The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)
| The Odd Couple | |
|---|---|
_titlecard.jpg)
Title card from the first season (note the Neil Simon credit in the title).
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| Based on | The Odd Couple by Neil Simon |
| Developed by | |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Neal Hefti |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 114 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Garry Marshall |
| Running time | 30 minute episode (including commercials) |
| Production company(s) | Paramount Network Television |
| Distributor | CBS Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 24, 1970 – March 7, 1975 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | |
The Odd Couple, formally titled onscreen Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, is an American television situation comedy 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 developed by Garry Marshall for Paramount Television. The show is based on the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon. 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 #5 and #58, respectively, on TV Guide's 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.
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 (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 hard 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.
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