.gif)
The Odd Couple (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Odd Couple is 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 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 #5 and #58 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
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
(as Felix) and Jack Klugman
(as Oscar) 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 (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 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 Thursday, September 24, 1970, at 9:30 p.m. During the first season, the show was filmed using the single camera method. The apartment set resembled the film version. A laugh track
was used (to which Tony Randall objected). Thereafter, the show was filmed with three cameras and performed like a stage play in front of a studio audience. The apartment set looked the same, but was reversed; the kitchen was now on the left of the stage, and the long hallway to their bedrooms was on the right.
Throughout its run, The Odd Couple was juggled around ABC's programming schedule, as seen below (all times ET):
The show struggled in the Nielsen ratings
and was canceled at the end of every season. However, ABC renewed the show for each upcoming season because the ratings for the summer reruns were high.
The final first-run episode, aired on July 4, 1975, was titled "Felix Remarries." In it, Felix finally wins Gloria back and they remarry as Oscar regains the freedom of living alone again. Tony Randall once commented that most people missed their finale, due to the Independence Day celebration and evening fireworks. The final scene unfolds in this way, as the two say their goodbyes:
The 114 episodes quickly found a very successful life in syndication
where they found a brand new audience which endures to this day.
(in the film he writes the news for "television"), while in the TV series he is a commercial photographer. (His slogan, which he is quick to vocalize, is "Portraits a specialty.") His wife is Frances in the play and in the film, but is Gloria in the TV series. Oscar's son "Brucey," referred to in the play and the film, is never mentioned. He has at least one other child, who is likewise not mentioned in the series.
During the first season, the show was shot on the sets used for the movie, but for the second season (partially necessitated by the switch to a three-camera setup and the addition of a studio audience), the sets were changed, giving their apartment a new layout, something which was never explained within the show.
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. Bill Quinn
appeared occasionally as Dr. Melnitz, Nancy's colleague and the boys' physician. Felix gained a girlfriend in the second season, Miriam Welby (played by Elinor Donahue), and they lasted into the fifth season, presumably breaking up before Felix remarried Gloria in the series finale. Christopher Shea also 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 referred to but never seen. Alice Ghostly appeared as Murray's wife Mimi in an episode during the first season.
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 separated 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 Homer "Speed" Deegan, Roy and Vinnie Barella and rounded out the rest of the regulars. Ryan McDonald left the show after the first season and the character of Roy vanished afterwards. Gelman played the bald bespectacled Vinnie. Walberg later co-starred with Klugman on Quincy
.
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. Actor Herbie Faye
appeared five times on the series in different roles.
Richard Stahl appeared in nine episodes as, among other things, a monk, pet-shop salesman, florist, doctor, and priest, never playing the same role twice.
played an old practical joke-playing friend. Sportscaster Howard Cosell
played himself in two episodes and pop singer Jaye P. Morgan
played herself as Oscar's girlfriend. For Felix, two renowned opera singers Marilyn Horne
as a co-worker of Oscar's and Richard Fredericks as himself along with ballet star Edward Vilella also as himself. Many others who also appeared were Monty Hall
, Richard Dawson, Hugh Hefner
, James Millhollin
, Bobby Riggs
, Billie Jean King
, Deacon Jones
, Allen Ludden
, and Betty White
among others.
list during its entire run). Nonetheless, both actors were nominated for Emmy Award
s in each year of the show's 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.
This opening narration was featured during the show's first and second seasons (in the U.S. DVD release, it is also used in the third season set). 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" (in fact, the "childhood friend" reference was added partway through the first season, as the fourth episode explains that Felix and Oscar met during jury duty
– such inconsistencies were common for the show http://www.oddcouple.info/?q=nitpick). 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 past episodes mixed with the previous footage. The closing credit sequences for the first four years of the show consisted of more of the gents' 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. During later seasons, a clip was incorporated into the credits (a retaping of a scene from an actual scene) 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' shirt. For the final season, the credits were shown against a blue background.
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 a while; their likenesses also appeared on the game's packaging, with the slogan "You play your way—I'll play mine!" (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/182983) In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Klugman and Randall 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 in regional productions, this time performing the original 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 version's off season during the summer in the early to mid 1970s. In 1997, they appeared in a Broadway revival of another Simon play, The Sunshine Boys
.http://ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4765
In the 1980s, while starring in the NBC
drama Quincy, M.E.
