The Television Show The Odd Couple premiered on September 24, 1970. (The Broadway production, written by Neil Simon and directed by Mike Nichols, opened in 1965 and ran for almost a thousand performances; there was also a movie version in 1968, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.) Nothing against the play, which took home an armful of well-deserved Tony Awards, or the movie, which had some mind-bending moments (this hall-of-fame cornflakes joke that might take a moment to process; and a clearing of sinuses later be reimagined as Felix’s signature honking). But the T.V. show—this is sacred space here at Mid Century Cinema. Watching these shows in reruns as a teenager informed my youth. My grandma, in her eighties at the time, watched faithfully as well. We would swap stories about episodes, and she would express surprise that my friends and I would be interested in “the problems of two middle aged men.” Actually it never occurred to me that they were middle aged (even though that fact informed the theme of several episodes); I was also too slow to ask in return why she was so engrossed by the problems of two middle aged men. But it probably would never have occurred to me that anyone would not love The Odd Couple, which was the source of, it is fair to say, something of an obsession in my cohort.
The show was developed for television by Gary Marshall and accomplished T.V. writer Jerry Belson. Marshall would go on to oversee a number of hugely successful shows, including Happy Days and Mork and Mindy, before moving on to feature films (we prefer Nothing in Common to some of his better known hits, about which we will pass over with a dignified silence)—and he was quite excellent in Albert Brooks’ Lost in America. Regarding Marshall – although The Odd Couple was fortunate to attract first rate talent throughout on the production side, and benefitted from a strong supporting cast, a reliable stock company of bit players, and, increasingly as the show’s reputation grew (despite its invariably tepid ratings) enjoyed notable guest personalities around whom episodes would be tailored – the driving creative force behind the show was ultimately the endless argumentative contestation between Marshall and leading men Jack Klugman and Tony Randall.
By the time they signed on for The Odd Couple, each actor was well established in the business. A notable Broadway performance in Inherit the Wind (1955) led Randall to high profile film roles, including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (Frank Tashlin), Let’s Make Love (George Cukor, opposite Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand), and a handful of much beloved Rock Hudson/Doris Day vehicles. Klugman also turned heads on Broadway (in Jerome Robbins’ Gypsy, 1959) and appeared in some high profile films including Twelve Angry Men (Sidney Lumet) and Days of Wine and Roses (Blake Edwards), before playing Oscar on Broadway after Matthau left the production. And both men had extensive experience in television (you may have a favorite Klugman Twilight Zone episode; Randall’s small screen work stretches back to playing Harvey Weskit in the Peabody Award winning sitcom Mr. Peepers that ran from 1952-55). But it was not the talents of these two individual actors that made The Odd Couple special—it was the chemistry between them. (Go ahead, try and imagine the show with one of them, but someone else in the other’s shoes. Can’t be done.)
The Odd Couple ran for five seasons and 114 episodes. You can pretty much skip Season 1, which was filmed on a cloistered set with a single camera, a common practice at that time. Most of the episodes were . . . uh . . . well done, just fine, whatever, and, sure, included some very funny moments. Episode 8, “Oscar the Model” is quite good, with a guest appearance by Albert Brooks and highlighted by the all-time great, censor eluding line “Do you think your face is more important than that girl’s—Oscar you’re acting like a spoiled child!” (Say it really quickly.) But after the first season, Randall and Klugman pushed for the spontaneity of performing before a live audience, which was adopted starting in season two, deploying the then still innovative three camera approach to capture the action.
We love most episodes that were not in Season 1, so choosing any “best of” list will inevitably leave out many favorites (The Psychic, Dog Story, Ticket Scalping, The Subway . . . I could go on). Whipping up a “long short-list” of forty-plus greats to consider for official canonization was a manageable task—but there was no way those could be whittled down to a Top 10. So we checked with upper management, and received a special dispensation for this exceptional case. And so here they are, in chronological order, that which will still cause heartbreak and controversy, our Top Twenty. [PS: A bonus for fellow obsessives! At the very bottom of this post there are ten quotes. To play, try to match the quote to the proper episode from the Top Twenty. Answers will be added later. Update 9/29 – Answers now in place at bottom.]
S2/E2 Felix’s Wife’s Boyfriend. Felix’s jealously is not well served by Gloria’s poorly timed encounter with a “dress ripping elevator,” to say nothing of the tell-tale scent of his nasal spray.
S2/E3 Hospital Mates. Felix and Oscar both need minor operations. Written by Gary Marshall. Oscar does not want to go to Wyoming. And, yes, “You’re my eyes, Gloria.”
S2/E4 Sleepwalker. Oscar takes to sleepwalking and bashing Felix over the head with a rolled up newspaper. Bolivian chickens will do that to you. Written by Woody Allen collaborator Mickey Rose!
S2/E15 Security Arms. From Jerry Belson—New York’s crime wave sends the boys looking for a safer apartment. All together now: “We don’t go around grabbing other men’s ex-wives’ upper arms.”
S2/E17 You Saved my Life. The episode that raises existential questions about boneless chicken. Penny Marshall makes the first of her 27 appearances as Myrna Turner, Oscar’s secretary.
S3/E2 Big Mouth Cosell. Oscar writes some unflattering things about Howard Cosell (“babbling baboon, gentleman jerk, the mouth that roared, kid nausea”); Felix provides some of the greatest live commentary in sports history (“he’s scrambling with the dexterity of a lizard”).
