The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)

The Odd Couple
File:The Odd Couple.jpg Tony Randall and Jack Klugman in a publicity photo for the first season
Starring	Tony Randall Jack Klugman Al Molinaro Penny Marshall Larry Gelman
Theme music composer	Neal Hefti
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	114
Production
Executive producer	Garry Marshall
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 24, 1970 – July 4, 1975

The Odd Couple was a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.

Felix and Oscar are two divorced men. Felix is a neat freak while Oscar is sloppy and casual. They are sharing the same apartment, and their different lifestyles inevitably lead to some conflicts and laughs.

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, served as the catalyst to bringing the characters to television. The original casting considerations for the TV show included Mickey Rooney or Martin Balsam as Oscar and Dean Martin or Art Carney as Felix. (Carney had originated the role on Broadway.) 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. The show's co-executive producer, Garry Marshall, had to lobby to get Klugman successfully hired. Once the casting was in place, the show's writers (comprised of Marshall, Jerry Belson, Jerry Paris, Harvey Miller, Bob Brunner, Mark Rothman and Lowell Ganz among others) came up with a multitude of situations for Felix and Oscar to be in, while always staying true to the soul of the play, which always reverted back to the human tensions between the two that created the comic situations.

The show premiered on ABC on Thursday, September 24 1970, at 9:30 PM. Throughout its run, The Odd Couple was juggled around ABC's programming schedule, as seen below:

• Sep. 1970 to Jan. 1971 - Thursday nights at 9:30
• Jan. 1971 to Jun. 1973 - Friday nights at 9:30
• Jun. 1973 to Jan. 1974 - Friday nights at 8:30
• Jan. 1974 to Sep. 1974 - Friday nights at 9:30
• Sep. 1974 to Jan. 1975 - Thursday nights at 8:00
• Jan. 1975 to July 1975 - Friday nights at 9:30

The show struggled in the Nielsen ratings and was cancelled at the end of every season. But ABC renewed the show for each upcoming season because the ratings for the summer reruns were high.

The final first run episode, aired on March 7, 1975, was entitled "Felix Remarries". In it, Felix finally wins Gloria back and they remarry as Oscar regains the freedom of living alone again. The 114 episodes quickly found a very successful life in syndication where they found a brand new audience which endures to this day.

Supporting characters

The Pigeon Sisters, (Monica Evans as Cecily and Carole Shelley as Gwendolyn, reprising their roles from the film and stage play) made a few appearances during the first season. Their characters were phased out by the end of the first season. Also in the first season, Oscar had a girlfriend, Dr. Nancy Cunningham (played by Joan Hotchkis), but her character disappeared after the second season. Felix gained a girlfriend in the second season, nurse Miriam Welby (played by Elinor Donahue), but they broke up in the fourth season. Bill Quinn appeared occasionally as Dr. Melnitz, Miriam's boss and the boys' physician. Christopher Shea also appeared in three episodes of the first season as Philip, Felix and Oscar's 11-year-old neighbor.

The TV show also featured their ex-wives. Janis Hansen played Felix's ex, Gloria (named Frances in the play and film) and Jack Klugman's real life wife at the time Brett Somers as Blanche, Oscar's ex. (The real couple divorced during the run of the show.) There were many episodes in which Felix felt he had made a mistake by granting Gloria a divorce and took comedically drastic measures to try to win her back. In contrast, Oscar was happy to be divorced from Blanche and the two constantly traded sarcastic barbs. The only major drawback from Oscar's point of view was the alimony he was ordered to pay.

The two other major supporting characters, Murray the Cop and Myrna Turner, Oscar's secretary, were played by Al Molinaro and Penny Marshall (Garry's sister) respectively. Garry Walberg, Ryan McDonald and Larry Gelman played Oscar's poker player friends Speed, Roy and Vinnie and rounded out the rest of the regulars. Ryan McDonald left the show after the first season and the character of Roy vanished afterwards. Willie Aames and later Leif Garrett made a few appearances as Felix's son, Leonard. Pamelyn Ferdin and later Doney Oatman made a few appearances as Felix's teenaged daughter, Edna.

Awards

During its original run the show had mediocre ratings at best (the show never cracked the Top 25 programs Nielsen ratings list during its entire run). Nonetheless, both actors were nominated for Emmy awards in each year of the shows run. Jack Klugman won two Emmy awards for his work (in 1971 and 1973) and Tony Randall won an Emmy as well (in 1975, in which, upon acceptance of the award, he commented on the fact that he wished he currently "had a job", since the show had been cancelled). Klugman was also 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.