, Klugman did commercials for Canon copiers
. Minolta
countered by hiring Randall, then on the NBC sitcom Love, Sidney
, to do a commercial 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.
Klugman and Randall reunited in the 1993 CBS
TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again to limited success. Klugman had lost a vocal cord to throat cancer
and this struggle was included in the script. In the film, Felix tries to help Oscar recover. He also becomes overly involved in Edna's upcoming wedding, much to her and Gloria's dismay.
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" (a cat voiced by Frank Nelson) and "Fleabag" (a dog 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 characters' professions in this version were reversed, with the fastidious Spiffy working as a reporter and the rumpled Fleabag a photographer, often working together. The show was canceled 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.
A Chilean version titled Una Pareja Dispareja started on January 2009 on TVN. There are many differences in this new version, such as Oscar and Felix are brothers instead of friends.
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
.
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 (two through five) 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 Home Video for the shoddy treatment The Odd Couple DVD releases received, concluding that Paramount/CBS DVD 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. To date, there are no plans to re-release the series utilizing the uncut master prints.
The Rights go to Disney And ABC
begins with the six friends spontaneously singing the theme song from The Odd Couple.
In 1997, when Wayne Gretzky
joined the New York Rangers
and was reunited with his old Edmonton Oilers
teammate Mark Messier
, Fox
ran a commercial promoting the two with the theme from "The Odd Couple".
The episode "I, Roommate
" of the first season of Futurama
features a montage where Fry
and Bender, after moving in to their new apartment, change it to suit their tastes, set to the theme song from "The Odd Couple".
During the 2000 election impasse, Saturday Night Live
aired a sketch called "The Presidential Couple" involving George W. Bush
(Will Ferrell
) and Al Gore
(Darrell Hammond
) as roommates, or possible co-Presidents. The sketch contains a parody of the show's narrative opening credits, complete with its theme song.
In the episode of "The Simpsons
" titled "Make Room for Lisa
", Lisa is forced to move into Bart's room due to a cellphone tower being installed in her room. As Homer introduces Lisa to her new "roommate," he asks what her favorite movie and - despite her actual answer - exclaims "The Odd Couple!" He immediately begins humming the show's theme, while Bart threatens to make her life a living hell.
In the 2000 season finale of "Will & Grace
" titled "Ben? Her?", Jack gets a divorce from his fake marriage to Rosario after which he shows up at Will's door to move in causing Will to say "Can two gay men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? Probably not." while "The Odd Couple" theme music plays in the background.
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. It starred Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
as Felix Unger
Felix Unger
Felix Unger was one of the principal characters in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple. Felix was portrayed in the original Broadway production of the play by Art Carney, in the film by Jack Lemmon, and in the television series by Tony Randall.-Character overview:Felix is a divorced, middle-aged man...
and Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...
as Oscar Madison
Oscar Madison
Oscar Madison is a character in The Odd Couple, which began as a Broadway play, then was a film and then a television series.In The Odd Couple, Oscar Madison is the everyman, and is a sportswriter for the New York Herald...
. It was based upon the play of the same name
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
, which was written by Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
.
Felix and Oscar are two divorced men. Felix is a neat freak while Oscar is sloppy and casual. They share a Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
apartment, and their different lifestyles inevitably lead to conflicts and laughs.
In 1997, the episodes "Password" and "The Fat Farm" were ranked #5 and #58 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
History
The success of the 1968 film versionThe Odd Couple (film)
The Odd Couple is a 1968 comedy film written by Neil Simon, based on his play The Odd Couple, directed by Gene Saks, and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau...
of the stage play of The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
, which starred Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
as Felix and Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
as Oscar, served as the catalyst to bringing the characters to television. The original casting considerations for the TV show included Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
or Martin Balsam
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam was an American actor. He is known for his Oscar-winning role as "Arnold Burns" in A Thousand Clowns and his role as "Detective Milton Arbogast" in Psycho.- Early life :...
as Oscar and Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
or Art Carney
Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew “Art” Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners....
as Felix. (Carney had originated the role on Broadway.) Eventually, Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
(as Felix) and Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman
Jacob Joachim "Jack" Klugman is an American stage, film and television actor known for his roles in sitcoms, movies, and television and on Broadway...
