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8 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best, 14 January 2003
Author: counterrevolutionary from Spokane, WA

I'm about the only person I know who prefers the first season (shot in cinematic style with a single camera) to later seasons, but even after they switched to the multiple-camera technique and live audience (with the accompanying broadening of the humor), it was still better than 90% of TV sitcoms ever (unlike, say, *Happy Days*, on which quality plummeted when they made a similar change).

The only thing that really interferes with my enjoyment of *TOC* is the horrible, horrible celebrity cameos.

I mean, Rodney Allen Rippy?

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
SEASON 5 Most Joyous Moment Ruined!, 25 November 2008
8/10
Author: jclauser from United States

For the most part Season 5 is wonderful, and it's obvious why Tony Randall snagged the EMMY for it, but Paramount Home Video has destroyed what has got to be one of the most joyous moments in t.v. sitcom history. In the last episode when the the minister announces that Felix and Gloria are once again husband and wife, Oscar erupts into a dance and belts out "I'm Singing in the Rain." Not so in this truncated release. The song is wiped out completely and the scene is ruined. Could the rights to the tune really have been that expensive? There are other musical edits throughout the season, but this one is unforgivable.

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the great sitcom classics of the 1970's, 22 August 2003
10/10
Author: raysond from Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Let me asked you this question................

How many TV shows do you know were major hits after they were made into feature films? How many of those movies made the transition into a great TV series?

Answer: "The Odd Couple","M*A*S*H","Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"(Alice),and "In The Heat Of The Night".

First off,let me say that "The Odd Couple" was the first and foremost based on a Neil Simon play to successfully make the transition from being on Broadway,to motion pictures,and finally to television as a weekly series. In 1968,the motion picture version starred Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon,and on September 24,1970,the television series version premiered on ABC-TV and it starred Tony Randall and Jack Klugman and was produced by Garry Marshall.

The television series was one of ABC-TV biggest hits and it won back to back Emmys during its incredible five year run on the network from 1970 to 1975. It also in the top ten Nielsen during its run making it one of the most funniest shows of the decade. Tony Randall and Jack Klugman offered more to the roles than the movie or the Broadway play put together and every comedical line was simply magic. Indeed,the show was wickedly funny and sometimes having the two end up in some various situations especially,Randall(who played Felix Unger)who always tries to do the impossible for him and his divorced roommate Klugman(who played Oscar Madison),but ends up with hilarious results.

The show was produced by Garry Marshall,who went on to produced "Happy Days","Laverne and Shirley",and under the supervision of the playwright himself,Neil Simon who oversaw the production. Speaking of "The Odd Couple",this series hasn't been shown in years and it needs to be brought back,since the last time it was shown was on Nick-At-Nite's sister channel TV Land,and the former cable network TNN( formerly The Nashville Network and changed it title to The National Network which is now these days Spike TV).

**Getting back to the other shows that were great feature films and went on to become great TV shows: "M*A*S*H"(CBS-TV:1972-1983),"Alice" (CBS-TV:1976-1985),"In The Heat Of The Night"(NBC-TV:1986-1992 and also on CBS-TV:1992-1994)

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the All Time Greats!, 5 July 2002
Author: peacham from Pa.

As far as Sit Coms go "The Odd Couple" is number one on my list of favorites...edging out even "M.A.S.H." and "All In The Family".Randall and Klugman make this show great...both are perfectly attuned to their roles.Its one of the few times a Television show attained the high quality of its source material.

While Randall and Klugman's great chemistry and comic timing make the show there is strong support from the other cast members.In particular Al Molinaro's mystified Murry The Cop,Gary Walberg's Grouchy Speed and Brett Somer's cynical Blanche Madison. May the sun never set on "The Odd Couple"!

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2 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
A television classic, 22 April 2000
Author: Op_Prime from Ardmore, PA

This was the show that pretty much started the whole mismatched pair sitcom or at least the most memorable of that type. Tony Randall and Jack Klugman have perfect chemistry which the show really benefits from. The series had clever writing from start to finish. Not just one of the most memorable show from the 1970s, but also one of the memorable shows of all time.

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3 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Fantastic show., 21 May 2002
Author: W. Jones

This is indeed one of the few tv series that are equal too if not better than the film and play it was based on. Simply shot and perfectly played, the scripts and the acting could not be better. These shows are fun to watch now not only for the style of clothing, but also for the fact that it's about two middle aged men! TV show-makers of today would do well to watch and learn from this classic.

