It really wasn't even the "Odd Couple" anymore when they started meeting every celeb in town -- Howard Cossell, Bobby Riggs, Wolfman Jack and on and on -- it wasn't really the story of Oscar and Felix anymore, it was more like just two New York sophisticates having access to all these celebrities.
shareI disagree, some of the guests were fun and even provided the plots for classic episodes (Jaye P. Morgan, for example)
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Thank God I'm here.
You may have found them fun, but at the expense of the show abandoning its core premise.
The show went from the original Odd Couple premise of the movie in the first season, to "which celebrity guest-of-the-week will Klugman and Randall be entertaining tonight?"
And the stories were getting too outlandish for it to be even called "The Odd Couple" anymore -- like that episode when they were on that jetliner with that crazy eccentric airline pilot, and having to jump out of a commercial jet by parachute -- again, jumping the shark.
Most people at this board seem to agree the first season was the weakest,
and the show hit it's stride when it switched to the multi-camera live audience format.
Again, we disagree. Felix being afraid to fly is a total classic episode in my opinion (and it doesn't feature any celebrity guests (unless you count Teri Garr as the counter lady -- although she was hardly famous at that time))
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Thank God I'm here.
I know what you mean, but it was pretty cool to have Billy Jean King show up at the end of the Bobby Riggs episode.
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It got to be a bit much after awhile. Felix knowing so many opera singers/ballet dancers, and Oscar always getting jobs cohosting talk shows with other celebs, and sports figures.
My guess is that the writer's were bored. After so many episodes they were probably running out of ideas.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go fill my freezer with my own blood"
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Folks, you can do 20 episodes about two people in an apartment who don't get along because they're opposites. You can probably even do 40 episodes just on that premise.
But eventually, by the 50th or 60th episode, if you don't expand the world of those two characters with outside elements & people, the show would get extremely stale.
As any sitcom gets into it's third or fourth season, guest stars often crop up as the ratings start to slip. Not *all* of the guest stars on "The Odd Couple" were gems, but I would say that many of them were a lot of fun.
Monty Hall, Howard Cosell, Alan Ludden and Jaye P. Morgan were all catalysts for CLASSIC episodes, IMO>
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Thank God I'm here.
Oscar was a sportswriter in NYC, so he would be expected to know people like Howard Cosell and BJK from the press box, media room, and other sports related events.
Felix worked in Manhattan and could be hired by ad firms to photograph work with models and celebs.
I loved the Cosell shows. It brought the fictional sportswriter Madison to life.
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Felix was friends with opera singers Marilyn Horne, Martina Arroyo and Richard Fredericks. What ballet dancers were his friends?
shareSince Oscar was sports writer
shareSome of the episodes with guest stars were very good ones:
Monty Hall and the Let's Make A Deal appearance.
Howard Cosell's first show
Allen Ludden and Betty White and the Password episode..
But then, the Richard Dawson appearance was one of the weakest shows of the series...
But then, the Richard Dawson appearance was one of the weakest shows of the series...
Although I do believe it included the memorable line, "Try to get laughs from an audience that's fishing!"
While I'm not a fan of guest celebrity appearances in general, the "Password" episode is simply brilliant--maybe because the focus is always on Felix & Oscar and not on the "celebrities."
Whenever Oscar sneers, "ARISTOPHANES..." and Felix replies, "RIDICULOUS!"
I LMAO...!
And when Felix has to be led off the stage and says, "Awww what a GYP!" LOL! Never would get approved today--too un-PC.
The first season of this show is ok; the rest is *beep* brilliant. Tony Randall was gifted with comic timing and sensibility, and Jack Klugman was perfect as his best friend who loves him and generally forgives his nuttiness because he knows what a kind heart lurks beneath it all. The pairing could not have been better, and imo they both surpass the movie's performances. Nothing against Walter Matthau or Jack Lemmon, but JK & TR are better.
I definitely agree that the show never jumped the shark, and that Randall and Klugman were better than Lemmon and Matthau in the parts. It's funny when you watch the early episodes, it looks like Klugman is trying to imitate Matthau - it's only after he (quickly) developed his own Oscar Madison persona that he really shined, and definitely surpassed the talented Matthau
shareAt least Poppy didn't pee on Oscar's couch.
shareI am not a fan of celebrity guest stars as a rule. However, the Password episode is possibly the best and funniest episode of any sitcom, ever. The second being the episode where they win the car (being a NYer with a car - I totally relate!)