S3/E5 The Odd Monks. Another Gary Marshall scripted episode. Featuring Richard Stahl in one of his nine different turns on the show. (Peak Stahl is S5/E3, the Frog – “Kill all the animals but don’t hurt me,” followed by one of The Odd Couple’s two references to Watergate.)
S3/E11 Password. Featuring Allen Ludden and Betty White, Felix’s remarkable command of esoterica (Lincoln loved mayonnaise) make for challenging Password clues. But although Aristophanes may be ridiculous, the Athenian playwright almost saves the day.
S3/E15 I Gotta be Me. Kicked out of group therapy, Felix and Oscar take a desperate step—role reversal. (And Murray invents our go-to excuse for avoiding dinner parties: “I got to take the dog in for shots.”)
S3/E18 The Hustler. Oscar has the money to support Felix’s opera group, but lets it ride on a pool match against Sure-Shot Wilson. See if you can follow the impeccable logic of the isosceles triangle.
S4/E3 The Odd Decathlon. Felix is left without health insurance (and unimpressed with Oscar’s proposed alternative—Lloyds of Lubbock). A disagreement about relative fitness ensues; Felix, overtraining, runs around the reservoir until he is “overtaken by an eighty year old woman . . . wearing corrective sneakers.”
S4/E12 The Exorcists. Felix suspects a spirit is haunting the air conditioner, probably Irving Cohen. The episode includes timeless advice on how to get an apartment in New York, and an excellent guest spot by Victor Buono, who can give advice on “How to exorcise at home.”
S4/E16 The Flying Felix. A wildly popular episode, for good reason. That Frederick much fears serious trouble in the fuselage has been properly immortalized—but there is not an unfunny moment in this one. (Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman wrote a dozen stellar episodes for the series.) Yes, that’s Teri Garr selling flight insurance. And who among us has not flown on Belkin Air?
S4/E20 The Insomniacs. Felix can’t sleep. Another contribution from Mickey Rose, who also wrote the gems The Moonlighter (S4/E14) and To Bowl or Not to Bowl (S5/E2). Key observation here: “Mr. Friend is asleep . . . and Mr. Enemy is awake.”
S4/E21 New York’s Oddest. Felix delivers a baby in Times Square (Unger-woo), and is inspired to join the police department’s Civilian Patrol. It does not go well. But he scores “above average” on a Cosmopolitan sex quiz.
S4/E22 One for the Bunny. A two-fer: one of the series’ great flashback episodes (see also S2/E21, A Night to Dismember) and one of its great courtroom episodes (we’re especially fond of The Dog Story S5/E5). Felix, aka Spenser Benedict, is contractually obligated to photograph Gloria for Playboy. He sues to prevent publication, and Clarence Darrow could not have done a better job: “I think I speak for this entire court when I say you make me sick—get off the stand!”
S5/E13: The Bigger they Are. Felix directs a commercial for Fat A Way diet pills. Oscar refuses to do the cartwheel. The second of comedian John Byner’s memorable appearances (in S4/E6 The New Car he was the garage manager from hell).
S5/E14: Two on the Aisle. An out of his depth Oscar has to fill in as a theater critic, and so tricks Felix into reviewing the productions for him (“Now I know your true colors, Oscar”). All goes so well that Oscar the critic is asked to appear on Television. Felix has a plan.
S5/E15: Your Mother Wears Army Boots. The welcome return of Howard Cosell, three years later. His best lines, impeccably delivered, include “Let me elucidate, Unger, you’re a little slow,” and “After this commercial, one of us will be back . . . let’s put up a minute spot on mental health.”
S5/E16: Felix the Horse Player. Felix starts betting on the ponies after Oscar’s new source provides one hot tip after another. The boys win so much they wipe out Oscar’s faithful bookie, 52nd Street Irwin (last heard from laying eight to five against Oscar’s proposed marriage in S5/E16). But there’s a life lesson in this one: “One thing is for sure: there’s no such thing as a sure thing. That’s why they call it gambling.”
Bonus for obsessives: Match the ten quotes to their respective Top 20 Episodes!
“I lot of times I don’t know by 10:00 if my guest is going to stay overnight”
“The Military Junta is behind us”
“My Uncle Edward—the one who died in the bus crash”
“I wish I had worn the dress”
“Five dollars for socks”
“I said goodbye to the talking bra”
“It’s a good thing my dress shirts weren’t delivered—you’d have fixed him up with my mother!”
“The guy they were afraid to move?”
“Beats cleaning bubble gum out of braces”
“Well I won’t be here tomorrow, so you can start inhaling without me”
Answers:
Security Arms (Oscar); The Odd Decathalon (Lloyd [Cliff Norton], explaining why his “home office” is in Buenos Aires); The Hustler (Felix); Two on the Aisle (Oscar); Felix the Horse Player (Felix); The Odd Monks (Ralph Decker [Richard Stahl] referring to an ad Felix had shot); Felix’s Wife’s Boyfriend (Felix); Hospital Mates (Oscar); The Exorcists (Dr. Clove [Victor Buono], on why he prefers his current profession); Big Mouth Cosell (Howard Cosell responding to Felix’s suggestion that he use Felix’s inhalator to help him with that “nasal twang”) – which leads us to one final quote (it helps if you can hear the voice in your head: “That nasal twang is the single most identifiable voice in all broadcasting!”)