The Odd Couple (Matthew Perry-Thomas Lennon)

I watched the first 5 minutes, then went to sleep on the couch. The movie was fantastic, the show with Klugman/Randall was good in a different way. Stop the re-hashes!

 

I was wrong. The opening credits read :"Based on the play 'The Odd Couple' by Neil Simon".

 

Paramount owns the rights to the TV show lock, stock, and barrel, so it's possible those credits are contractual. Sadly for Neil Simon (who is still alive), when he sold the rights to the original Odd Couple movie back in 1967, he surrendered all TV rights as well. Simon has revived the concept by changing the idea several times (enough that Paramount can't sue him, at least for stage plays), and is reportedly bitter that Paramount took advantage of him in this way.

 

Sorry, but between The State and Reno 911, I've had enough of Thomas Lennon to last several lifetimes (and a few afterlives as well).

 

Does anybody remember The New Odd Couple which Starred Ron Glass and another actor?

 

Yes I do. Ron Glass from Barney Miller and Demond Wilson from Sanford and Son starred in it. Only lasted one season. I think I saw one episode or two. It did not make much of an impression on me.

 

I like Lennon.
Don't like Perry at all.

 

Exciting? I slept through the whole episode. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

Mm, Im sure the homosexual subtext is so interesting in this day and age.

 

I don't think I'll be making it through a whole season this year. This one just isn't very funny to me. I feel like I'm either hearing words from the play or "just not funny" writing. It verges on difficult to watch for me.

 

There were a couple of jokes in the first episode that addressed this. When Oscar's friends meet Felix, Oscar says to them something like, "No, hard to believe but he isn't gay". Also, Felix refers to Oscar and himself as a couple and Oscar makes it clear, "WE are NOT a couple".

The Felix character is 'prissy' but not gay.

The room-mate premise is a forced plot devise that has been used for ages in sit-coms, especially when it makes no sense logically. For example 'The Big Bang Theory'. There's absolutely no reason why Leonard and Sheldon are or ever were room-mates. Both could always easily afford an apartment on their own.

 

It's funnier that almost all of CBS' other sit-coms, like 'Two Broke Girls'. If that pile of ___ can survive no reason this show can't.

 

I thought I would watch last night but when it came time I turned the channel. I'll see if it is on demand sometime soon. I didn't think the pilot was that bad, and the blonde is smokin' hot and can hold my attention. But agree with the above, if Two Broke Girls can survive as long as it has then this and anything else can last years and years on the air.

 

JK Simmons was on a show last year on NBC that I thought was pretty clever and funny. It didn't last. This show has the name of a successful play and TV series. There was no "hot blonde" last night. If this show is your cup of tea, as with any show, by all means enjoy it.

 

I watched a few minutes last night. No chemistry between Felix and Oscar and unfunny jokes. Don't waste your time.

 

I don't think that's the case, certainly not when the show started - it would have made a lot of sense to share living expenses at the time. Sure, now it makes less sense from a financial point of view, but as the last episode showed, the group have become good friends and feel comfortable with each other and their surroundings, so it isn't so much about financial affordability any more.

 

Hadn't heard about it before this thread. Watched it and thought it was pretty good--at least better than I expected and *certainly* better than I feared. It may lose me down the line, but I'll keep watching until it does. Of the many attempts at revivals, this may be the best, which isn't saying much at all, and is based only on the pilot.

Grew up with the original tv show, liked it, own the DVDs, but don't absolutely love it.

 

When the show began both Leonard and Sheldon are [associate] professors. There is a flashback episode in Season 3 which shows how the two first met when Leonard 'applies' to be Sheldon's roommate. I can't remember whether they are still grad students in the flashback or professors. Still if you assessing it from a realistic POV, both would have been on full scholarships or fellowships and easily could have afforded their own apartments.

And regardless of all that - the roommate thing is a plot device. I've always thought of TBBT as a nerd hybrid of 'Friends' and 'The Odd Couple'.

 

I think it still makes sense to split the costs of living when starting out along one's career path.

Of course it's a plot device. That was never in question. Take that away and you change the whole character/show dynamic. All shows rely on a plot device, but in this case I think a credible case can be made for the initial premise.

 

I've watched two eps, and while Thomas Lennon is a revelation, Matthew Perry is the weak link....Dave Foley's character seems more like Oscar than Oscar.

 

I use to watch the Odd Couple, it was the most popular show on TV about 5 years ago - oh, wait - that was Two and a Half Men.

 

Watched the second episode...what a letdown from the first.
Seems every comedy now finds ***** jokes a neccessity. Comedies like "Two Broke Girls" relies on them. I'm not a prude
but I just find it to be lazy writing...

 

Saw an interview with Klugman and Randall, probably their last one together though they were only 'together' via satellite, and when asked how they felt about modern sitcoms, they complained that they just relied on their newfound freedom. My memory (or assumption) was that they were referring to ***** jokes and the like, so that makes such jokes all the more distracting. I'm also not a prude.

Anyone else find the punning names funny: Matthew and Lennon<->Matthau and Lemmon?

 

I don't know, I saw the first episode, it looks like another Matthew Perry failure to me, I'm sorry to say.

 

Has the well run dry? I know everybody "borrows" from somebody. But this show.......put the stake in it.