Odd Couple Season 3 Thread (1 Viewer)

[Corey3rd]

they must get the prices on the various songs from the publishers. But they also have a notion about how many sets they are hoping to sell and the profit margin to keep the releases coming. Music publishers can be the biggest pains in the universe so if the folks controlling the song want $10,000 for clearance, the folks at CBS DVD are going to slash the song rather than go into the red on the project. While it stinks that there's a few seconds snipped, I'd rather have slightly incomplete shows and all five seasons out on DVD than not get to see the show or see it butchered down to 22 minutes on cable.

 

[FanCollector]

Yes, Oscar was singing Cocktails For Two while he was vacuuming in his tuxedo, and that leads into the last joke of the show.

I also checked my personal copies of the other shows we discussed. Marjorie Marshall tap dances to Rosie O'Grady in the fifth season episode, but she dances to music Murray plays on his ukulele for so long in "Oscar's Birthday" that Felix has to tell her to stop dancing. If you don't see her dance, there was a long cut. Felix sings "Peg O' My Heart" off camera in "The Odd Couples" and there is dialogue that does not make sense otherwise. ("Burglars don't sing." "Maybe it's the radio." "If it is, it's an old one.")

The second season music edits were a shame, but they did not force cuts in the rest of the content. This is really getting worse. How will they deal with shows in the fourth and fifth seasons which are full of copyrighted music, and cannot run without those songs. The plot of one fifth season show actually turns on the same song cut from "I Gotta Be Me". I am still glad the shows are being released, but these missing scenes and songs are going to be lost forever.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I definitely agree, oh the whole.
I don't understand how this works, though... it must vary from song to song. I just watched "Myrna's Debut" and there are different songs sung in that one, but apparently it's okay to use them.

So far I don't think the edits have been too intrusive, as far as missing vital scenes (though the end gag of the episode I described is a shame) . Then again, while I grew up with a healthy diet of THE ODD COUPLE and I know certain episodes very well, I'm not 100% positive about the complete contents on ALL of the 114 shows.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I used to have all the shows recorded from TV (though not anymore), and so have others like yourself, so in that way, these scenes and songs aren't really completely lost. On the other hand, there are often 'added' scenes in each DVD episode that have gone missing in syndication for many years, so this makes up for it. So far, I have no major complaints.

 

[Corey3rd]

It does vary from song to song since you are dealing with various music publishing companies. Some music publishing houses are very cooperative and enjoy the exposure. Others are hardcore and nasty. I ran into a distributor who wanted to clear a song for a low budget documentary. The music was a ringtone on a cellphone. The music publisher wanted $50,000.

A lot of publishers of "standards" are notorious for jacking up their clearance right price because the songs aren't bringing in the same revenue levels because of napster and a shrinking audience for these old hits. They don't view having a few lines of their song being hummed on an episode of The Odd Couple as promotion.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I never understood this. I mean, I can see wanting money if an original recording is used, but if a character sings a line or two in his own voice, or hums a few words, wanting some large fee is absurd.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I'm currently up to THE HUSTLER episode. If any Odd Fans out there know of some key song moments from this point on for Season Three, please let me know and I'll watch out for them.

Also, Lee --- please let me know about where the "burglar/radio" line is in "The Odd Couples" and I can go back and check.

 

[FanCollector]

Thanks for all the checking, by the way. I, and the other fans I'm sure, appreciate it.

"The Odd Couples" moment comes just when Oscar, Blanche and Oscar's mother come in wearing their fezzes. I would say just past the halfway mark, as it is right before Oscar's mother invites Felix and Gloria for dinner. Felix is in the bathroom singing to his fern and Oscar is angry because Felix should not be living there at the moment. The singing continues until Oscar goes down the hall and then we hear the next line of the song interrupted by Felix being choked. Funny moment.

The big edit in the second season was the one you remember from Speak for Yourself. The song matters, but at least it did not require any action or dialogue to be cut too. I think there was one other background song cut from another show, but it was less intrusive.

And I definitely agree with you about the joy of finding all the edited scenes in the DVD's. 25 minutes is better than 22. It would just be nice to have them as they were made. What can i do? I'm a purist.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Oh man, this is amazing.... the singing in this episode is NOT there, nor are the lines about the radio and the burglar. However, the way they kept the "choking" joke alive was, Felix's sinuses are acting up and he's honking, as he leaves the kitchen and heads to the bedroom. Then we dissolve to later, as Oscar, his mom, and Blanche arrive back home, and they can hear Felix honking from the other room (but no singing) and Oscar rushes in to investigate. Then, we do hear Felix gag as he's being choked by Oscar off camera -- but it's in the middle of his sinuses clearing.

 

[FanCollector]

Well, in the midst of a writers' strike, it is nice to see that the editors at Paramount Home Entertainment are keeping busy rewriting scenes from 35 years ago...

My real hope is that they are cutting costs on brief snippets like these so that shows like "A Different Drummer" can be included on the next set.

 

[Anthony Hom]

We know this show is in trouble if they even have to cut "Happy and Peppy and Bursting with Love"

 

[Joe Karlosi]

That's exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Hell yeah! WPIX, channel 11, I remember it from the late 70's in grammar school. My bro and I used to stay up and watch The Honeymooners at 11:00pm, Odd Couple at 11:30 (maybe I switched them) and Star Trek at midnight!

 

[if200]

Curious to know if people have spotted more edited content.

I love this set and am grateful to have it, but it seems like they cut some things unneccesarily.

 

[redbird]

Funny-I had the same feeling, even though I couldn't put my finger on any one instance. However, I could have sworn that in the ep where Oscar and Felix reverse roles Oscar had told Murray and Miriam to swish the wine in their mouths until it tasted like furniture polish. I was surprised not to hear that line, especially since it was not a music connected cut.

 

[if200]

I think the furniture polish line was music connected because Oscar sings Some Secluded Rendezvous to mock Felix. I noticed that during the Odd Couples, the scene where Felix is in the bathroom singing Peg of My Heart they substituted the singing with honking. One thing that has been driving me crazy is I could have sworn that during A Night to Dismember, Felix says that he believes in Oscar and Blanches marriage and tells them to: call me silly, call me nutsy and they do.
Unless it is from another episode it was definitely cut and I can't imagine why.
Anyone?

 

[Jack Platt]

So what a minute? What takes the place of the "old radio" and "burgler" lines? Did they dub Felix's honking over the original audio?

Jack

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Those lines/references are edited out.

 

[Jack Platt]

Found out that the "Call me silly, call me nutsy" line is from "The Odd Holiday" episode. This is the one that flashbacks to Felix and Oscar vacationing with their ex-wives in the Caribbean at a time when the couples were still married. Felix tries to salvage Oscar and Blanche's marriage, and in the process, destroys his own with Gloria telling him that she wants a divorce.

Felix tries to be a marriage counselor for Oscar and Blanche, he says something like, " I may be an optimist, but I believe in your marriage, call me silly, call me nutsy." Than they each call him that.

Jack

 

[if200]

Thanks for the answer. That would be the only other episode it could have been in. I check my unedited Columbia House version of the New Years Eve episode so I knew I had made a mistake. Still hoping for news on season four.