DVD of the Week: The Odd Couple Season Two (and an editorial comment or 3)

The Odd Couple, one of my favorite shows of all time, is an easy pick for DVD of the week and the week before it. This Paramount sitcom is funny, it holds up today, and it hasn't been rerun to death in recent years (or at all lately on a national basis). All 5 seasons should be out, and we're now at least 40% there.

Jack Klugman and Tony Randall were one of the all-time great comedy teams, and it's a wonderful show. Many fans, and even Klugman and Randall, have maintained the show really took off after that first season. Towards the end of that debut run, the stars convinced ABC to let them switch to a "filmed before a live audience" format, and the energy, performances, and look of the show all changed for the better. Though that first season was quite good, a lot of people are more anticipating the next 4.

I won't spend this whole post praising "The Odd Couple," but this set contains memorable episodes like the one where Felix sings the "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar" calypso song and the one where they go to the fat farm. It really is great to get these on video.

BUT. There's almost always a BUT with fans of classic TV on DVD. Will the show be chopped up? Will the music be replaced? Will these be careless transfers from worn syndication prints or has there been a restoration effort? No studio is reliable on these fronts, and we can't be confident about any single release until copies of the actual discs reach the hands of reviewers. Even then, a high-profile outlet like Entertainment Weekly usually can't be bothered to answer those questions.

When classic movies come out on DVD, people expect unedited versions, but for some reason, people accept much less when it comes to TV episodes. If we want hacked-up episodes, we can turn to TV Land. DVD should be the home of uncut programs, but that's not always the case.

Paramount has started putting a standard disclaimer on seemingly all its TV releases telling us that the show may have been screwed with--not in those words, but that's the general idea. So with the release of this and The Fugitive several weeks ago, loyal fans have held their breath wondering what could have been changed. At least music replacements can be minor, but what if someone screwed up and threw a syndie episode in with several minutes of the original gone?

It's a shame that fans can't pre-order their favorite show with full confidence, especially since old shows are often MIA at brick and mortars. I was pleasantly surprised to see a photo of The Odd Couple in last week's Circuit City ad, but there was no sign of this release in the Best Buy or Target circulars. The studios will point out old shows sell far lower units than newer ones, but time after time, I read about or experience people being shocked to find an old show is on video. After all, they have never seen it in a store.

Classic TV deserves better. On the bright side, Paramount got this set out, and by all accounts, the picture quality is great, and while some music is different, the episodes are otherwise intact. I lurked on a message board for fans of the show and enjoyed reading numerous posts of die-hards who were discovering scenes that haven't been aired for years (if at all) in syndication. This is what DVD is for--rescuing the good stuff from the butchers who slice it to add commercial time.

BUT I have another BUT. While the first season set was attractively packaged and enhanced with cool extras, this second season edition comes in a simple plastic case with zero bonuses. Paramount went cheap on this one, and perhaps we should be thankful to get the mostly uncut shows, but I could have sworn I read DVD producer Paul Brownstein was working on more extras than the ones we've already seen. What happened to them? Will we see them at all? Does it depend on the sales?

We just don't know. In fact, we don't even know at this point if there will be any more seasons. The uncertainty is one of the reasons why being a collector of classic TV is so difficult.