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The Odd Couple - The Final Season
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Annoying Edits 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Another song edited out. The episode "Your Mother Wears Army Boots" has Martina Arroyo sing For Once In Your Life to Howard Cosell at the end, with Oscar lip-synching along with her in a very nice moment in the show. The edits are very fustrating. These are supposed to be DVDs of the complete episodes. If there is time and place to show them complete and intact it should be in this format. I'll admit...all throughout the five seasons DVD's I have noticed they added little snippets of scenes I never saw on TV during syndication, but I think Paramount loses credit when they edit out other parts.
Cheapskates 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Less 2 stars due solely to the editing of content.
I am in complete agreement with other buyers about the edits and I use the word "complete" literally, unlike Paramount/CBS when they say "The COMPLETE Final Season". In a previous season, an entire gag about trying to get Felix to go to sleep (featuring the song "Dream") was cut. This season, one of my favorite episodes, "Strike up the band or else..." had gags cut involving the song "In Some Secluded Rendezvous"(sung twice in the show by Tony Randall and Pernell Roberts). How expensive can these songs be that you have to butcher these episodes. Charge a little extra with the guarantee that all the episodes are intact and you'll sell just a many if not more.
Editorial Review:
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/18/2008 Run time: 562 minutes
The Odd Couple - The Complete Series, Seasons 1-5
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
The WKRP treatment of this series ruins your enjoyment 2 out of 5 stars.
7 of 14 people found this review helpful.
First some remarks about the series itself. This show proves that opposites may not attract, but, with some work, they can at least peacefully coexist. Felix is not just compulsively neat, he literally worships at the altar of order. Oscar's philosophy is not to sweat the small stuff and thinks everything is small stuff. One of the reasons this show is still funny today is that most people have personalities that lie between these two extremes and can therefore sympathize and laugh at the actions of both men. The first season focuses on the relationship between Oscar and Felix, pretty much stays in the same neighborhood as the 1968 movie from which it sprang as to storylines, and even has the same actresses from the film playing the Pidgeon Sisters. The first season is good, and helps establish the complete personalities of Oscar and Felix in a way a two hour film just doesn't have time to do, but I think it lacks something in the way of the energy and pace that the subsequent seasons had. "The Odd Couple" had the misfortune of premiering right before shows like "All In the Family" would give birth to modern television as we know it today, along with the frank discussion of controversial subject matter in a comic context.
Quite frankly, I think the show would probably have been canceled after its second season if it had not changed to the live set it used from seasons two forward and started breeching more modern topics like it did to help keep pace with the great changes that were taking place in television during the early 70's. I have to give credit to producer Garry Marshall - if he saw something that wasn't quite working in one of his shows, he wasn't afraid to make drastic changes to try and get things back on track. I would say that the "Odd Couple" is one of the few shows that managed to never jump the shark during its five year run. Considering the fact that it aired during a period of great change in American culture - 1970-1975 - that is saying something.
Now for the presentation of the series. The first season, which is probably its weakest, is the only one worth purchasing. If there are edits, I haven't noticed them. That is because the modern music starts getting inserted into the show in the second season, part of the effort that I previously mentioned to keep the show current. Unfortunately, it has also been its undoing in syndication and on home video. The RIAA, demanding outrageous royalties for anyone as much as humming a copyrighted song, ruined the video release of WKRP in Cincinatti, and is responsible for Ally McBeal on DVD being an impossibility in the U.S. If Paramount were to pay what the RIAA wanted, it would have to charge us two hundred per season. However, Paramount decided to deface this show anyway and release cut up sets from season two onward. That part of the blame definitely lies at their feet.
In short, avoid this set, and buy season one if you haven't. Subsequent seasons are so cut up it will ruin your enjoyment if you remember this series in its original run.
Editorial Review:
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/18/2008
The Odd Couple - The First Season
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 48
Average rating: 5.0 of 5
My Favorite Show Ever! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
I love "The Odd Couple", unfortunately, it's been a long time since I've seen it on TV reruns; hence my purchase of the DVDs. I started with season two, and now I am getting into season one. The two are different in that season one is done in a different apartment and with a laugh track, while season two is with a live audiance. Season one moves a little slower but is still hilarius. The chemistry between Jack Klugman and Tony Randall is perfection. I love these guys. The underlying sadness of the show is quite an interesting ingredient to the humor involved. Although it's only touched upon occasionally in the show, these are two men who are dealing with a terrible thing-namely divorce; and coming to terms with their own faults that led them there. The overt hostility and the deep down affection Felix and Oscar (as well as Tony and Jack) have for each other makes this show really special.
This DVD also comes with wonderful extras from future seasons (Jack Klugman's favorite episodes), and clips from vintage television featuring Odd Couple"-related material. That was a nice surprise!