(as Oscar) 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
Garry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...
, had to lobby to get Klugman successfully hired. Once the casting was in place, the show's writers (Marshall, Jerry Belson
Jerry Belson
Jerry Belson was a writer, director, and producer of Hollywood films for over forty years.Belson's writing credits include the Steven Spielberg films Always and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, several episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and I Spy...
, Jerry Paris
Jerry Paris
Jerry Paris was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie, on The Dick Van Dyke Show.-Life and career:...
, Harvey Miller
Harvey Miller
Harvey Miller may refer to:* Harvey R. Miller, New York lawyer* SS Harvey C. Miller, a Liberty ship, see List of Liberty ships: G-Je* A character from the TV show "Baywatch" played by Tom McTigue* The main character of the film The Caddy-See also:...
, Bob Brunner, Mark Rothman
Mark Rothman
Mark Rothman is a noted and credited writer best known for having been involved with the creation and production of Laverne and Shirley. He was also the head writer and show runner of numerous other shows including Happy Days and The Odd Couple.He has written many screenplays and several plays,...
and Lowell Ganz
Lowell Ganz
Lowell Ganz is an American screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is the long-time writing partner of Babaloo Mandel.-Life and career:...
, among others) 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
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
on Thursday, September 24, 1970, at 9:30 p.m. During the first season, the show was filmed using the single camera method. The apartment set resembled the film version. A laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...
was used (to which Tony Randall objected). Thereafter, the show was filmed with three cameras and performed like a stage play in front of a studio audience. The apartment set looked the same, but was reversed; the kitchen was now on the left of the stage, and the long hallway to their bedrooms was on the right.
Throughout its run, The Odd Couple was juggled around ABC's programming schedule, as seen below (all times ET):
- September 1970 to January 1971 – Thursday nights at 9:30 p.m.
- January 1971 to June 1973 – Friday nights at 9:30 p.m.
- June 1973 to January 1974 – Friday nights at 8:30 p.m.
- January 1974 to September 1974 – Friday nights at 9:30 p.m.
- September 1974 to January 1975 – Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m.
- January 1975 to July 1975 – Friday nights at 9:30 p.m.
The show struggled in the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
and was canceled at the end of every season. However, ABC renewed the show for each upcoming season because the ratings for the summer reruns were high.
The final first-run episode, aired on July 4, 1975, was titled "Felix Remarries." In it, Felix finally wins Gloria back and they remarry as Oscar regains the freedom of living alone again. Tony Randall once commented that most people missed their finale, due to the Independence Day celebration and evening fireworks. The final scene unfolds in this way, as the two say their goodbyes:
- Felix: Your dinner's in the oven; turn it off in twenty minutes. [pause] Oscar … what can I say? Five years ago you took me in: a broken man on the verge of … mental collapse. I leave here a cured human being. I owe it all to you. [gesturing toward apartment] It's all yours buddy. I salute you. [empties waste basket onto floor]
- Oscar: Felix, you know how I'm gonna salute you? I'm gonna clean that up.
- Felix: It has not been in vain.
- [They shake hands and Felix exits stage right through front door. After door closes …]
- Oscar: [swings his hand through the air] I'm not gonna clean that up! [exits stage left to bedroom to audience laughter]
- [Felix sneaks back in stage right and looks at floor]
- Felix: [disgustedly] I knew he wouldn't clean it up! [proceeds to pick up trash to audience applause] (fade out)
The 114 episodes quickly found a very successful life in syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
where they found a brand new audience which endures to this day.
Differences between the TV show and the play/film
There were some relatively 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 CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
(in the film he writes the news for "television"), while in the TV series he is a commercial photographer. (His slogan, which he is quick to vocalize, is "Portraits a specialty.") His wife is Frances in the play and in the film, but is Gloria in the TV series. Oscar's son "Brucey," referred to in the play and the film, is never mentioned. He has at least one other child, who is likewise not mentioned in the series.
During the first season, the show was shot on the sets used for the movie, but for the second season (partially necessitated by the switch to a three-camera setup and the addition of a studio audience), the sets were changed, giving their apartment a new layout, something which was never explained within the show.
