spent three days rehearsing the show. We sat around a table the first day. We tore the script apart. We took out all the jokes and put in character. The only reason we leave in any jokes is for the rotten canned laughter. I hated it. I watch the shows at home, I see Oscar come in and he says, 'Hi,' and there is the laughter. 'Hey,' I think, 'what the hell did I do?' I hate it; it insults the audience."
Throughout its run, The Odd Couple was juggled several times around ABC's programming schedule, never reaching the Top 30 in the Nielsen ratings. However, ABC continually renewed the show because the ratings for the summer reruns were high.
In the final first-run episode, "Felix Remarries", Felix finally wins his ex-wife Gloria back and they remarry, as Oscar regains the freedom of living alone again. The final scene unfolds in this way, as the two say their goodbyes:
The 114 episodes went on to syndication and home video. There were some minor changes made in the development of the series. In both TV series and play, Felix's last name was spelled Unger but in the film it is spelled Ungar. In the stage play, Felix is a news writer for CBS, while in the TV series he is a commercial photographer. His wife is named Frances in the play and in the film, but is Gloria in the TV series.
In the play and the film, Oscar has at least two children, who are referred to but not seen. In the series, Oscar is childless. In the play and the film, Felix has a son and a younger daughter. In the series, the children's birth order is reversed, and they are named Leonard and Edna, after Tony Randall's real first name and his own sister's.
During the first season, the show was shot on the same sets used for the movie, but the apartment layout was changed for the second season due to the switch to a three-camera setup and the addition of a studio audience.

Supporting characters

The Pigeon Sisters made four appearances during the first season. The Pigeon Sisters were never seen after that and were only occasionally mentioned later on. Oscar gained a steady girlfriend during that latter part of the first season and half of the second, Dr. Nancy Cunningham, an attractive doctor, whose colleague, Dr. Melnitz, is a curmudgeonly and sarcastic physician who treats both Felix and Oscar. Felix also gained a girlfriend in the third season, Miriam Welby, and they lasted into the fifth season, presumably breaking up before Felix remarried Gloria in the series finale. Christopher Shea appeared in three episodes of the first season as Philip, Felix and Oscar's 11-year-old neighbor. Oscar's occasional good-time girlfriend, "Crazy Rhoda Zimmerman", is often referred to but never appears onscreen.
The TV show also featured their ex-wives. Janis Hansen played Felix's ex-wife, Gloria and Jack Klugman's real life wife Brett Somers as Blanche, Oscar's ex. There were many episodes in which Felix felt he had made a mistake by not fighting harder for Gloria, and took comically drastic measures to try to win her back. In contrast, Oscar was quite happy to be divorced from Blanche, and she from him, as the two constantly traded sarcastic barbs. The only major drawback from Oscar's point of view was the alimony he was ordered to pay. Willie Aames and later Leif Garrett made a few appearances as Felix's son, Leonard. Pamelyn Ferdin and later Doney Oatman appeared as Felix's teenaged daughter, Edna.
The two other major supporting characters, Officer Murray Greshler, and Myrna Turner, Oscar's secretary, were played by Al Molinaro and Penny Marshall respectively. Alice Ghostley played Murray's wife Mimi in one episode of the first season when Felix quickly outstays his welcome after he moves out of Oscar's apartment following a falling-out. She appeared once in the second season as played by Jane Dulo. Garry Walberg, Ryan McDonald and Larry Gelman played Oscar's poker cronies Homer "Speed" Deegan, Roy, and the bald, bespectacled Vincent "Vinnie" Barella, rounding out the rest of the regulars. Ryan McDonald left the show after the seventh of the first season's eight episodes in which there was a poker game, and the character of Roy was mentioned after that, but never seen again.
Garry Walberg as "Speed", and Larry Gelman as Vinnie, each made several scattered guest appearances after the first season. Richard Stahl appeared in nine episodes as, among other things, a pet-shop owner, a florist, a psychiatrist, and a non-denominational monk, never playing the same role twice. Actor Herbie Faye appeared five times on the series in different roles. Oscar's mother appeared in two different episodes, played once by Elvia Allman, and once by Jane Dulo, both veteran actresses.

