Newly released 'The Odd Couple' DVD set is laugh-out-loud hilarious; 'Star Trek' released

Randall and Klugman as Odd Couple

I have answered the question of whether a TV of DVD reviewer could watch 15 of the 22 episodes of the final season of the 1970s comedy "The Odd Couple" in three days without driving himself crazy. The answer is yes, and I loved every episode that I watched.

This set is being released today, and I think that every fan of good dialog-driven television comedy will thoroughly enjoy this show about a slob sharing a New York City apartment with a compulsively clean and generally fussy roommate. For those you who do not know, this is based on the play of the same name by Neil Simon.

The first episode of the season is one of the best and was the last one in which future "Laverne and Shirley" star and film director Penny Marshall appeared in her role as the secretary of messy sportswriter Oscar Madison. This episode also had Marshall's husband Rob "Don't call me Meathead" Reiner, who also became a film director, of "All in the Family" as a guest star and her brother Garry Marshall, who produced "The Odd Couple" in a very appropriate cameo role. Other notable guest stars include show-business legend Bob Hope and "Hogan's Heroes" star and "Family Feud" host Richard Dawson.

In watching another earlier episode that involved the roughly 12-year-old son of very clean photographer ("Portraits a specialty") Felix Unger, I purposefully watched the end credits to see who played the son because he did a good job despite clearly having difficulty keeping a straight face at times. I was surprised to see that he was soon-to-be teen idol Leif Garrett.

Despite the fact that many of the plots were standard sitcom fare, including a brief period of prosperity, most of the stories included an unexpected twist that added a little something extra to the story. Additionally, I think that the series finales qualifies as one of the top 25 final episodes of a television series despite rushing the plot far too much.

The show simply has the elements of good writing and direction and actors who actually act, rather than flatly deliver their lines without moving very much. Further, the characters are much richer than one-dimensional caricatures who are simply very promiscuous, extremely stupid or uptight, or consider grunting and juicing up electrical devices to the point they explode to be amusing.

The DVD set itself is good; the discs are one-sided and are placed securely in the set in a way that they do not overlap. Additionally, episode titles and synopses and original airdates are provided. I was very pleased as well that watching previews of other sets was simply listed as an option on the first disc; many sets play these previews automatically and force viewers to fast-forward through them. Additionally, each disc offered a "play all" option.

My only negative comment is that I would have preferred that the picture quality was better. It seemed a bit washed out, and I noticed specks and even lines at times. I am sure that CBS used the best master copies that were available, and the somewhat imperfect quality of the picture does not affect the enjoyment of the program significantly.

I want to mention as well that today is also the date that a DVD set of the complete original "Star Trek" series is released. My set arrived yesterday, and I have only watched one episode and an informative feature on how technicians immensely enhanced the video quality of the shows for this set.

I can say that the packaging looks very good and that there are extras galore that include an extended version of the pilot "The Cage" that differs from the version that was released in 1988 and an episode from "Star Trek: The Animated Series." I am looking forward to watching more of this set over the next week and reporting back next Monday.

As always, comments and questions are welcome as additions to this entry or e-mails to tvdvdguy@gmail.com.