La strana coppia

I grew up at a time when the Odd Couple was on ABC 09:30 Friday nights--people have said the show was a "hit" but in reality it was almost cancelled every year it was on---when it was in repeats during the summer the ratings were much higher which led ABC to renew the show every year---Jack Klugman was frustrated by the ratings and believed that once the show was off the air and in syndication that it would then be a major hit---he ultimately convinced Tony Randall to forgo a salary and take a percentage of the syndication rights--Randall although sceptical agreed--as it turned out Klugman was absolutely right---the show was an absolute gold mine in syndication (at one point you could watch it on almost every channel in the 1980's)--the Odd Couple made both Randall and Klugman very rich men

For the most part Season 5 is wonderful, and it's obvious why Tony Randall snagged the EMMY for it, but Paramount Home Video has destroyed what has got to be one of the most joyous moments in t.v. sitcom history. In the last episode when the the minister announces that Felix and Gloria are once again husband and wife, Oscar erupts into a dance and belts out "I'm Singing in the Rain." Not so in this truncated release. The song is wiped out completely and the scene is ruined. Could the rights to the tune really have been that expensive? There are other musical edits throughout the season, but this one is unforgivable.

Great comedic concept from Neil Simon—the slob and the neat freak, two divorced men living together in a small Manhattan apartment. But it's really Klugman and Randall that make the premise work so well—their chemistry is simply superb. Klugman seems a natural for Oscar the slob, with his sour expression and grouchy manner. Then there's Randall as Felix, with his no-fat body and absurdly picky manner. You just know he never played with mud pies or put on dirty socks.

It's amazing the writers get so many hilarious variations on the same theme—Felix carrying on with his finicky obsessions to an annoying degree. He just can't seem to help himself. At the same time, we can't help sympathizing with poor Oscar who retaliates by turning his bedroom into a city dump. Actually actor Randall pulls off a really difficult trick: he manages to make Felix annoying without being dislikable. Any hint of the latter and the show would have fallen flat.

And who can forget the superb supporting cast, especially hawk-nosed Al Molinaro as Murray, the New York City policeMAN. He fits amiably right in with whatever the shenanigans might be, maybe too amiably for a cop. Then there're the rest of the poker playing characters, plus the girls led by Klugman's real life wife Brett and Father Knows Best's Elinor Donahue. Since nearly all the hijinks occur in the small apartment, the writers have their work cut out for them, and rise to the occasion they do, with only an occasional misfire. My favorite parts are when some poor put-upon old lady gets enough of Felix's extremes and swats him with her purse—he always looks so surprised, like he can't figure out why. Anyway, it's one of the best character-based comedies of the 70's or any TV decade.

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.

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.