Editorial Review:
All 24 hilarious 1st season episodes. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/05/2008 Run time: 698 minutes
The Odd Couple - The Fourth Season
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33
Average rating: 2.5 of 5
Thankful for the shows, Upset about the Edits 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
I watched this show endlessly on WPIX in New York, growing up in the 1970's and 1980's. I have all 4 seasons so far, and I will pick up season 5. I was showing an episode, "Odd Holiday", to my kids, who, by the way, love the show. It's a flashback episode, and before going into the flashback, Murray asks Oscar if the picture was going to go all wavy. The flashback, I can remember from WPIX, had Felix singing "gotta get going, gotta get going...", and hitting his knee with a magazine. On the DVD, there was no "wavy" going into the flashback, just a jump cut to the past. It jumps straight over Felix and the magazine, and goes straight to Gloria picking up the magazine and tapping her knee - Felix says that's annoying. Without Felix's tapping, there is no joke - the irony that Felix is annoyed at what he was doing before her. I don't know if anybody caught that, but that little snippet missing (for no apparent reason), ruined the joke.
On the plus side, every episode in this set (plus the previous 3) had about 3-4 minutes of footage that I have never seen before, so that is a good thing. I just don't know why little snippets like the one above was cut. I don't think it was a music issue.
The show gets 5 stars, but it loses a star for the nonsense editing. Overall, it's still better than syndication.
Editorial Review:
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 06/10/2008 Run time: 562 minutes
The Odd Couple - The Second Season
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 50
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
retooled for laughter . . . 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
A one camera setup was used in the first season of The Odd Couple, and the look of the episodes shot inside the New York apartment set was tight, almost claustrophobic at times. Stars Tony Randall and Jack Klugman felt the setup cramped their style and retarded their creativity. For the second season, the program was filmed on an entirely new set, before a live audience, using three cameras. As a result, The Odd Couple was a wide open look and feel, with smooth transitional shots now possible. It is a huge improvement, and the two stars display new energy in their performances, taking their comedy to a higher and more physical level. In one episode, Oscar is showing Felix how to play football, and a nimble Randall leapfrogs over Klugman while he is down in a football stance. Another time Felix does a headstand, then kips up on a desk, finishing with flurry of pushups in an impressive display of physical fitness. Oscar isn't as physically active, but when properly motivated, you can find him running around the living room exercising a greyhound.
While much activity is still centered around apartment life, the boys get out and about town too. The circle of characters really opens up to more than just the boys over for a poker game. With Felix's ex-wife Gloria (Janice Hansen), and Oscar's ex-wife Blanche (Brett Sommers), both being featured prominently in various episodes. Dr. Nancy Cunningham (Joan Hotchkis) is Oscar's steady girlfriend, and Al Molinaro is back as Murray the cop. For this season, Pamlyn Ferdin is Felix's daughter Edna, and Penny Marshall makes her first appearance as Oscar's Secretary Myrna.
Notable guest stars include Pat Morita, John Fiedler, Joan Van Ark, Vito Scotti, and Hal Smith. The eclectic parade of celebrity guest stars that would become an Odd Couple trademark begins with the likes of opera singer Richard Fredericks, and comedian David Steinberg.
Highlights include `The Fat Farm', where the guys head to a retreat to lose weight, `Security Arms', where they move into a high-security building, and `Partner's Investment' which features Felix and Oscar toiling in a Japanese restaurant.
This is a great season, rich with diversity and expansive character development. There is a lot going on. The plots have moved beyond early clichés, like Felix's bad back going out, and Oscar's frequent threats to kick Felix out on the street. From here, the stage is set for even better things to come. The only downside is that unlike the Season One set, which had a bonus disc and various commentary tracks, Season Two has absolutely no extras.
Editorial Review:
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/05/2008 Run time: 586 minutes
The Odd Couple - The Third Season
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
I hate censorship. 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
There's absolutely no excuse to excise scenes or music on any TV show or movie DVD. We fans are willing to pay an extra 10 or 20 dollars to get the original music.
Almost perfect 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 4 people found this review helpful.
This DVD is great, except for one factor. Some of the episodes are edited, probably due to protection from lawsuits. All episodes that have songs (such as "In Some Secluded Rendezvous" and "Peck of My Heart") have the songs omitted. Devoted Odd Couple fans (such as this reviewer) will love having this great show in our collection but the omissions are an obvious drawback. Had I known about the omissions, I still would have bought the DVD, even though the disappointment is a great one. Fortunately, most episodes are shown in their entirety. Fans who love this show will undoubtedly appreciate all its jewels - or to paraphrase Felix from a season 5 episode - that it has a new polish, a panache.
Rockingrhino 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Love this show and have seasons 1-3. The only scene I noticed missing was the dance teacher on Oscar's B-day tap dancing and then Felix telling her to "Stop dancing."-. I love the show- better than most of the current unfunny junk on TV.
Editorial Review:
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/22/2008
ODD COUPLE: SEASON ONE (5PC) / (FULL DOL CHK) - ODD COUPLE: SEASON ONE (5PC) / (FULL DOL CHK)
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