1049 Park Avenue: An Odd Couple Podcast

In this episode we are joined by Scott Marshall, Garry Marshall’s son, who provides us an inside, charming and humorous look at his father’s legendary career and his exposure to all of it growing up.  This is only part one of our interview as there is so much to cover.  We discuss:

• Garry’s upbringing in the Bronx and his family
• His college days at Northwestern University
• Writing for Jack Paar and Joey Bishop
• Moving to LA and m...

This week we welcome Lowell Ganz back for part two of our interview.  In these two hours we cover:

• The trouble with The Odyssey Couple
• The furniture in Take My Furniture Please
• The stories behind the appearances of Hugh Hefner, Bobby Riggs and Rob Reiner
• Why there was a series finale when most 5-season shows don’t get that chance
• What the plans were if there was a S6
• Lowell’s move to Happy Days
• How he and Mark Rothman accident...

In this episode we are honored to be joined by Lowell Ganz who, with his partner at the time Mark Rothman, wrote more episodes of The Odd Couple than anyone else - 12.  They were also on the writing staff for S3-S5 so they have a hand in all episodes for those seasons.

In this first of a two-part interview we discuss Mr. Ganz's background and the incredible story of how he got his first job in showbiz which was on The Odd Couple; a...

In this episode we review an original "pre-production" script for S5E13  The Bigger They Are.  Among the topics covered are 1) how John Byner's casting, which was clearly not known at the time of this draft, changed several key elements of the script, 2) the difference in motivations for Felix and Oscar in the script vs. the finished episode, 3) what distinguishes catsup vs. ketchup [will make sense if you listen to the episode], a...

This week we are joined by one of television's best comedy writers Dave Mandel (SNL, Seinfeld, Veep) to discuss an unproduced episode of The Odd Couple for which we have obtained an official script from 1973.  It is a Thanksgiving episode and would have been for the 4th season to air in November 1973.   

We start by discussing Dave's history with The Odd Couple and how it influenced his TV writing.

We then get into the script itsel...

In this episode we welcome Adam Klugman to talk about his father’s legendary career in depth – for more than two hours.  Among the many topics we cover are:  Jack’s childhood in Philadelphia and a shocking story about his mother; how he discovered acting; his early working days in theater and live television; The Twilight Zone; performing in The Odd Couple the play; of course playing Oscar on the series; Adam’s two appearances on t...

In this episode we analyze the differences in “final” scripts vs the filmed episode for Win One For Felix and Oscar In Love. 

The script for Win One For Felix is called Little League Football and is lacking four pages so we spend less time on this one.  Also, it is not dramatically different than the filmed episode but it is missing the emotional motivations behind Felix’s actions as we discuss.

The script for Oscar In Love, here c...

We welcome back Marty Nadler to discuss his TV writing career after The Odd Couple including his work on Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Chico & The Man, The Last Resort (not a well-known show), and Perfect Strangers.  Marty shares some get great inside stories about such topics as 1) ABC wanting to rename Happy Days "Fonzie's Happy Days", 2) the toxic environment of Laverne & Shirley, 3) his theory on Freddie Prinze's tra...

We are honored and delighted to welcome Heather Randall to the podcast.  Heather was married to Tony Randall from 1995 until his passing in 2004 and they had two children together.  Heather shares many stories passed down by Tony and those she lived through regarding: his early life in Tulsa, Oklahoma, career beginnings on stage and radio, becoming a star on Broadway and movies, The Odd Couple of course, The Tony Randall Show, Sidn...

This week we welcome a special guest – Peter K Ackerman who is the son of Elinor Donahue and legendary TV producer Harry Ackerman.  He has written a new book called Mom, Dad, Me and Classic TV about their lives and his experiences growing up as the son of two TV legends. It is available wherever books are sold including here on Amazon

We discuss his father’s career helping to create I Love Lucy, producing Bewitched, and also his pa...

In this episode we discuss the differences between original production scripts for Felix The Horseplayer (known as The Stung on the script) and Two On The Aisle. 

Both scripts feature known-but-never-seen characters who are referenced during the series that are supposed to make actual on-camera appearances but were written out before the episodes were filmed. 

There are some other significant scene differences between script and ep...

In this episode we review two early drafts of these classic episodes and how different they are from the actual filmed episodes.  Among the topics covered are:

1) Whether or not the most famous line from The Odd Couple about assuming is in the script for Court.

2) The fact that the script for Court is structured as a flashback and how so many of the classic gags from the episode are missing while other scenes we have never seen bef...

This week we discuss scripts for two more episodes of The Odd Couple - this time from S3 - The Odd Monks and The Ides of April - and the differences between what's on the page and what's on the air.  In a major piece of revelation we find out what was said in the missing Louis Guss scene at the IRS in the Ides of April.  We also find out how The Odd Monks could have been very different as the script contains the name of a different...