The Odd Couple

This was the show that pretty much started the whole mismatched pair sitcom or at least the most memorable of that type. Tony Randall and Jack Klugman have perfect chemistry which the show really benefits from. The series had clever writing from start to finish. Not just one of the most memorable show from the 1970s, but also one of the memorable shows of all time.

The TV show, 'The Odd Couple' is a classic. Great acting from two pro's with excellent scripts. Growing up I watched the episodes over and over like many other favorites shows. So, when I heard it was coming finally to DVD, I said, 'Finally'. But beware folks... Season one is unaltered... BUT, the other final four seasons are edited... I guess being cheap... a lot of the music/songs were not re-bought. Which is very sad... because a couple episodes ended in song. Even though the episodes are very much intact, the alternations do show, especially the final episode when Felix gets remarried and cut is Oscar singing, "Singing in the rain" at the end. Very bad edit. But the comedy is still very much there but not the true episodes, so beware! Tony Randall, God rest his soul would be disappointed if he saw this.

The Odd Couple I rate a TEN!!! The last four seasons on DVD I rate a 8 cause of the edits.

This is indeed one of the few tv series that are equal too if not better than the film and play it was based on. Simply shot and perfectly played, the scripts and the acting could not be better. These shows are fun to watch now not only for the style of clothing, but also for the fact that it's about two middle aged men! TV show-makers of today would do well to watch and learn from this classic.

I'm about the only person I know who prefers the first season (shot in cinematic style with a single camera) to later seasons, but even after they switched to the multiple-camera technique and live audience (with the accompanying broadening of the humor), it was still better than 90% of TV sitcoms ever (unlike, say, *Happy Days*, on which quality plummeted when they made a similar change).

The only thing that really interferes with my enjoyment of *TOC* is the horrible, horrible celebrity cameos.

I mean, Rodney Allen Rippy?

This show proves that opposites may not attract, but, with some work, they can at least peacefully coexist. Felix is not just compulsively neat, he literally worships at the altar of order. Oscar's philosophy is not to sweat the small stuff and thinks everything is small stuff. One of the reasons this show is still funny today is that most people have personalities that lie between these two extremes and can therefore sympathize and laugh at the actions of both men.

The first season focuses on the relationship between Oscar and Felix, pretty much stays in the same neighborhood as the 1968 movie from which it sprang as to story lines, and even has the same actresses from the film playing the Pidgeon Sisters. The first season is good, and helps establish the complete personalities of Oscar and Felix in a way a two hour film just doesn't have time to do, but I think it lacks something in the way of the energy and pace that the subsequent seasons had. "The Odd Couple" had the misfortune of premiering right before shows like "All In the Family" would give birth to modern television as we know it today, along with the frank discussion of controversial subject matter in a comic context.

Quite frankly, I think the show would probably have been canceled after its second season if it had not changed to the live set it used from seasons two forward and started broaching more modern topics like it did to help keep pace with the great changes that were taking place in television during the early 70's. I have to give credit to producer Garry Marshall - if he saw something that wasn't quite working in one of his shows, he wasn't afraid to make drastic changes to try and get things back on track. I would say that the "Odd Couple" is one of the few shows that managed to never jump the shark during its five year run. Considering the fact that it aired during a period of great change in American culture - 1970-1975 - that is saying something. Highly recommended.