I loved the Odd Couple growing up. Haven't watched it in a while and recently started watching it again. And it really doesn't seem dated like many of the 80's sitcoms like Family Ties, Growing Pains and Cosby. OC is a true classic. But I do think the first season was the best, not saying they aren't all great - I just like the one camera and the set better in the first season.
I am not a fan of celebrity guest stars as a rule. However, the Password episode is possibly the best and funniest episode of any sitcom, ever. The second being the episode where they win the car (being a NYer with a car - I totally relate!)
I loved the Odd Couple growing up. Haven't watched it in a while and recently started watching it again. And it really doesn't seem dated like many of the 80's sitcoms like Family Ties, Growing Pains and Cosby. OC is a true classic. But I do think the first season was the best, not saying they aren't all great - I just like the one camera and the set better in the first season.
Agree with every word of ILoveMuggy's review. Oddly enough, I just saw a 60's version of Huckleberry Finn on TMC with Tony Randall as the Reverend. He was not very good, although it might have been on purpose.
shareI think the Odd Couple was one of the few shows that kind of pulled off having a lot of celebrity guests playing themselves, I think I Love Lucy was the other. They did the whole "Oscar is a sports writer so he meets these people in his daily life." In some ways it's a rip-off of "I Love Lucy" where Ricky would meet these famous people and bring them home to meet Lucy. In this story Oscar meets the famous people and brings them back to meet Felix and that's when it usually got funny.
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I believe (though not sure) that opera singer Richard Fredricks was the first celebrity to appear as himself, and that was in episode 7 of season 2. David Steinberg (not so well remembered now but a pretty trendy comic in the early 1970s) was two weeks later. So it's a little out there to say the show jumped the shark when they started getting celebrities. That would put about 75% of the show's episodes in the "Shark Jump Era."
shareDidn't matter to me if the celebs were on, as long as the episodes were FUNNY. Unfortunately, most of them weren't. And who are Jaye P. Morgan and David Steinberg? After seeing these shows, I still don't know who the **** they are!
Why do they call 'em soap operas anyway? Those things are FILTHY!----Fred Sanford
The Password episode was a classic. So was the one when they went on Let's Make a Deal with Monty Hall.
But this thread reminded me of one of my absolute favorites called 'Take My Furniture,Please.' Felix decided to redecorate with ultra-modern and ultra uncomfortable furniture. At the start of the episode Oscar is meeting with football great Bubba Smith.
When he arrives home, Felix lifts a sheet to uncover their new living room chairs which are shaped like a pair of large hands made out of black leather.
When Felix asks Oscar for his opinion, he deadpans, "They look like Bubba Smith's hands." That just cracked me up. LOL
...then he says "I feel like an M & M"
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.
"I can sit in either chair, I'm ambidextrous!"
Cheers
LOL Funny dialogue!!😀
I forgot about the M&M remark! But the comment by Felix...I used to think, "His BEHIND is ambidextrous?"
Glad to see that other fans remember this classic episode.
Of course it is - Felix can do everything.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.
I LOVE that episode!
"It's a conversation piece"
"Well tell it to shut up!"
And Myrna looks at the crazy, near-unreadable clock and says "Oh look at the time, I've got to go!"
"Two gin and Frescas"
"Shaken, not ridiculed"
I couldn't figure out how Mryna was able to read that clock! It looked like abstract art to me.
Remember the school desk that Felix got to replace Oscar's desk?
Oscar sat down at it and Felix asked him how he felt. Didn't he say, 'I feel like David Copperfield". (or some Dickens school boy character)
That episode was hilarious from beginning to end.
Oh yes, the desk, and the potato chip chair!
Definitely in my top three episodes. 😁
"Two gin and Frescas"
"Shaken, not ridiculed"
Disagree completely. Guests gave them an air of sophistication and was fun to watch them interact. My favorite was one of the lesser-known guest stars: comedian, David Steinberg, who was also a TV host. The climactic scene where Felix winds up singing the theme to the old radio show, Little Orphan Annie, was a hoot.
shareAgreed! Also Roy Clark killing it on Spanish guitar. I keep that scene queued up on YouTube whenever I need to be amazed by raw talent.
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