As most TV viewers can attest to, taking a motion picture and translating it into a successful television show is tenuous at best. More often than not, the series offer a tepid version of what might have made the movie such a hot property. This is often because the writers and actors simply cannot live up to what came before. So imagine how difficult it must have been for a young Garry Marshall to convince network suits that a successful series could be produced based on a Broadway Play / Motion Picture. In both cases, the lead characters were played by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, an unbeatable pair whose rapport no one could ever imagine capturing. Yet, against all odds, a TV series known as "The Odd Couple" premiered on September 24, 1970… and the rest, as they say is history. Marshall pulled together Tony Randall and Jack Klugman to portray the fastidious Felix Unger and the slovenly Oscar Madison, begging the question, "Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"

Over the course of five seasons, the team of Randall and Klugman proved that not only would they drive each other crazy, but did it with as much gusto and aplomb as Lemmon and Matthau. The pair became synonymous with the roles, going so far as to reunite years later in a stage production of Neil Simon's original play. What I wouldn't have given to have been there for that.

"The Odd Couple" is yet another in a long list of older TV shows that I have hoped to see on DVD, so much so that I was actually shocked when Paramount finally got around to giving it a release. And to say it was worth the wait is an understatement. Though the series has been in syndication for years, all I've ever seen is chopped up versions. When I received the first season DVD set and began re-watching the show I remembered everything that I loved so much about it in its heyday. The two actors played off of each other so well that it was very nearly a prefect show.

Now that the third season has been released I couldn’t wait to see more. And in watching them I was reminded of something else that had been lost from my otherwise trivia addled brain. I noticed a huge difference between the first and second seasons… the first season had a pre-recorded laugh track… the second season didn't. That's when I remembered reading how much the actors despised using a laugh track and talked the producers into trying it with a live audience. The difference is amazing, the show began to have more of that live, spontaneous feeling that theatre actors thrive in. And the humor was all the better for it.

Generally when Paramount releases an older TV series, you don’t find much in the way of special features… actually there is usually nothing. However, when they released the first season they went for the gold and added in a ton of special features for show richly deserving of them. There were so any extra features that it made my head spin. There were Interviews, appearances and commentaries. On the second and third seasons… there's nothing. Well, there were four 'extra episodes' (from other seasons) on the second season release, but that's not much of an extra since they will be on future sets. There were no additional interviews or anything. It was a little disappointing.

Where Paramount's release of the first season was nearly perfect in its execution, the second and third seasons are a little less so. The only other fault I can find is that the discs are housed in a standard DVD keepcase, with the 5th disc held on the back panel of the case. This wouldn't be much of a nitpick, but the episode titles and synopsis are printed inside the case and that last disc had to be removed to read them. It's a little thing, but still. I also understand that there have been edits to a few of the episodes, though admittedly there were none that I noticed. But then I’m not an expert on the show and do not have older tapes (or memory) to compare them to. I will say that if there are edits, I wish there weren’t… but there’s not a lot that can be done about it. I imagine there was music involved and no one wanted to pay the royalties.

Aside from those little issues, the third season offers some of the absolute best episodes that show had to offer and is well worth picking up.

Episodes:
Gloria, Hallelujah
Big Mouth
The Princess
The Pen is Mightier than the Pencil
The Odd Monks
I’m Dying of Unger
Felix’s First Commercial
The First Baby
Oscar’s Birthday
Password
The Odd Father
Don’t Believe in Roomers
Sometimes a Great Ocean
I Gotta Be Me
The Ides of April
Myrna’s Debut
The Hustler
My Strife in Court
Let’s make a Deal
The Oddyssey Couple
Take My Furniture, Please
The Murray Who Came to Dinner

Starring: Tony Randall, Jack Klugman
Extras: None
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital Mono
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 1/22/2008
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give The Odd Couple: Season 3 a B.