Originally conceived by Neil Simon, who based the play on his brother Danny’s true-life experience, The Odd Couple concept is best described in the one-sentence treatment Simon submitted to Paramount, who financed the stage play sight-unseen: “Two men—one divorced and one estranged and neither quite sure why their marriages fell apart—move in together to save money for alimony and suddenly discover they’re having the same conflicts and fights they had in their marriages.”

The Odd Couple, in all forms, is truly a popular-culture phenomenon. Simon’s wildly successful play ran from 1965 to 1967, has been revived on Broadway more than once, and, as Rip Stock notes in his book Odd Couple Mania, it is most likely being produced right now by any number of community theater groups across the country. In 1968 the play was made into a successful film starring Walter Matthau as unkempt sportswriter Oscar Madison and Jack Lemmon as analretentive commercial photographer Felix Unger. Naturally, Paramount wanted its TV division to cash in on this success; while Simon had signed away his TV rights, Paramount enlisted Dick Van Dyke Show alumni Gary Marshall and Jerry Belson to produce the series for television, which debuted on ABC in September 1970.

The sophisticated style and attention to character that Marshall and Belson had learned during their Dick Van Dyke days paid off, and The Odd Couple became one of TV’s first relevant sitcoms, dealing in an adult fashion with such issues as the generation gap and sex. Of course, the primary focus was on the two main characters. Jack Klugman and Tony Randall made for a perfect Oscar and Felix, and, indeed, the TV actors have become more closely linked than their movie counterparts with these characters. While both actors won Emmy awards for their roles, the series failed to capture a wide audience. Third-placed network ABC had little to lose by airing a marginal show, of course, and remained committed to the sitcom for five seasons before giving it the ax. The series then blossomed in syndication, appearing in major domestic and foreign markets to this day.

The names of those connected with the series, both on and off screen, reads like a Who’s Who of television. Producer Marshall used the respect he had gained from the series to create such less critically respected programs as Happy Days, Mork and Mindy, Laverne and Shirley, and Joanie Loves Chachi. Indeed, it was through his experience with The Odd Couple that Marshall learned a valuable lesson—in order to be a major hit, a show must have “kid appeal,” a formula Marshall soon had down to an art. While Marshall graduated to feature films, Jerry Belson remained in TV, eventually serving as consultant for Cybill, coproducer and cocreator of The Tracey Ullman Show, and writer for The Drew Carey Show.

Klugman, after his first of several bouts with throat cancer, returned to his dramatic roots by starring in NBC’s Quincy. Randall moved over to MTM to star in The Tony Randall Show, as well as the critically acclaimed NBC series Love, Sidney. Penny Marshall, Gary’s sister, launched her acting career as Oscar Madison’s whining secretary Myrna Turner (a name that rhymed when she pronounced it in her heavy New York accent).

The Odd Couple has enjoyed a number of spin-offs, which included an animated version in 1975 featuring a tidy cat and a sloppy dog. In 1982 Jerry Belson revived the series for prime time, featuring African-American actors Ron Glass and Demond Wilson in the Felix and Oscar roles. Using many of the same plots from the original episodes, The New Odd Couple lasted only one season. In 1992 Klugman and Randall reprised their roles in a special two-hour reunion episode. Given the American public’s captivation with the series, it is likely that further versions will continue to surface.