Supporting characters
The Pigeon Sisters (Monica EvansMonica Evans
Monica Evans is an English actress best known for her portrayal of Cecily Pigeon in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. She was in the original Broadway cast for its entire run, then appeared in the film version in 1968, and finally appeared in some episodes of the television series based on the play...
as Cecily and Carole Shelley
Carole Shelley
Carole Shelley is an English actress. Among her many stage roles are the character of Madame Morrible in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wicked.-Life and career:...
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
Joan Hotchkis
Joan Hotchkis is an American stage, screen and television actress, writer and performance artist....
), but her character disappeared after the second season. Bill Quinn
Bill Quinn
Bill Quinn was an American actor.Quinn appeared in more than 150 acting roles starting in the 20's in silent films and ending in the digital age in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. He is best remembered as Archie's blind friend, Mr...
appeared occasionally as Dr. Melnitz, Nancy's colleague and the boys' physician. Felix gained a girlfriend in the second season, Miriam Welby (played by Elinor Donahue), and they lasted into the fifth season, presumably breaking up before Felix remarried Gloria in the series finale. Christopher Shea also 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 referred to but never seen. Alice Ghostly appeared as Murray's wife Mimi in an episode during the first season.
The TV show also featured their ex-wives. Janis Hansen
Janis Hansen
Janis Hansen is an American talent agent and retired television and stage actress.-Acting career:A one-time Playboy bunny, Hansen was probably best known for her recurring role as "Gloria", ex-wife of Felix Unger on The Odd Couple between 1971 and 1975...
played Felix's ex, Gloria (named Frances in the play and film) and Jack Klugman's real life wife at the time Brett Somers
Brett Somers
Brett Somers was a American actress, singer, and comedienne who was born in Canada and raised in Maine...
as Blanche, Oscar's ex. (The real couple separated 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
Alimony
Alimony is a U.S. term denoting a legal obligation to provide financial support to one's spouse from the other spouse after marital separation or from the ex-spouse upon divorce...
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
Al Molinaro
Albert Francis "Al" Molinaro is an actor in television and films, most notably as Al Delvecchio, the owner of Arnold's on Happy Days and its spin-off show Joanie Loves Chachi, Murray the Cop on The Odd Couple television series, as well as starring in commercials for On-Cor frozen dinners...
and Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall is an American actress, producer and director.After playing several small roles for television, she was cast as Laverne DeFazio in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley...
(Garry's sister) respectively. Garry Walberg
Garry Walberg
Garry Walberg is an American character actor primarily known for his work on television. Walberg has performed in numerous TV shows since the early 1950s, including Johnny Staccato, Lassie, Peyton Place, The Fugitive, The Odd Couple and several other popular American programs.Walberg's most...
, Ryan McDonald and Larry Gelman
Larry Gelman
Larry Gelman is an American film and television character actor. He is best known for playing Dr. Bernie Tupperman on the US TV series The Bob Newhart Show and Vinnie, the poker playing friend of Oscar and Felix, in The Odd Couple.He also played Professor Albert Einstein in the real-time...
played Oscar's poker player friends Homer "Speed" Deegan, Roy and Vinnie Barella and rounded out the rest of the regulars. Ryan McDonald left the show after the first season and the character of Roy vanished afterwards. Gelman played the bald bespectacled Vinnie. Walberg later co-starred with Klugman on Quincy
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
.
Willie Aames
Willie Aames
Willie Aames is an American actor, film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter. He played Tommy Bradford on the 1970s’ Eight Is Enough and Buddy Lembeck on the 1980s’ Charles in Charge.-Early life:...
and later Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett is an American singer and actor. He became famous in the late 1970s as a teen idol, but received much publicity in later life for his drug abuse and legal troubles.-Early life:...
made a few appearances as Felix's son, Leonard. Pamelyn Ferdin
Pamelyn Ferdin
Pamelyn Ferdin is a former American television and film child actor, active both in live action and as a voice actress in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and has since appeared in several voice acting roles as late as 2009...
and later Doney Oatman made a few appearances as Felix's teenaged daughter, Edna. Actor Herbie Faye
Herbie Faye
Herbie Faye was an American actor who appeared in both of Phil Silvers's CBS television series, The Phil Silvers Show and The New Phil Silvers Show ....
appeared five times on the series in different roles.
