Most of the ODD COUPLE TV Series fans I speak to don't care much for this reunion film, but I think you need to consider a few things:
For starters, there were a few bad scripts roaming around for years but Tony Randall and Jack Klugman didn't want to bother reuniting if it wasn't an idea they believed in. A 1991 television interview with Klugman confirmed this, and he said he'd rather not come back to the series at all unless the script was something decent. When Klugman had throat surgery due to cancer, all chances for a reunion could have been lost. However, this turned out to be the perfect idea for a story to bring the duo together again: What could be more natural than using this real-life situation by having Oscar Madison, the carefree smoker and beer guzzler and likely candidate himself, ultimately contracting throat cancer while Felix Unger insists on taking care of him at his apartment as Oscar tries to recuperate, and only making his friend's life miserable all over again? While the illness itself is difficult to joke about, Klugman felt it could also show how people like Madison and himself can beat the disease. So it's a comedy that presents the Odd Couple not only driving each other nuts again, but at the same time also has something to say. Klugman is a cancer survivor, having lived late into his 80s (as of this writing), and that's something Jack wanted to pass along.
One of the complaints with this telefilm is that the characters of Gloria and the "poker pals" from the television show have been replaced by new actors. Sure, it would have been fun to see Al Molinaro return as bumbling cop Murray, but other than these relatively minor quibbles, the script manages to revisit just about all the familiar gags we'd come to love and expect from the series, and any die-hard fan of the TV show is bound to smile as the script manages to nail every one of the old chestnuts: Felix's sinus troubles, his annoying moans of "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar", that infamous half-eaten tuna fish sandwich that still seems to be hanging around Oscar's messy room, Felix trying to help his friend out but only managing to cause Oscar intense embarrassment, Oscar ultimately trying to return the favor by setting things right between Felix and his Gloria, and all kinds of other little details that pure fans of the program would be looking out for.
It's not the most perfect reunion we would have wanted; after all, it's almost 20 years after the show ended and our mismatched roommates haven't gotten any younger; but this is harmless good fun with a positive message of hope, too.
For starters, there were a few bad scripts roaming around for years but Tony Randall and Jack Klugman didn't want to bother reuniting if it wasn't an idea they believed in. A 1991 television interview with Klugman confirmed this, and he said he'd rather not come back to the series at all unless the script was something decent. When Klugman had throat surgery due to cancer, all chances for a reunion could have been lost. However, this turned out to be the perfect idea for a story to bring the duo together again: What could be more natural than using this real-life situation by having Oscar Madison, the carefree smoker and beer guzzler and likely candidate himself, ultimately contracting throat cancer while Felix Unger insists on taking care of him at his apartment as Oscar tries to recuperate, and only making his friend's life miserable all over again? While the illness itself is difficult to joke about, Klugman felt it could also show how people like Madison and himself can beat the disease. So it's a comedy that presents the Odd Couple not only driving each other nuts again, but at the same time also has something to say. Klugman is a cancer survivor, having lived late into his 80s (as of this writing), and that's something Jack wanted to pass along.
One of the complaints with this telefilm is that the characters of Gloria and the "poker pals" from the television show have been replaced by new actors. Sure, it would have been fun to see Al Molinaro return as bumbling cop Murray, but other than these relatively minor quibbles, the script manages to revisit just about all the familiar gags we'd come to love and expect from the series, and any die-hard fan of the TV show is bound to smile as the script manages to nail every one of the old chestnuts: Felix's sinus troubles, his annoying moans of "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar", that infamous half-eaten tuna fish sandwich that still seems to be hanging around Oscar's messy room, Felix trying to help his friend out but only managing to cause Oscar intense embarrassment, Oscar ultimately trying to return the favor by setting things right between Felix and his Gloria, and all kinds of other little details that pure fans of the program would be looking out for.
It's not the most perfect reunion we would have wanted; after all, it's almost 20 years after the show ended and our mismatched roommates haven't gotten any younger; but this is harmless good fun with a positive message of hope, too.