Opening narration and credit sequence

"On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. (Unger's unseen wife slams door. She reopens it and angrily hands Felix his saucepan) 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. In later seasons, the opening sequence featured highlights from the shows' past episodes mixed with the previous footage. The closing credit sequences for the first four years of the show consisted of more of the boys run amok in NYC, for the final season, the credits were shown against a blue background.

Other versions

Randall and Klugman did a series of commercials for different products as Felix and Oscar. In 1972, they appeared in TV commercials for Yoplait yogurt. (Klugman also did commercials (without Randall) for the product in the early 1980s) In 1974, they appeared in ads for the game Challenge Yahtzee. For awhile, their likenesses also appeared on the game's packaging. In the late 1980s to early 1990s, Randall and Klugman reprised their characters in a series of commercials for Eagle Snacks, although they called each other by their real names.

They also reprised their roles as Felix and Oscar on Broadway and on the road, this time performing the Neil Simon play, from the late 1980s until the mid 1990s. They had also performed the Simon play on a few road shows during the TV-shows off season during the summer in the early to mid 1970s.

Randall and Klugman reunited in the 1993 CBS TV-movie The Odd Couple: Together Again to limited success.

A cartoon version of The Odd Couple premiered on September 6 1975 on ABC titled The Oddball Couple during their Saturday morning kids' programming block, Funshine Saturday. The characters were renamed, "Spiffy" (voiced by Frank Nelson) and "Fleabag" (voiced by Paul Winchell). It was directed and produced by the same team that produced the Pink Panther cartoons: David DePatie and Friz Freleng were executive producers, Gerry Chiniquy, and Robert McKimson among others, directed several episodes. The show was cancelled in 1977.

In 1982, ABC aired a new version of The Odd Couple, this time with two African-Americans, Ron Glass as Felix and Demond Wilson as Oscar. It was called The New Odd Couple and ran less than half a season.

Stations that aired the show during the syndicated run

• KTVU TV 2/San Francisco, CA (1975-1997)
• KHSL-TV 12/Chico, CA (mid 70's - late 70's)
• KTXL TV 40/Sacramento, CA (late 70's-87, 1996-97)
• WPIX-TV 11/New York, NY (late 70's - mid 80's)

Episode guide

Season 1 (1970-1971)

Episode Number	Title	Airdate
1	The Laundry Orgy	September 24, 1970
2	The Fight of the Felix	October 1, 1970
3	Felix Gets Sick	October 8, 1970
4	The Jury Story	October 15, 1970
5	The Breakup	October 22, 1970
6	Oscar's Ulcer	October 29, 1970
7	I Do, I Don't	November 5, 1970
8	Oscar the Model	November 12, 1970
9	The Big Brothers	November 19, 1970
10	It's All Over Now, Baby Bird	December 3, 1970
11	Felix is Missing	December 10, 1970
12	Scrooge Gets an Oscar	December 17, 1970
13	The Blackout	December 24, 1970
14	They Use Horseradish, Don't They?	January 7, 1971
15	The Hideaway	January 14, 1971
16	Lovers Don't Make House Calls	January 29, 1971
17	Engrave Trouble	February 5, 1971
18	Bunny is Missing Down by the Lake	February 12, 1971
19	You've Come a Long Way, Baby	February 19, 1971
20	A Taste of Money	February 26, 1971
21	Oscar's New Life	March 5, 1971
22	What Makes Felix Run	March 12, 1971
23	What Does a Naked Lady Say to You?	March 19, 1971
24	Trapped	March 26, 1971

Season 2 (1971-1972)

Episode Number	Title	Airdate
25	Natural Childbirth	17 September, 1971
26	Felix's Wife's Boyfriend	24 September, 1971
27	Hospital Mates	1 October, 1971
28	Sleepwalker	8 October, 1971
29	A Grave for Felix	15 October, 1971
30	Murray the Fink	29 October, 1971
31	Does Your Mother Know You're Out, Rigoletto?	5 November, 1971
32	The Fat Farm	12 November, 1971
33	The Odd Couple Meet Their Host	19 November, 1971
34	Win One for Felix	3 December, 1971
35	Being Divorced is Never Having to Say I Do	10 December, 1971
36	Surprise, Surprise!	17 December, 1971
37	Felix the Calypso Singer	24 December, 1971
38	And Leave the Greyhound to Us?	31 December, 1971
39	Security Arms	7 January, 1972
40	Speak for Yourself	14 January, 1972
41	You Saved My Life	21 January, 1972
42	Where's Grandpa?	28 January, 1972
43	Partner's Investment	4 February, 1972
44	Good, Bad Boy	11 February, 1972
45	A Night to Dismember	18 February, 1972
46	Oscar's Promotion	25 February, 1972
47	Psychic, Shmychic	3 March, 1972