Celebrity guest stars

As themselves

The show often had celebrity guest stars, who reflected the cultural leanings either of Oscar or Felix, often playing themselves or occasionally fictional characters. For Oscar, country guitar legend Roy Clark played an old practical joke-playing friend, who nonetheless, has enormous musical talent, as even Felix acknowledges. Sportscaster Howard Cosell and then ABC television producer Roone Arledge played themselves.
Pop singer Jaye P. Morgan played herself as one of Oscar's many girlfriends. For Felix, Marilyn Horne played a shy, mousy co-worker of Oscar. Opera singers Martina Arroyo and Richard Fredricks appeared as themselves, as did Edward Villella, Monty Hall, Richard Dawson, Wolfman Jack, David Steinberg, Hugh Hefner, Rodney Allen Rippy, John Simon, Bubba Smith, Deacon Jones, and Allen Ludden and Betty White. In one episode, noted tennis frenemies and one-time real-life competitors Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King appeared as themselves.
In one episode, singer-songwriter Paul Williams appears when Felix's daughter Edna wants to run away to follow Williams on tour. Dick Clark appeared as himself, a radio disc jockey who calls Oscar in a contest, where he wins a new car. Neil Simon makes an uncredited appearance in the fifth-season episode ""Two on the Aisle".

Fictional depictions

During its original run the show had mediocre ratings at best. Nonetheless, both actors were nominated for Emmy Awards in each year of the show's run. Jack Klugman won two Emmy Awards for his work, and Tony Randall won an Emmy as well.
Klugman was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1972 and won one in 1974. The show itself was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in the years 1971, 1972 and 1974. To date, these are the last Emmy nominations to a sitcom airing on a Friday night.

Opening narration and credit sequence

"On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"
This opening narration was featured during the show's first and second seasons. It was narrated by voice actor Bill Woodson. The "childhood friend" reference was only used during the first season and was later changed to simply "friend". Also, "sometime earlier" was changed to "several years earlier" followed by Madison's wife throwing him out, requesting that he never return.
The opening credit sequence consisted of Felix and Oscar in various humorous situations around New York City such as cavorting around a Maypole. In later seasons, the opening sequence featured highlights from past episodes mixed with the previous footage. The closing credit sequences for the first four years of the show consisted of more of the duo's zany antics or a scene where Felix meets Oscar by a big fountain in New York City's Columbus Circle: Oscar throws a cigar butt in the fountain, Felix barks at him to pick it up, and Oscar scoops it up with his shoe then places the wet and soiled cigar butt in Felix's pocket. Towards the end of the introduction title sequence the duo can be seen sitting on a park bench at W58th and 5th Ave in front of the Grand Army Plaza Monuments, Pulitzer Fountain, where Oscar throws his lunch wrapper on the ground and Felix beckons him to pick it up. In later seasons, another clip was incorporated into the credits in which Oscar washes his hands in the kitchen sink and begins to dry them on the curtains; Felix protests this, and so Oscar instead dries his hands on Felix's shirt. For the final season, the credits were shown against a blue background.