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3 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the few TV shows that was a successful transition from the movies, 17 July 2001
Author: coverme6 from Allentown, PA

Just like M*A*S*H, THE ODD COUPLE made a great breakthrough from the big screen to its smaller sister version. Instead of the equally great Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (God rest their souls), Felix

and Oscar are played by Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. The two make a great team, constantly getting on each others' nerves as they live in the same apartment. The magic found in the movie is evident in the

show as well.

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2 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
My favorite sitcom!, 3 December 2001
Author: Wayne Huffman (wayne@huffman.com) from Honolulu, Hawaii

Quite a few movies were made into television sitcoms. In my opinion, there are only two that were better than the movies - M*A*S*H, and The Odd Couple. In the case of The Odd Couple, it could be because I like Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as actors better than I do Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, respectively. I am not aware of any network currently re-running TOC (as of December 2001), and I really miss it.

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3 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
one of the best, 19 November 1999
Author: Robert D. Ruplenas

Hard to believe that a t.v. series could match the high comic attainment of the movie version of Neil Simon's play, which can probably safely be called a classic by now. But Tony Randall and Jack Klugman had the perfect chemistry to make it happen, plus the work of some pretty outstanding writers (of whom I can find no mention on the IMDB site, for shame!). This will be remembered as one of the great series of the 70's.

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1 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Before A&E and L&O, there was Channel 11 and The Odd Couple, 3 June 2007
10/10
Author: ray-280 from Philadelphia

These days, it's common for a network to milk every dime of the syndication rights for a series, but the first time it was done in today's over-the-top fashion was when Channel 11 in New York began airing Odd Couple reruns four times a day, twice in the afternoon, and twice again in the evening. The show ran just long enough for this to be possible, and any kid in New York, especially one who didn't have cable, couldn't help but watch at least some of the time.

Odd Couple reruns were a refreshing change of pace from Brady Bunch reruns, with their suburban amenities, like grass, driveways, and bedrooms bigger than closets. Sure, there were The Honeymooners, but they lived in Brooklyn in the 1950s, and there was I Love Lucy, but they were the old neighbors you avoided in the hallways. Felix and Oscar, however, were guys who were either like your dad, your dad's friends, or one of your cousins or uncles. They were regular New Yorkers living regular lives. Kids in New York who wanted someone to relate to and to experience the city got a double dose of the Big Apple and then some through this show.

What made this show work even more than the personality clash was the culture clash. Those who trash the celebrity cameos miss their purpose. Oscar's world was as alien to Felix as his was to Oscar. Scenes like Felix and Bubba Smith discussing interior decorating, or Oscar learning ballet exercises from Edward Vilella, are what really defined the show. Each character understood the other's place in his world, but could never fully respect or understand the world. This is why we got Oscar as a theater critic and Felix in the booth on Monday Night Football.

We also got two lead characters escaping bad marriages only to find themselves in a worse marriage, not to each other, but to the ever-elusive affordable Manhattan apartment with a roommate who isn't too far off the deep end. The need to preserve one's living arrangements drives Manhattanites to tolerate Odd Couple-style antics, lest we have to pay the entire rent or risk an unknown quantity as a roommate.

For me, as a kid watching the reruns (I never caught the series during its run) was a New York experience all its own, a chance to "see" my own city in all its quirky glory, comedically encapsulated by two of the great talents of that era. We got hot dogs eaten on the run, cabs hailed in rainstorms, subways getting stuck, poker games, off-track betting, and a measure of culture through Felix that I never would have been exposed to otherwise.

This show effortlessly achieved a level of performance on a weekly basis that few of today's shows can match even on their best nights. This may have been a product of the three-network era when talent and ratings were not so diluted, but it's also a product of a quality standard that seems sorely lacking today. There were some mediocre episodes on this show, but very few bad ones, many good ones, and a lot of great ones.

I'll end with some trivia notes: Klugman really lived at 1049 Park Avenue (he often played horses at the OTB parlors on the East Side), and Tony Randall actually lived at 145 Central Park West. Talk about hiding in plain sight!! This was also one of the few shows ever to use a phone number for one of the characters that did not begin with 555.

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