''The New Odd Couple'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from 1982 to 1983, and was an updated version of the 1970s television series ''

The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to: Neil Simon play and its adaptations * ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon ** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play *** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...

''. ''The New Odd Couple'' was the second attempt to remake a series of one of Neil Simon's plays with a primarily African-American and European-American cast. The first was '' Barefoot in the Park'' (which also premiered on September 24, 1970, the same day as the original ''Odd Couple'' series).

Synopsis

In this series, Felix and Oscar were both African-American college buddies who met in the 1950s. Felix was portrayed by Ron Glass and Oscar was portrayed by Demond Wilson. The characterizations were still the same, as Felix was a prissy neatfreak and Oscar was a fun-loving and sloppy character. John Schuck also appeared as Murray the Cop, who was kept

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

, as was the character of Roy, who was played by

Bart Braverman Bartley Louis Braverman (born February 1, 1946, Los Angeles) is an American actor, best known as "Binzer" during the entire run of the ABC prime time series ''Vega$'' (1978–1981). Braverman has also guest starred on many television shows. Earl ...

. The show ran for 18 episodes. When production on the series began, a Hollywood writers strike was underway; as a result, eight of the early episodes recycled scripts from the original series. By the time the writers began producing new scripts, it was too late, as the show never found an audience. The series was cancelled in 1983.

Cast

* Ron Glass as Felix Unger * Demond Wilson as Oscar Madison * Sheila Anderson as Cecily Pigeon *

as Roy * Ronalda Douglas as Gwendolyn Pigeon * Jo Marie Payton as Mona * John Schuck as Murray * Liz Torres as Maria * Telma Hopkins as Frances

Production

''The New Odd Couple'' was executive produced by Garry and Anthony W. Marshall, and produced by

Paramount Television The original incarnation of Paramount Television was the name of the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, that was responsible for the production of Viacom television programs, until it changed its name ...

. The theme music was still the same as the original series (composed by Neal Hefti), but it was played with a more updated urban arrangement. This marked the second time Ron Glass and Demond Wilson collaborated; nearly a decade prior, they appeared together in two episodes of ''

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC One in the United ...

'': "Card Sharps" (S2, E6) and "Once a Thief" (S4, E15).

Episodes

US TV Ratings

Syndication

Reruns of the series aired on BET in the early 1990s. TV Land occasionally aired reruns when they were airing reruns of the original 1970s series.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:New Odd Couple, The 1982 American television series debuts 1983 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming 1980s American sitcoms 1980s American black sitcoms English-language television shows Television series reboots Television series based on plays Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in New York City The Odd Couple Television series based on works by Neil Simon