Richard Stahl appeared in nine episodes as, among other things, a monk, pet-shop salesman, florist, doctor, and priest, never playing the same role twice.
Celebrity guest stars
The show would frequently have celebrity guest stars that would reflect both Oscar's and Felix's opposing cultural leanings either playing themselves or fictional characters. For Oscar, country guitar legend Roy ClarkRoy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...
played an old practical joke-playing friend. Sportscaster Howard Cosell
Howard Cosell
Howard William Cosell was an American sports journalist who was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these...
played himself in two episodes and pop singer Jaye P. Morgan
Jaye P. Morgan
Mary Margaret Morgan , known professionally as Jaye P. Morgan, is a retired popular music American singer, actress and game show panelist.-Early life:...
played herself as Oscar's girlfriend. For Felix, two renowned opera singers Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
as a co-worker of Oscar's and Richard Fredericks as himself along with ballet star Edward Vilella also as himself. Many others who also appeared were Monty Hall
Monty Hall
Monte Halperin, OC, OM , better known by the stage name Monty Hall, is a Canadian-born MC, producer, actor, singer and sportscaster, best known as host of the television game show Let's Make a Deal.-Early life:...
, Richard Dawson, Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...
, James Millhollin
James Millhollin
James A. Millhollin was an American character actor known for his portrayal of nervous, excited, and befuddled men with pop eyes and peculiar mannerisms, usually occupying such positions as hotel clerks, government bureaucrats, military officers, or other authority figures. He portrayed Major...
, Bobby Riggs
Bobby Riggs
Robert Larimore "Bobby" Riggs was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. 1 or the co-World No. 1 player for three years, first as an amateur in 1941, then as a professional in 1946 and 1947...
, Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
, Deacon Jones
Deacon Jones
David D. "Deacon" Jones is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and the Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.Jones specialized in quarterback sacks, a term attributed to him...
, Allen Ludden
Allen Ludden
Allen Ludden was an American television personality, emcee and game show host, perhaps most well known for hosting various incarnations of the game show Password between 1961 and 1980.-Early years:...
, and Betty White
Betty White
Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...
among others.
Awards
During its original run the show had mediocre ratings at best (the show never cracked the Top 25 programs Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
list during its entire run). Nonetheless, both actors were nominated for Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s in each year of the show's 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, only to reopen it and angrily hand 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 (in the U.S. DVD release, it is also used in the third season set). It was narrated by voice actor Bill Woodson
Bill Woodson
William "Bill" T. Woodson is a retired American voice artist. He has a small onscreen appearance in the 1950s sci-fi film "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" as a newscaster. He can be heard in the opening narrative of the 1970s television series The Odd Couple, explaining how it is that Felix and...
. The "childhood friend" reference was only used during the first season and was later changed to simply "friend" (in fact, the "childhood friend" reference was added partway through the first season, as the fourth episode explains that Felix and Oscar met during jury duty
Jury duty
Jury duty is service as a juror in a legal proceeding. When a person is called for jury duty in the United States, that service is usually not optional: one must attend or face strict penalties. Employers are not allowed to fire an employee simply for being called to jury duty...
– such inconsistencies were common for the show http://www.oddcouple.info/?q=nitpick). 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 past episodes mixed with the previous footage. The closing credit sequences for the first four years of the show consisted of more of the gents' 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. During later seasons, a clip was incorporated into the credits (a retaping of a scene from an actual scene) 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' shirt. For the final season, the credits were shown against a blue background.
Other versions
Klugman and Randall did a series of commercials for different products as Felix and Oscar. In 1972, they appeared in TV commercials for YoplaitYoplait
Yoplait is a brand of yogurt produced by a company owned by two French holdings, SODIAAL and PAI Partners.-History:In 1964, 100,000 French farmers merged their regional dairy cooperatives to sell nationally. In 1965, two co-ops, "Yola" and "Coplait", merged, becoming "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
Games related to Yahtzee
A number of related games under the Yahtzee brand have been produced. They all commonly use dice as the primary tool for game play, but all differ generally...
