The Odd Couple - The Fourth Season

Product Description:
Studio: Paramount Home VideoRelease Date: 06/10/2008Run time: 562 minutes

Amazon.com:
Even at its guest-starringest, Will & Grace had nothing on The Odd Couple's fourth season stunt casting. Just two months after their epic "Battle of the Sexes" drew the largest-ever live audience for a tennis match, Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King squared off against each other at the ping-pong table in the episode, "The Pig Who Came to Dinner." Ballet superstar Edward Villella performs in "Last Tango in Newark" and Marilyn Horn, as a baker with an operatic voice and an unrequited crush on Oscar, sings selections from Carmen, as well as "People," in "Vocal Girl Makes Good." "The Songwriter" features legendary disc jockey Wolfman Jack and entertainer Jaye P. Morgan, who performs the ever-popular Felix-penned ditty, "Happy and Peppy and Bursting with Love." Playboy emperor Hugh Hefner drops in for the flashback episode, "One for the Bunny," in which a jealous Felix is undone when he must photograph his future wife, Gloria, for a possible Playmate spread. But the chemistry between Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, Best Actor Emmy nominees in each of this series' five years, is the real attraction. They are so thoroughly at home in their roles that they elevate the more over-the-top material, as witness their ill-fated presentation as glue entrepreneurs in "A Barnacle Adventure." Among the season's best episodes are the ones that go back to the basics of Neil Simon's warhorse play: Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? In "The Insomniac," Felix cannot get to sleep ("I'm up as a pup") despite Oscar's best efforts. In "Cleanliness is Next to Impossible," Felix hypnotizes the unwitting Oscar into becoming a neat freak after Oscar's new girlfriend calls him sloppy (Felix's heartbreak at having to bring Oscar out of it is palpable. "It's like a dream come true," he moans). Elinor Donahue's Miriam, Felix's girlfriend, is conveniently forgotten in the episodes in which Felix tries to win back his ex-wife ("Gloria Moves In"). Zinger-queen Brett Somers also returns as Oscar's ex-wife, Blanche, in flashback episodes that continue to play havoc with Felix and Oscar's backstory (so now they were in the Army together?) Randall, Klugman and company (including Penny Marshall as Oscar's secretary, Myrna) clearly relish playing to their enthusiastic live audience, and this richly entertaining season is brimming with classic moments and bits of comic business that continue to bring down the house. --Donald Liebenson

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Customer Reviews

Rating: - agree with everyone: what's with the cuts?
now, surely, paramount MUST know that the audience for these DVDs are those of us who LOVE this series... it's amazing the little things they cut out... WHY??a few words here, a phrase there... it makes NO sense.it really hurts.i have to say, i know almost all the episodes by heart. and i have old vhs tapes; i have old mass-market columbia house VHSs (my bf is constantly asking me if we need to really keep these 25+ vhs cases around our small nyc apartment) and i was SO excited when it was ... Read More
Rating: - Still a winner even with the cuts!
This is a wonderful show even WITH cuts.I think it is awful to give such a wonderful show one star because of the cuts.Where we are reviewing a product overall, it is difficult to know where to land with the star reviews.Granted the cuts are an assault to the show, but the show itself is still wonderful.

I may not be getting any kudos for this review...but wanted to at least try to even out the star ratings.I think this is a wonderful show and I liked it the first time around ... Read More
Rating: - The Odd Couple Season 4 musical cuts
I,too, am very disappointed with the obvious deletion of just about every song in Season 4.I absolutely LOVE this show and couldn't wait until all seasons were released. Now I'll have to pay closer attention to seasons 1-3 and 5. Only true Odd Couple fans will catch the obvious substitutions. For example, in the episode, "This is the Army, Mrs. Madison, Felix and Murray serenade Oscar and Blanche with "I Love You Truly"....deleted on DVD and dubbed with Murray playing "Birmingham Jail" on the harmonica...you ... Read More
Rating: - Thankful for the shows, Upset about the Edits
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" ... Read More
Rating: - Growing Up with the Odd Couple
I love this show and was thrilled that now I could add it to my DVD collection.I can't wait to finish my collection with season 5.For anyone who grew up in the "Seventies, New York City,"the Odd Couple is a must have.