On Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 11:53:41 PM UTC-5, MelissaP wrote: > > They didn’t do gay jokes back in the 1970s. Felix was just assumed to be > straight. > > > > Of course, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the series, so my memory > could be faulty. But it does contain one of my all time favorite sitcom > episodes – the one where Oscar and Felix win a car and find it impossible > to find a parking space for it in New York City. > Your memory is correct. In fact, in his intro to the show's blooper reel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHLr3kmXT04 - Jack Klugman states that the spoken narration used in the opening credits the first few seasons, which explained the premise, was added because the network was afraid casual viewers might think Felix and Oscar were gay otherwise. (BTW, the blooper reel - which was included in a bonus disc in Klugman's book "Tony and Me" - is hilarious, though it does include a few gay jokes that are far from p.c.) But to address Kevin's original query - I don't think you were reading too much into it, because the question of whether Felix seemed stereotypically gay was brought up (briefly) in the second act. I think they addressed it because it was on viewers' minds. Whether they return to that well will have a big impact on how successful this new version is. I caught the end of an old Odd Couple episode Friday night on MeTV. One thing that struck me, after seeing the new version just one night before, is how much Randall smiled. You could tell how much his Felix loved hanging around with Oscar. Lennon, however, plays Felix almost completely deadpan; it works, but it almost strikes me as an impression of Jim Parson's Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory." As I said, I am hopeful... -Tim
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