; for a while; their likenesses also appeared on the game's packaging, with the slogan "You play your way—I'll play mine!" (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/182983) In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Klugman and Randall reprised their characters in a series of commercials for Eagle Snacks
Eagle snacks
Eagle snacks was the brand name for snack food originally marketed by the Anheuser-Busch company.-History:Anheuser-Busch marketed various snack foods, which typically were bite size pretzels, cheese snacks, etc. that were distributed to bars and airlines. The snacks were in various shapes,...
, although they called each other by their real names.
They also reprised their roles as Felix and Oscar in regional productions, this time performing the original 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 version's off season during the summer in the early to mid 1970s. In 1997, they appeared in a Broadway revival of another Simon play, The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys is a play by Neil Simon that was produced on Broadway in 1972 and later adapted for film and television.-Plot:The play focuses on aging Al Lewis and Willy Clark, a one-time vaudevillian team known as "Lewis and Clark" who, over the course of forty-odd years, not only grew to hate...
.http://ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4765
In the 1980s, while starring in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
drama Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
, Klugman did commercials for Canon copiers
Photocopier
A photocopier is a machine that makes paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply. Most current photocopiers use a technology called xerography, a dry process using heat...
. Minolta
Minolta
Minolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese worldwide manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It is perhaps best known for making the first integrated autofocus 35mm SLR camera system...
countered by hiring Randall, then on the NBC sitcom Love, Sidney
Love, Sidney
Love, Sidney was an American situation comedy television series about a gay man, Sidney Shorr, and his relationship with a single mother and her five year-old daughter whom he invites to live with him...
, to do a commercial 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.
Klugman and Randall reunited in the 1993 CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again to limited success. Klugman had lost a vocal cord to throat cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...
and this struggle was included in the script. In the film, Felix tries to help Oscar recover. He also becomes overly involved in Edna's upcoming wedding, much to her and Gloria's dismay.
A cartoon version of The Odd Couple premiered on September 6, 1975 on ABC titled The Oddball Couple
The Oddball Couple
The Oddball Couple was an animated half hour Saturday morning show that ran on the ABC TV network from September 6, 1975 to September 3, 1977...
during their Saturday morning kids' programming block, Funshine Saturday. The characters were renamed, "Spiffy" (a cat voiced by Frank Nelson) and "Fleabag" (a dog voiced by Paul Winchell
Paul Winchell
Paul Winchell was an American ventriloquist, voice actor and comedian, whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s...
). It was directed and produced by the same team that produced the Pink Panther
The Pink Panther (character)
The Pink Panther is the main and title character in the opening and closing credit sequences of every film in The Pink Panther series except for A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau. His popularity spawned a series of theatrical shorts, merchandise, a comic book, and television cartoons...
cartoons: David DePatie
David DePatie
David Hudson DePatie was the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons cartoon studio and was charged with closing it in 1963. Afterward, DePatie and longtime Warners animator Friz Freleng formed DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, with many former Warners animators joining them...
and Friz Freleng
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros....
were executive producers, Gerry Chiniquy
Gerry Chiniquy
Germain Adolph "Gerry" Chiniquy was an American animator. He is best known for his work with Friz Freleng, at both Warner Bros. and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises....
, and Robert McKimson
Robert McKimson
Robert "Bob" Porter McKimson, Sr. was an American animator, illustrator, and director best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros., and later DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
among others, directed several episodes. The characters' professions in this version were reversed, with the fastidious Spiffy working as a reporter and the rumpled Fleabag a photographer, often working together. The show was canceled in 1977.
In 1982, ABC aired a new version of The Odd Couple, this time with two African-Americans, Ron Glass
Ron Glass
Ronald E. "Ron" Glass is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as the witty Det. Ron Harris in the television sitcom Barney Miller , and as the spiritual Shepherd Derrial Book in the short-lived 2002 science fiction series Firefly and its sequel film Serenity.-Early life:Glass was...
as Felix and Demond Wilson
Demond Wilson
Grady Demond Wilson is an American actor, author, and pastor. He is best known for his role opposite Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford's long-suffering son, Lamont Sanford, in the 1970s’ NBC-TV sitcom Sanford and Son....
as Oscar. It was called The New Odd Couple
The New Odd Couple
The New Odd Couple is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from 1982 to 83, and was an updated version of the 1970s television series The Odd Couple. The New Odd Couple was the second attempt to remake a series of one of Neil Simon's plays with a primarily African-American cast...
and ran less than half a season.