Season 3 (1972-1973)

Episode Number	Title	Airdate
48	Gloria, Hallelujah	15 September, 1972
49	Big Mouth	22 September, 1972
50	The Princess	29 September, 1972
51	The Pen is Mightier Than the Pencil	6 October, 1972
52	The Odd Monks	13 October, 1972
53	I'm Dying of Unger	20 October, 1972
54	The Odd Couples	27 October, 1972
55	Felix's First Commercial	3 November, 1972
56	The First Baby	10 November, 1972
57	Oscar's Birthday	17 November, 1972
58	Password	1 December, 1972
59	The Odd Father	8 December, 1972
60	Don't Believe in Roomers	22 December, 1972
61	Sometimes a Great Ocean	5 January, 1973
62	I Gotta Be Me	12 January, 1973
63	The Ides of April	19 January, 1973
64	Myrna's Debut	2 February, 1973
65	The Hustler	9 February, 1973
66	My Strife in Court	16 February, 1973
67	Let's Make a Deal	23 February, 1973
68	The Odyssey Couple	2 March, 1973
69	Take My Furniture, Please	9 March, 1973
70	The Murray Who Came to Dinner	23 March, 1973

Season 4 (1973-1974)

Episode Number	Title	Airdate
71	Gloria Moves In	14 September, 1973
72	Last Tango in Newark	21 September, 1973
73	The Odd Decathlon	28 September, 1973
74	That Was No Lady	5 October, 1973
75	The Odd Holiday	12 October, 1973
76	The New Car	19 October, 1973
77	That is the Army Mrs. Madison	26 October 1973
78	The Songwriter	2 November 1973
79	Felix Directs	9 November 1973
80	The Pig Who Came to Dinner	16 November 1973
81	Maid for Each Other	23 November 1973
82	The Exorcists	7 December 1973
83	A Barnacle Adventure	21 December 1973
84	The Moonlighter	4 January 1974
85	Cleanliness is Next to Impossible	11 January 1974
86	The Flying Felix	18 January 1974
87	Vocal Girl Makes Good	25 January 1974
88	Shuffling Off to Buffalo	8 February 1974
89	A Different Drummer	22 February 1974
90	The Insomniacs	1 March 1974
91	New York's Oddest	8 March 1974
92	One for the Bunny	22 March 1974

Season 5 (1974-1975)

12 September 1974 The Rain in Spain

19 September 1974 To Bowl or Not to Bowl

26 September 1974 The Frog

3 October 1974 The Hollywood Story

10 October 1974 The Dog Story

17 October 1974 Strike Up the Band or Else

24 October 1974 The Odd Candidate

31 October 1974 The Subway Story

7 November 1974 The Paul Williams Show

21 November 1974 Our Fathers

28 November 1974 The Big Broadcast

12 December 1974 Oscar in Love

14 December 1974 The Bigger They Are

19 December 1974 Two on the Aisle

16 January 1975 Your Mother Wears Army Boots

23 January 1975 Felix the Horse Player

31 January 1975 The Rent Strike

7 February 1975 Two Men on a Hoarse

14 February 1975 The Roy Clark Show

21 February 1975 Old Flames Never Die

28 February 1975 Laugh, Clown, Laugh

7 March 1975 Felix Remarries

CBS TV Movie

24 September 1993 The Odd Couple: Together Again

DVD Releases

The Odd Couple: The Complete First Season was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 18, 2006. It features all 24 episodes from the first season and was released by Time Life Video instead of Paramount Home Entertainment. (Paramount Television was the program's original distributor.) (Some episodes, mainly from the first season, were available on a VHS videotape set during the 1990s, and distributed by Columbia House.)

On April 24th, 2007, Paramount Home Entertainment released the first season On DVD (the same set as distributed by Time Life Video) to retail outlets. Paramount will be releasing the second season on August 28, 2007. [1]

Cover Art	DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
File:The Odd Couple S1.jpg	The 1st Season	24	April 24 2007
File:The Odd Couple S2.jpg	The 2nd Season	22	August 28 2007

Trivia

• Neal Hefti's instrumental theme music from the 1968 film was re-used for the show.

