History Trivia / TheOddCouple

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally the debut stage production of the female version of the play was going to star Nancy Walker and Creator/JoanRivers, and be directed by Creator/NeilSimon himself. It ended up starring Creator/RitaMoreno (who was replaced with Brenda Vaccaro later in the Broadway run) and Sally Struthers, Gene Saks directing the production.

!!The 1970-75 Series
* ActingForTwo: Creator/TonyRandall occasionally would also play Felix's relatives, such as his father in a flashback, and his grandfather in an episode where [[DejaVu Grandpa Unger is thrown out by his wife and moves in with Oscar]] while Felix is out of town on business.
* ActorInspiredElement:
** The TV show featured a greatly increased focus on Oscar's gambling, especially at the track, and Felix's love of opera because those were particular interests of their respective actors.
** Oscar's wardrobe on the show was, in many cases, Klugman's own.
* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Jack Klugman and Tony Randall's favorite episodes were "[[Recap/TheOddCouple1970S2E4Sleepwalker Sleepwalker]]", "Password", "Last Tango in Newark", and "[[Recap/TheOddCouple1970S4E6TheNewCar The New Car]]".
* EditedForSyndication: When Klugman and Randall complained about the laugh track during the first season, ABC aired a trial episode without one (the episode in which Oscar gets fired from the paper and takes a job with a girly magazine). While initially syndicated without a track, one has been edited in in recent years.
* ExecutiveMeddling:
** Like it happened to ''Series/TheBradyBunch'', ABC's standards at the time still forbade as late as 1971 that divorced characters could have children. Oscar (who had two sons in the play and movie) became explicitly childless, while Felix's kids began appearing in the second season.
** In the third season the network decided that what the show needed were guest stars. The show almost became a Lucy-like star-of-the-week clone, with everyone from Howard Cosell to Bob Hope to Bobby Riggs to Rodney Allen Rippy taking their turn at bat.
* GayPanic: The show wasn't allowed to ''hint'', much less outright reference, to homosexuality. This is why the "Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?" spiel was added to the opening credits; it also resulted in one script being tossed out completely and the end of another ("The Flying Felix") being heavily rewritten.
* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Some scripts were like this, allowing Tony Randall and Jack Klugman to improvise. For example, a script might say "Oscar teaches Felix how to play football."
* OnlyBarelyRenewed: Despite a respectable five-season run, the show was actually canceled after every season after season 2 due to poor ratings, only bouncing back when it would go into reruns during the summer. Klugman and Randall would hype up the series when it was off the air by doing a touring production of the original play, encouraging audiences to write in and request that the TV show remain in production.
* PropRecycling: The 'black donut' painting from the second season episode "Security Arms" shows up again in season three's "Take My Furnature, Please".
* RealLifeRelative:
** Husband and wife Jack Klugman and Brett Somers playing a divorced couple. In real life, Klugman and Somers split up during the series and she still came back to guest star, meaning they were a separated couple playing a divorced couple.
** Klugman's son Adam appeared as "Little Oscar" in a few episodes.
** In her final episode as Myrna Turner, Penny Marshall's real life brother (''Odd Couple'' producer Garry Marshall) and sister appear as her character's siblings, Werner and Verna Turner; her then-husband Creator/RobReiner played [[PsmithPsyndrome Sheldn]], Myrna's boyfriend.
* RecycledTheSeries: From a play to a movie to a TV series. Many prefer the series to the film.
* RecycledSet: The first season was shot on the same apartment set as the film.
* ThrowItIn: The scenes of Felix and Oscar out in the streets of New York during the intro were completely improvised. One of the show's directors simply followed Randal and Klugman around New York and filmed them doing various things in-character.
* TrollingCreator: Randall and Klugman would intentionally play up the homoerotic subtext on certain takes and the producers would put those into the initial cuts sent to the network censors because they knew it would cause studio executives' heads to explode.
* VindicatedByReruns: The show kept shifting timeslots while on the air, so only during summer reruns, when it was on at a consistent time, did it gain a significant audience. When the series finally ended and went into syndication, it got those consistent timeslots once again. Its popularity ''skyrocketed'' (just as Klugman himself had confidently predicted).
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/ArtCarney and Creator/DeanMartin (!) were both considered for Felix.
** Creator/MickeyRooney was considered for Oscar.
** For the second season, the network gave the producers two options: include the narration during the opening title, "Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?", or add lyrics to the theme song that basically proclaimed HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday.
** There was an alternate finale filmed that would have aired in the event that the show was picked up for a sixth season.
* WrittenInInfirmity: Klugman and Randall took on the roles again in a series of late '80s/early '90s commercials for Eagle brand potato chips, all of which had to be written around Klugman's nearly non-existent voice after his heavy smoking resulted in him losing a vocal cord. Later came 1993's ''The Odd Couple: Together Again'', by which time Klugman had regained some volume, but still spoke in an extremely raspy and wheezy voice, so Oscar is said to have recently had the same throat operation.
* YouLookFamiliar:
** In one episode Alan Arbus (best known as [[{{Series/Mash}} Dr. Sidney Freeman]]) plays a hypnotist, in another a Hollywood director.
** Comedian John Bynner plays a parking lot owner in one episode and a weight-loss pill company exec in another.
** John Fiedler played a dog trainer in one episode and the owner of an ultra-secure security building in another, as well as playing Vinnie in the movie and Felix in some Broadway productions.
** Richard Stahl appeared in nine different episodes as nine different characters. Among them are a monk, a minister, and a pet shop owner.

