Customer Reviews

The Odd Couple - The Fourth Season

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

They're cutting out some of the best parts! For instance, the "Gloria Moves Back in" episode. The poker game in the hotel room, when Felix starts singing "One More for the Road", and everyone joins in. Hysterical. It's not there! I know these episodes so well, you can't fool me. I know what's missing. I feel like these DVDs are just like the episodes I taped on my VCR years ago from TV. I might as well watch those and save my money! I don't even care about the extra bonus stuff, just give me the complete episode.

Shameful and disgusting!...

As much as I love the TV show "THE ODD COUPLE", I will give Paramount a one star rating (and that is a lot!) just because of their DVD episode butchering that is so evident throughout all of their Odd Couple DVD season box set releases.

Personally, and I am 100% certain this is true for all Odd Couple fans, I would have paid twice as much and even more if necessary just to have the complete episodes as they were intended to be.

The Odd Couple is a classic American TV show and a part of American television's evolution, heritage and history. They do not make television shows like this anymore. The Odd Couple should not have been butchered at all! A lot of love and care should have been given to every single one of the Odd Couple episode releases. Apparently, there was not the slightest consideration given to the artistic devotion and integrity of everyone involved in this great TV show.

Thanks but no thanks!...

I'll pass!... :- (

A-BO-MI-NA-BLE!!!

I have to agree that Paramount is not doing a good job with securing music rights. The episode, "Gloria Moves In" was one of the ones where Felix starts singing and the rest of the group joins in. It's funny, but it is cut. Very obvious. I also much rather prefer they leave the original Paramount Logo at the end with "A Gulf & Western Company." I don't need to be reminded that its now CBS/Paramount.

An extra star has been added merely because it's the great Odd Couple.

I have purchased the first four seasons of one of my all-time favorite series, The Odd Couple, but I refuse to buy Season 5. It's simply too painful to pay hard-earned money, then see how something I've waited 30+ years to view has been butchered due to the cheapskates at CBS.

I am so sick of being sold short by corruptorate fat cats. Until I can be assured that all five seasons have been restored and re-released, I will be boycotting everything CBS and/or Paramount releases. Everything.

I feel thoroughly cheated. It seems that in the case of The Odd Couple, F.U. does not stand for Felix Unger. It's what CBS is saying to its customers by cheating us. :-/

It breaks my heart to have to give 1 star to my all-time favorite show, but this is just another brutal job of artistic butchery by the empty suits at CBS/Paramount.

If you're familiar with the CBS/Paramount debacle on removing ALL music from The Fugitive (see the horrible reviews here on Amazon), then you know that CBS/Paramount has taken an exteremely lame tact: instead of even TRYING to settle music clearance issues, they have instead opted to avoid any POSSIBLE payments by simply cutting out ALL music on the show. Whoever their counsel is that advised them to do this, he should be out of a job.

The cuts are just ridiculous, and have been well documented by others here. I mean, isn't there such a thing as Fair Use? Felx sings ONE LINE of The Banana Boat song (Day-O) to wake up Oscar. Gone. Oscar is offered $500 to be in Felix's movie. His response: "I'm Gonna Be in Pictures" - ONE LINE. Gone.

I can see a few popular songs having to go due to expensive royalties, but it seems that Paramount is now taking an overly cautious and downright lazy approach and instead of dealing with the issue at all, they have decided to just cut the whole damn thing out, fans be damned.

I will NEVER, NEVER buy another CBS/Paramount product unless they rectify this. Put out a deluxe set for hradcore fans with all of the music put back in. I'd buy it, regardless of cost.

I also watched this classic on channel 11 in NY and remember each individual scene Paramount has removed. It is inexcusable! All they are trying to do is get more money out of people and that is such a shame. This is a show that we have waited so long to come out on DVD and the people at Paramount have butchered it so badly. To the reviewer who thinks this is no big deal I have this to say: We waited for these to come out on DVD so we could AVOID those cuts on TV. That is the whole idea behind releasing it. I, like many others, are outraged over this. I think someone at Paramount is not thinking correctly and these cuts were and are a BIG mistake.

I was just about to buy this item. But thought better of it after reading most of your reviews. Thank you for saving me $30. That said , I am a huge Odd Couple fan. I did get seasons 1 - 3 and was pretty let down by the edits. (season 1 actually don't think there were any) And it seems, judging by your reviews, they only got worse in season 4. I must agree with all of you especially the ones who said, even as a diehard fan we just couldn't watch, because when a favorite part came up that made you laugh, it wasn't there. Yep, these corporate dimwits really screwed up one of the best shows on TV. So there will be no purchasing of seasons 4 & 5 for me. And yes, I would've payed extra money for completely uncut versions. So lets hope for a special boxed set or something of the sort.

I still can't believe how cheap Paramount is. At this point I don't think they even bother to attempt to get the rights to individual songs. I thought season three's edits were bad, 9 episodes out of 23 were edited, but season four has hit a new low. I haven't watched disc four yet, but out of the first 17 episodes 8 have been edited. It's a shame that such an amazing show that took so long to come out on DVD has been butchered so badly. I'm so fed up with Paramount's awful editing that I've reedited the episodes putting back some of the funniest scenes they took out. I can't imagine that it's so expensive to put 3 seconds of Oscar humming "Dance Ballerina, Dance" into an episode. Paramount, don't be so greedy. If "Freaks & Geeks" could keep the original music why can't "The Odd Couple?"

There's absolutely no excuse to excise scenes or music on any TV show or movie DVD. We fans are willing to pay an extra 10 or 20 dollars to get the original music.

now, surely, paramount MUST know that the audience for these DVDs are those of us who LOVE this series... it's amazing the little things they cut out... WHY?? a few words here, a phrase there... it makes NO sense. it really hurts. i have to say, i know almost all the episodes by heart. and i have old vhs tapes; i have old mass-market columbia house VHSs (my bf is constantly asking me if we need to really keep these 25+ vhs cases around our small nyc apartment) and i was SO excited when it was revealed the greatest show ever would be available on DVD. as many others did, i expected these to be the COMPLETE episodes. if not, why bother? i agree that "extras" would have been nice (i actually have the originally-released first season in the big, fold-out cardboard case, and there are some Gary Marshall, Jack Klugman commentaries, some intros and extras -- The Mike Douglas show is nice) but what these releases are really about are the excellent episodes. they deserve to be preserved in their entirety. (i give a star for the color restoration and a star for the show's untaintable genius.) but now this DVD goes down as the canonical version, and many little hilarious touches and phrases will be lost forever. WHY???? so sad.