If all goes well, Matthew Perry might finally make his triumphant return to TV comedy this week. With a team of veteran and new comic stars in front of and behind the camera, The Odd Couple, which premieres Thursday on CBS, could be the start of a great reboot we didn’t even know we wanted. But without the kind of great comedy writing that marked the original, the stitching between the series’ excellent parts could completely fall apart.
The original Odd Couple sitcom debuted on ABC in 1970. It was based on the 1968 movie starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which was based on the stage play by Neil Simon.
The original Odd Couple sitcom debuted on ABC in 1970. It was based on the 1968 movie starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which was based on the stage play by Neil Simon. Simon himself had a background in television writing; he had begun his career in the early 1950s as a comedy writer for Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, a predecessor to Saturday Night Live and the birthplace of the modern sitcom.
According to some accounts, the idea for The Odd Couple play came from Simon’s brother, Danny (also a writer for Your Show of Shows), who was living with another single man following a divorce. Others say that the inspirational divorcee was writer Mel Brooks of Spaceballs—and, yes, Your Show of Shows—fame. Regardless, the result was a play about two divorced men at opposite ends of the cleanliness spectrum, living together in Manhattan.
The 1970s Odd Couple starred Tony Randall as the neat freak photographer Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as the slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison. The series was adapted for television by Garry Marshall, who went on to create Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy. Series regulars included Penny Marshall (Garry’s sister, Laverne of Laverne & Shirley) as Oscar’s secretary Myrna and Al Molinaro (Happy Days‘ Al Delvecchio) as Officer Murray Greshler, a friend and poker buddy of Oscar’s. Felix and Oscar got into all manner of trouble—most often at the mischievous Oscar’s behest, and to the fastidious Felix’s chagrin—from going on a date with the Pigeon sisters who live upstairs, to winning a car from Dick Clark’s radio show.
The original Odd Couple sitcom debuted on ABC in 1970. It was based on the 1968 movie starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which was based on the stage play by Neil Simon. Simon himself had a background in television writing; he had begun his career in the early 1950s as a comedy writer for Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, a predecessor to Saturday Night Live and the birthplace of the modern sitcom.
According to some accounts, the idea for The Odd Couple play came from Simon’s brother, Danny (also a writer for Your Show of Shows), who was living with another single man following a divorce. Others say that the inspirational divorcee was writer Mel Brooks of Spaceballs—and, yes, Your Show of Shows—fame. Regardless, the result was a play about two divorced men at opposite ends of the cleanliness spectrum, living together in Manhattan.
The 1970s Odd Couple starred Tony Randall as the neat freak photographer Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as the slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison. The series was adapted for television by Garry Marshall, who went on to create Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy. Series regulars included Penny Marshall (Garry’s sister, Laverne of Laverne & Shirley) as Oscar’s secretary Myrna and Al Molinaro (Happy Days‘ Al Delvecchio) as Officer Murray Greshler, a friend and poker buddy of Oscar’s. Felix and Oscar got into all manner of trouble—most often at the mischievous Oscar’s behest, and to the fastidious Felix’s chagrin—from going on a date with the Pigeon sisters who live upstairs, to winning a car from Dick Clark’s radio show.