!!The 1968 Film
* CastTheRunnerUp: Creator/WalterMatthau asked director Gene Saks if he could instead play Felix, as he wanted an acting challenge after perfecting the role of Oscar in the original play. Saks flatly refused.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/BillyWilder was originally supposed to write and direct the film.
** Creator/ArtCarney (who played Felix on Broadway) wasn't seen as very marketable by Paramount, so Creator/FrankSinatra and Creator/DickVanDyke among others, were considered for the movie role before settling on Creator/JackLemmon.
** Creator/JackieGleason and Creator/MickeyRooney were among those considered for Oscar before Creator/WalterMatthau was called to reprise his role.

!!''The New Odd Couple''
* ActorSharedBackground: Thomas Lennon is a cellist. He is actually playing the instrument live whenever Felix is playing on the show.
* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: Oscar's father (played by Creator/GarryMarshall) was killed off following Marshall's death.
* InMemoriam: The season three episode "Taffy Days" served as one of these to Creator/GarryMarshall, who had played Oscar's father Walter and served as creative consultant on this iteration (and developed the 1970-75 series). The stars of Marshall's other series ''Series/HappyDays'', ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' and ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' all made guest appearances, and the episode was dedicated to his memory (with a clip of the original series' theme song, as well as pictures of Marshall with the 1970s and 2010s ''Couple'' leads, playing alongside the dedication).

* EditedForSyndication: When Klugman and Randall complained about the laughtrack during the first season, ABC aired a trial episode without one (the episode in which Oscar gets fired from the paper and takes a job with a girly magazine). While initially syndicated without a track, one has been edited in in recent years.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally the debut stage production of the female version of the play was going to star Nancy Walker and Creator/{{Joan Rivers}}, and be directed by Neil Simon himself. It ended up starring Rita Moreno (who was replaced with Brenda Vaccaro later in the Broadway run) and Sally Struthers, Gene Saks directing the production.

* CastTheRunnerUp: Ceator/WalterMatthau asked director Gene Saks if he could instead play Felix, as he wanted an acting challenge after perfecting the role of Oscar in the original play. Saks flatly refused.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/ArtCarney (who played Felix on Broadway) wasn't seen as very marketable by Paramount, so Creator/FrankSinatra, Creator/DickVanDyke and Creator/TonyRandall, among others, were considered for the movie role before settling on Creator/JackLemmon. Creator/JackieGleason, Creator/MickeyRooney and Creator/JackKlugman were among those considered for Oscar before Walter Matthau was called to reprise his role.

!!The 1970-75 Series]]
* ActingForTwo: Tony Randall occasionally would also play Felix's relatives, such as his father in a flashback, and his grandfather in an episode where [[DejaVu Grandpa Unger is thrown out by his wife and moves in with Oscar]] while Felix is out of town on business.

** Creator/MickeyRooney and Creator/MartinBalsam were both considered for Oscar.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: The Stage Plays]]

[[/folder]]
[[folder: The 1968 Film]]
* AFIS100Years100Laughs: Ranked at #17.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The movie begins with Felix attempting to get drunk at a bar... with go-go dancers.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Art Carney (who played Felix on Broadway) wasn't seen as very marketable by Paramount, so Frank Sinatra, Dick Van Dyke and Tony Randall, among others, were considered for the movie role before settling on Jack Lemmon. Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney and Jack Klugman were among those considered for Oscar before Walter Matthau was called to reprise his role.
** Walter Matthau asked director Gene Saks if he could instead play Felix, as he wanted an acting challenge after perfecting the role of Oscar in the original play. Saks flatly refused.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: The 1970-75 Series]]

* ActorAllusion:
** In "Cleanliness is Next to Impossible," Oscar actually ''wants'' to change his slovenly ways because they bother his girlfriend, so Felix attempts to help him out with psychology by bringing in a hypnotist friend played by Allan Arbus, better known as army shrink Sidney Freedman on ''Series/{{MASH}}''.
** One of the origin stories about the guys' friendship has Felix as a RogueJuror, with Oscar having to room with him when he forces a sequester. Jack Klugman had starred in ''the'' classic film of this trope, ''Film/TwelveAngryMen''.

