--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: The Odd Couple image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21ee84fc1676468c/69869f2cd0b6f20b2a305a69/t100_tv_oddcouple1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 12, 2014 # _The Odd Couple_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Everett It’s the concept that launched a million lousy pitches. (“He’s an uptight accountant in jail for securities fraud! His cellmate’s a fast-talking pimp! They’re the original odd couple!”) But this classic sitcom made lightning strike twice by casting Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as finicky Felix and slovenly Oscar, fitting the roles as perfectly as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau did in the film (based on the Neil Simon play). The pair were lonely ex-husbands—at a time when it had just become acceptable to talk about D-I-V-O-R-C-E on TV—slowly, reluctantly realizing their faults and culpability for their problems. Urban, urbane and stagey in the best sense of the word, this sitcom affirmed that opposites could attract an audience. I still don’t forgive it for the _Lethal Weapon_ movies, though. [Get This TV Series](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MGBSH6/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103680/the-odd-couple/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103680/the-odd-couple/"},"headline":"The Odd Couple","datePublished":"2014-08-12T14:55:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:01:33.858Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103680/the-odd-couple/","keywords":["Sitcom"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21ee84fc1676468c/69869f2cd0b6f20b2a305a69/t100_tv_oddcouple1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21ee84fc1676468c/69869f2cd0b6f20b2a305a69/t100_tv_oddcouple1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103680/the-odd-couple/","name":"The Odd Couple"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Odd Couple","description":"This classic sitcom made lightning strike twice by casting Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as finicky Felix and slovenly Oscar, fitting the roles as perfectly as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau did in the film","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Fc5oYrsY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2007-09-04T22:11:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fc5oYrsY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103680/the-odd-couple/","duration":"PT34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103680/the-odd-couple/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```