• The apartment building the boys lived in was 1049 Park Avenue, as shown in the opening credits by the exterior shot of them outside the building under the awning which has the address on it. There was one occasion, however, in the 1973 episode The New Car in which Oscar wins a car on the radio from Dick Clark, where Felix and Oscar were said to be living at 74th St. and Central Park West. 1970s child star Rodney Allen Rippy appeared as himself in the 1975 episode The Rent Strike where it was revealed that he was the owner of 1049 Park Avenue (!)

• Felix's last name was changed from Ungar (which it was in the play and film) to Unger for the TV series.

• Felix worked as a photographer but in the play he was a newswriter for CBS. Oscar was a sportswriter which was also his profession in the play.

• During the first season, the show was filmed in the same apartment set that had been used for the 1968 movie, and a laugh track was used. Randall and Klugman were so vocal in their distaste for the canned laughter that an episode aired in early 1971 without the laugh track and with Randall asking viewers to contact ABC with their preference. Beginning with the second season, the show was filmed three-camera-style in front of a live audience, which required a major redesign of the apartment set.

• Many entertainment and sports personalities (most of whom regularly appeared on ABC-TV at the time) appeared on the show as themselves including Howard Cosell (whose two appearances were responsible for some of the highest ratings during the shows original run), Roone Arledge, David Steinberg, Paul Williams, Roy Clark, Bobby Riggs, Billie Jean King, Marilyn Horne, Dick Cavett, 1970s child star Rodney Allen Rippy, Monty Hall (in one episode the boys appear on Hall's game show Let's Make A Deal), Allen Ludden and Betty White (both appearing on Ludden's game show Password), Dick Clark, Hugh Hefner, Richard Dawson and Deacon Jones among others.

• Neil Simon's only contribution to the show was a cameo appearance in a 1974 episode entitled "Two On The Aisle".

• Producer Garry Marshall made cameos in four episodes as different characters.

• Felix's children were named Leonard and Edna. In real life, Tony Randall's real name was Leonard (Rosenberg) and his sister was named Edna.

• Elinor Donahue's character was named "Miriam Welby" in honor of her former Father Knows Best co-star, Robert Young. At the time, Young was the star of the hit drama series, Marcus Welby, M.D.

• Rob Reiner, Penny Marshall's husband at the time, appeared in one episode as Myrna's new boyfriend, Sheldn. (The "o" was left off his birth certificate.)

• Since the show was filmed in Hollywood, California, but took place in New York's Manhattan, Randall and Klugman would have to fly to New York City to do any exterior shots of their respective characters in outside settings.

• In one episode, Felix and Oscar were arrested because a police officer thought they were trying to "scalp" (sell) a theater ticket to a woman named Beth Olam. Beth Olam is the name of a Jewish cemetery near the Paramount lot where the show was filmed.

• Richard Stahl appeared on the show nine times, playing nine different roles[2].

• Billy Sands character actor, known as Pvt. Dino Paparelli on The Phil Silvers Show and Tinker from McHale's Navy was on four episodes.

• Comedian John Byner appeared in two episodes.

• John Fiedler, who played "Vinnie" in both the original Broadway show and the 1968 movie version, appeared in two episodes of the show, "Security Arms" and "The Dog Story", as different characters.

• Randall and Klugman were also involved in the creative process of the TV show. They improvised on occasion, and sometimes they would receive scripts that simply said something like "Jack teaches Tony football" and nothing else written on the next four pages.

• Randall and Klugman released a musical record during the run of the TV show, (in 1973) entitled The Odd Couple Sings.[3] The record was exactly that, as Randall and Klugman warbled standards, and even pop hits from the time, like Carly Simon's "You're So Vain". It did not climb the charts but is regarded today as a scarce curio.

• Klugman and Randall appeared on the cover of TV Guide twice during the shows original run, appearing on its February 6 1971 issue (which was a photograph of Felix wincing at Oscars looming cigar smoke) and on its September 2 1972 issue (which was an illustration of the two, done by renowned illustrator Jack Davis).

• In the episode "Our Fathers," Randall and Klugman ditched their respective hairpieces for a flashback sequence.

• Felix's middle name was Alex, and Oscar's middle name was Trevor.

• In 2006, VH1 spoofed the opening of the show when promoting its shows Hogan Knows Best and Breaking Bonaduce. In the promo, a split-screen shows Hulk Hogan (assuming the Felix role) and Danny Bonaduce (in the Oscar role) in various situations very similar to the TV shows opening (helping an old lady across the street, dancing together at the end, etc.) Theme music very similar to The Odd Couple plays over the commercial.

External links

• The Odd Couple at IMDb
• The Odd Couple - Fan based website