The New Odd Couple

Infobox Television
show_name = The New Odd Couple


caption = Demond Wilson as Oscar Madison and Ron Glass as Felix Unger in "The New Odd Couple"
format = Sitcom
runtime = 30 minutes per episode
executive_producer =
starring = Ron Glass
Demond Wilson
John Schuck
Bart Braverman
Jo Marie Payton
Liz Torres
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = October 29, 1982
last_aired = February 25, 1983
num_episodes = 13
imdb_id = 0083454

"The New Odd Couple" was a short-lived new version of the 1970-75 television series "The Odd Couple". The show ran on ABC-TV from October 29, 1982-February 25, 1983. The premiere show aired on a Friday at 8:30 PM.

In this series, Felix and Oscar were both black. Felix was portrayed by Ron Glass and Oscar was portrayed by Demond Wilson. The characterizations were still the same, as Felix was a prissy neatfreak and Oscar was a fun loving and sloppy character. John Schuck also appeared as Murray The Cop, who was still kept Caucasian, as was the character of Roy, who was played by Bart Braverman.

The show ran for 13 episodes. 8 of these episodes used recycled scripts from the original series. By the time the writers began producing new scripts, it was too late, as the show never found an audience, and ended up being cancelled on February 25, 1983, having only been on the air for less than 4 months.

Reruns

Reruns of the series aired on BET in the early 1990s. TV Land occasionally aired reruns when they were airing reruns of the original 1970s series.

Trivia

* The theme music was still the same (composed by Neil Hefti), but it was played with a more urban arrangement.
* This was the second attempt to remake a series of one of Neil Simon's plays with a primarily African-American cast. The first was "Barefoot in the Park" (which also premiered on September 24, 1970, the same day the original "The Odd Couple" series did).
* The program was also notable for featuring one of the few instances of product placement with its inclusion of the Apple Lisa computer, which could be glimpsed during the show's run.

External links

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