The Odd Couple – The Second Season

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Episodes: B

 

 

The TV series version of The Odd Couple was a big, much needed hit for ABC in its debut season and continued to be so in The Odd Couple – The Second Season, where the show became tighter and more refined in finding itself.  You can read more about the series and the first season set at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5412/The+Odd+Couple+–+The+First+Sea

 

 

Randall and Klugman only got better in the 1971 – 1972 season, with the 23 episodes syndicated nicely, but something funny happens when you see them here.  You can see the writers and leads slowly making the situation tenser between the characters as they do find ways to drive each other crazy.  You have Felix being proper and moral beyond reproach, while Oscar continues to regret hosting his friend on and off.

 

Also, they began with great chemistry and it just kept getting better and better.  This was rare for any TV show, especially a situation comedy, but this is one of the wittiest, smartest such series TV ever had holding its own against innovators like All In The Family.  Few shows of any kind have had its wit since.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is again not bad, but despite the clean and sometimes colorful appearance of the prints come with a bit more grain than one might like, but it is hard to tell if this is from the original camera materials or when these prints were struck.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is still nice and clean for its age, so the combination is good, but only HD transfers will reveal to what extent.  Despite some nice extras on the first set, there are zero here when they should have increased the goodies.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo