This blog was originally published on elkharttruth.com on May 14, 2014. Season 3 of “The Odd Couple” premieres at 9:30 p.m. tonight.
In a time of reboots and sequels, “The Odd Couple” stands out.
Because for once, it doesn’t feel like a rehash.
“The Odd Couple,” now in its second season on CBS, isn’t just a modern update on the 1970s sitcom starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. It has a slightly different focus.
Yes, there are similarities. Both shows are comedies about two men who are divorced/separated and live together. Same occupations for these friends, too: Oscar Madison (Klugman in the ’70s and Matthew Perry in the new version) still makes a living in sports, though it’s newspaper in the ’70s and a sports talk show host in the current version; and Felix Unger (Randall in the ’70s and Thomas Lennon in the new version) is a photographer. Oscar is still a slob, and Felix is still a neat freak.
Yes, they shouldn’t get along. And many times they don’t. But that’s where the similarities end.
The 1970s show is almost hyper-focused on the two men and their relationship. There is a set of core characters — a group of men who play poker at the shared apartment, and some lady friends here and there — but the times they’re seen are staggered.
In the CBS version, there are more characters in whom viewers can invest. Oscar’s assistant, Dani (Yvette Nicole Brown), provides some laughs by pointing out the obvious. There’s Oscar’s agent, Teddy (Wendell Pierce), and his friend Murph (Geoff Stults), who are foils to his personality: Teddy is tired of being tied down and Murph is always ready to party or goof off.
Plus, by the end of season 1, Felix has a girlfriend, Emily (Lindsay Sloane), who is also a bit neurotic. In the old version, Felix still spends time with his estranged wife.
Because the 1970s version is so hyper-focused on Oscar and Felix, a lot of the episodes revolve around their apartment.
In today’s version there are multiple apartments and the bar nearby. There’s more of a progressive story, while in the older version you can skip an episode and be fine.
Which is almost my biggest complaint, along with the long intro/theme song and same musical interludes over and over (the update put a funkier spin to the theme song and got rid of the interludes, though most shows don’t have those anymore). The episodes are almost too similar. They fight. They get angry. They make up. Repeat. It gets old.
Today’s characters have growth. Small growth, but still. It makes me care more for those characters; they’re learning how to live differently than before. Oscar even realizes he can’t party forever.
Because of the long gap in when these shows aired, the plots are very different. This concept, which originally was a Neil Simon play, has had time to breathe.
That’s not to say the 1970s version is bad — it was Emmy-nominated. But the shows have a different pace and focus, so it appeals to different people. Plus, there are plotlines and sayings that can be portrayed on TV that weren’t so OK in the 1970s, which Garry Marshall, an executive producer on the old version and an executive consultant on the new version of “The Odd Couple,” noted last year.
So for once, this reboot isn’t so bad. Thankfully.