Related appearances by Klugman and Randall

Over the years, Klugman and Randall appeared in many television commercials and public service announcements for several different products as Felix and Oscar, including 1972 ads for Yoplait yogurt ; in 1974, for the game Challenge Yahtzee; for a while, their likenesses also appeared on the game's packaging, with the slogan "You play your way—I'll play mine!"; in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Klugman and Randall reprised their Odd Couple characters in a series of commercials for Eagle Snacks, although in some of these spots they called each other by their real names.
Klugman and Randall also reprised their roles as Felix and Oscar in several regional productions of the original Neil Simon play. They toured in the play during the TV version's summertime off-season in the early to mid-1970s; they later appeared in several performances of the play during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1997, they appeared in a Broadway revival of the Simon play, The Sunshine Boys.
In the early 1980s, while starring in the NBC drama Quincy, M.E., Klugman appeared in TV commercials for Canon copiers. Minolta countered by hiring Randall, then on the NBC sitcom Love, Sidney, to do a commercial for that company's copiers where he channeled his Felix role, mentioning that he "can change copy colors without getting that disgusting black powder all over my hands!" He closed by saying "But that doesn't mean I'm a neat freak. Of course, I'm not a slob, either, like, uh... " and waved his hand, to suggest Klugman as Oscar.
Randall and Klugman reunited for the 1993 television movie, The Odd Couple: Together Again to a mixed reception. Klugman had lost a vocal cord to throat cancer and this real-life struggle was written into the script. In the film, Felix tries to help Oscar recover following surgery; he also becomes overly involved in his daughter Edna's upcoming wedding, much to her and Gloria's dismay.

Other versions

An ABC cartoon version of The Odd Couple premiered on September 6, 1975 titled The Oddball Couple during the network's Saturday morning kids' programming block, Funshine Saturday. Although authorized by Neil Simon completely different characters were created: "Spiffy" and "Fleabag" who live together in a house that is half rundown and messy and half pristine and tidy along with a matching car. It was directed and produced by David DePatie and Friz Freleng, along with Gerry Chiniquy, and Robert McKimson among others, who directed several episodes. The characters' professions in this version were reversed from the original series, with the fastidious Spiffy working as a reporter and the rumpled Fleabag a photographer, often working together. The cartoon was canceled in 1977.
In 1982, as a hedge against the 1981 Writers Guild of America strike, ABC aired an African-American version of The Odd Couple, starring Ron Glass as Felix and Demond Wilson as Oscar. It was called The New Odd Couple, and initially used eight previously-filmed scripts from the original series; when the strike ended during the series' production, union writers returned, and original episodes were written from then on. It was canceled after only half a season.
A Chilean version titled Una Pareja Dispareja began airing in January 2009 on TVN. This version takes several of its cues from Two and a Half Men, a Chuck Lorre-created sitcom with a similar premise to The Odd Couple. Some of the details taken from Two and a Half Men include Felix and Oscar being siblings instead of friends, as well as Felix being a doctor and Oscar a musician.
Another American remake, also called The Odd Couple, aired on CBS for three seasons from 2015 to 2017. This version, a multi-camera sitcom, was co-created and co-produced by Matthew Perry, who played Oscar, while Thomas Lennon played Felix.

Episodes

Home media

The Complete First Season of The Odd Couple was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 18, 2006 by Time Life Video under license from Paramount Home Entertainment. Some episodes, mainly from the first season, were available on a VHS videotape set during the 1990s, and distributed by Columbia House.
Each episode on the First Season DVDs contain an introduction from the show's producer Garry Marshall. Also included as extras are Emmy Awards speeches, bloopers, TV interviews with the show's stars and a clip of The Odd Couple on Broadway.
Paramount/CBS DVD have since released the remaining seasons of The Odd Couple on DVD in Region 1. Season 1 was released in Region 2 on April 28, 2008. While the Time/Life Season 1 DVD release contained only unedited episodes as originally broadcast, CBS Home Entertainment opted to edit their DVDs of seasons two through five, removing short segments or occasionally entire scenes which included music sung by Felix or some other character. A notable example of this can be seen in the Season 5 episode "Strike Up the Band or Else" where, in the epilogue, guest star Pernell Roberts' character is going to sing, and the episode abruptly ends and closing credits roll. Fans and critics alike lambasted CBS/Paramount for the shoddy treatment The Odd Couple DVD releases received, concluding that the studio has misled consumers by labeling their DVD sets as "complete" when they have been intentionally edited to avoid paying royalties required by the music publishers.
On June 16, 2015, CBS DVD released The Odd Couple- The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1, albeit with the same edits and removal of scenes with music.