The Odd Couple is a kind of rarity in television. Based on the 1968 film that starred Jack Lemmon as Felix and Walter Matthau as Oscar, many feel that the series starring Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar equaled or surpassed the quality of the film. Both Tony Randall and Jack Klugman received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for each of the show's five seasons. Even more amazing, ABC canceled The Odd Couple at the end of each season during the series' five-year run because of poor ratings, only to bring the show back after it scored so well in the Neilsens during summer reruns.
It's easy to think of Jack Klugman in his other famous television role in Quincy M.E. (1976-83). Even though Tony Randall co-starred in a slew of popular motion pictures, including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), Pillow Talk (1959), Let's Make Love (1960), Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1963), to name a few, it's hard not to think of him as Felix Unger, the fastidious neat freak with nasal passage issues stuck in a permanent state of fussiness.
Though Klugman may be as fondly remembered by some for his role as Dr. Quincy, he was just as effective at making Oscar Madison his own. Oscar was as slovenly as Felix was clean, had little use for utensils, plates or Felix's house rules, but loves sports and his job as a sports writer. He was always grumpy but, unlike his roommate, didn't sweat the small stuff. He always believed things were going to work out one way or another.
The Odd Couple was a bit of a departure from the formula executive producer Garry Marshall would develop for his later sitcoms. While Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and Mork & Mindy relied heavily on slapstick and physical comedy, the humor of The Odd Couple came from the personalities and eccentricities of the characters, funny dialogue, and the unique friendship between Felix and Oscar.
Having watched all four seasons of The Odd Couple on DVD, I think that while the show was still very enjoyable, by season four the writers were beginning to run out of original ideas. As a result, some of the episodes lack the comedic edge and originality of previous seasons. In early seasons, the plots of episodes didn't matter so much, because the back-and-forth dialogue between Felix and Oscar was really the focus of the show and could keep any plot afloat. However, in season four, the writers seemed to get away from that formula by bringing in a lot of extra characters and fleshing out storylines rather than focusing on the interplay between the roommates.
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