A Chilean version titled Una Pareja Dispareja started on January 2009 on TVN. There are many differences in this new version, such as Oscar and Felix are brothers instead of friends.
DVD releases
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 (Paramount TelevisionParamount Television
Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS 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
Columbia House
The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by the Columbia Records division of CBS, Inc. as an umbrella for its mail-order music clubs, the primary incarnation of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. It had a significant market presence in the 1980s and early...
.
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 (two through five) 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'
Pernell Roberts
Pernell Elvin Roberts, Jr. was an American stage, movie and television actor, as well as a singer. In addition to guest starring in over 60 television series, he was widely known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son, Adam Cartwright, on the western series Bonanza, a role he played from...
character is going to sing, and the episode abruptly ends and closing credits roll. Fans and critics alike lambasted CBS Home Video for the shoddy treatment The Odd Couple DVD releases received, concluding that Paramount/CBS DVD 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. To date, there are no plans to re-release the series utilizing the uncut master prints.
The Rights go to Disney And ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
| DVD name | Ep # | Release dates | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | |||||
| The First Season | 24 | April 24, 2007 | April 28, 2008 | |||
| The Second Season | 23 | August 28, 2007 | TBA | |||
| The Third Season | 23 | January 22, 2008 | TBA | |||
| The Fourth Season | 22 | June 10, 2008 | TBA | |||
| The Final Season | 22 | November 18, 2008 | TBA | |||
| The Complete Series 1–5 | 114 | November 18, 2008 | TBA | |||
In popular culture
The episode "The One with the Dozen Lasagnas" of the first season of FriendsFriends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
begins with the six friends spontaneously singing the theme song from The Odd Couple.
In 1997, when Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
joined the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
and was reunited with his old Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....
teammate Mark Messier
Mark Messier
Mark Douglas Messier is a former Canadian professional ice hockey centre of the National Hockey League and current special assistant to the president and general manager of the New York Rangers. He spent a quarter of a century in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, and Vancouver...
, Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
ran a commercial promoting the two with the theme from "The Odd Couple".
The episode "I, Roommate
I, Roommate
"I, Roommate" is the third episode of season one of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on April 6, 1999. The episode was written by Eric Horsted and directed by Bret Haaland...
" of the first season of Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
features a montage where Fry
Philip J. Fry
Philip J. Fry, known simply as Fry, is a fictional character, the main protagonist of the animated science fiction sitcom Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West using a version of his own voice as he sounded when he was 25.-Character overview:...
and Bender, after moving in to their new apartment, change it to suit their tastes, set to the theme song from "The Odd Couple".
During the 2000 election impasse, Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
aired a sketch called "The Presidential Couple" involving George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
(Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
) and Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
(Darrell Hammond
Darrell Hammond
Darrell Hammond is an American actor, stand-up comedian and impressionist. He was a regular on Saturday Night Live from 1995 until 2009, the longest tenure of any cast member. Upon his departure, Hammond, at age 53, was the oldest cast member in the show's history...
) as roommates, or possible co-Presidents. The sketch contains a parody of the show's narrative opening credits, complete with its theme song.
In the episode of "The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
" titled "Make Room for Lisa
Make Room for Lisa
"Make Room for Lisa" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons tenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 28, 1999. In the episode, while visiting the Smithsonian expedition, Homer Simpson meets a businesswoman who convinces him to build a cell phone...
", Lisa is forced to move into Bart's room due to a cellphone tower being installed in her room. As Homer introduces Lisa to her new "roommate," he asks what her favorite movie and - despite her actual answer - exclaims "The Odd Couple!" He immediately begins humming the show's theme, while Bart threatens to make her life a living hell.
In the 2000 season finale of "Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
" titled "Ben? Her?", Jack gets a divorce from his fake marriage to Rosario after which he shows up at Will's door to move in causing Will to say "Can two gay men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? Probably not." while "The Odd Couple" theme music plays in the background.
External links
- The Odd Couple – Fan based website
- The Odd Couple-Infopage Europe