** Mainly focused around eliminating any ''hint'', much less outright reference, to homosexuality. This is why the "Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?" spiel was added to the opening credits; it also resulted in one script being tossed out completely and the end of another ("The Flying Felix") being heavily rewritten.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** One episode has Oscar working at a ''Playboy'' clone. This at a time the magazine was more associated with sophistication rather than porn.
** Another episode had Felix's date working at a nude play, a genre then in vogue.
** "The Pig Who Came To Dinner" has some references to the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match.
** Felix once delivered a baby in Times Sq., dismayed that the first thing the baby saw was a marquee for an X-rated movie.
** Myrna's boyfriend Sheldn sports an afro, bushy mustache and sideburns and wears a leisure suit with rhinestones.

** Art Carney and Dean Martin (!) were both considered for Felix. Mickey Rooney and Martin Balsam were both considered for Oscar.

[[/folder]]
[[folder:''The New Odd Couple'']]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:The 2015 Series]]
* ActorAllusion: When Oscar (Matthew Perry) is talking about marriage with Charlotte, he mentions leaving an Oscar-shaped hole in the door. When Matthew Perry was on ''Series/{{Friends}}'', his character, Chandler, mentioned leaving a Chandler-shaped hole in the door.

* InMemoriam: The season three episode "Taffy Days" served as one of these to Garry Marshall, who had played Oscar's father Walter and served as creative consultant on this iteration (and developed the 1970-75 series). The stars of Marshall's other series ''Series/HappyDays'', ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' and ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' all made guest appearances, and the episode was dedicated to his memory (with a clip of the original series' theme song, as well as pictures of Marshall with the 1970s and 2010s ''Couple'' leads, playing alongside the dedication).
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The writers weren't sure if the show would last beyond a single season and decided to compress Felix and Emily's WillTheyOrWontThey plot and brought about a definite conclusion so that the audience would at least get some sense of closure in the event of a cancellation.
[[/folder]]

* OnlyBarelyRenewed: Despite a respectable five-season run, the show was actually canceled after every season after season 2 due to poor ratings, only bouncing back when it would go into reruns during the summer. Klugman and Randall would hype up the series when it was off the air by doing a touring production of the original play, encouraging audiences to write in and request that the TV show remain in production.

* UnCancelled: The show had decent ratings through its inaugural season, but later plummeted, to the point it was cancelled in 1972, 1973 and 1974, only to be renewed by summer reruns, which got higher audiences than in their first runs. During the summer months, Klugman and Randall would do a tour of the original play to hype up the series, encouraging viewers to write in and request that the show remain on-air.

** In her final episode as Myrna, Penny Marshall's real life brother (''Odd Couple'' producer Garry Marshall) and sister appear as her character's relatives, and her then-husband Creator/RobReiner played [[PsmithPsyndrome Sheldn]], Myrna's boyfriend.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally the debut stage production of the female version of the play was going to star Nancy Walker and Creator/{{Joan Rivers}}, and be directed by Neil Simon himself. It ended up starring Rita Moreno (who was replaced with Brenda Vaccaro later in the Broadway run) and Sally Struthers, with Gene Saks directing the production.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally the debut stage production of the female version of the play was going to star Nancy Walker and Creator/{{Joan Rivers}}, and be directed by Neil Simon himself. It ended up starring Rita Moreno (who was replaced with Brenda Vaccaro during the Broadway run) and Sally Struthers, with Gene Saks directing the production.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally the debut stage production of the female version of the play was going to star Nancy Walker and ''Creator/{{Joan Rivers}}'', and be directed by Neil Simon himself. It ended up starring Rita Moreno (who was replaced with Brenda Vaccaro during the Broadway run) and Sally Struthers, with Gene Saks directing the production.

** WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally the debut stage production of the female version of the play was going to star Nancy Walker and ''Creator/{Joan Rivers}'', and be directed by Neil Simon himself. It ended up starring Rita Moreno (who was replaced with Brenda Vaccaro during the Broadway run) and Sally Struthers, with Gene Saks directing the production.

** WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally the debut stage production of the female version of the play was going to star Nancy Walker and ''Creator/{Joan Rivers}'' and be directed by Neil Simon himself. It ended up starring Rita Moreno (who was replaced with Brenda Vaccaro during the Broadway run) and Sally Struthers, with Gene Saks directing the production.

[[/folder]]

* WrittenInInfirmity: Klugman and Randall took on the roles again in a series of late '80s/early '90s commercials for Eagle brand potato chips, all of which had to be written around Klugman's nearly non-existent voice after his heavy smoking resulted in him losing a vocal cord. Later came 1993's ''The Odd Couple: Together Again'', by which time Klugman had regained some volume, but still spoke in an extremely raspy and wheezy voice, so Oscar is said to have recently had a throat operation.

** One of the origin stories about the guys' friendship has Felix as a RogueJuror, with Oscar having to room with him when he forces a sequester. Jack Klugman had starred in ''the'' classic film of this trope, ''TwelveAngryMen''.