WWTBAM Bored

Matthew Perry will produce, help write and star as Oscar Madison in a new CBS version of The Odd Couple. The role of Felix has not been cast yet.

CBS must really want to destroy whatever fond feelings remain for the Jack Klugman/Tony Randall version of the show with a version that could well be next season's "We Are Men." Considering the usual CBS fondness for sex jokes in its comedies, one would expect Perry and the new Felix to be slightly rewritten versions of the 2 1/2 Men leads.

Did CBS look at how successful Perry has been in his last TV efforts? He's good as a part of a large ensemble, but he's bombed repeatedly when he tries to headline a series. Plus, I would have pegged Perry more as a Felix than an Oscar type.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/12/odd-cou ... perry-cbs/

silverscreenselect wrote:. . . Plus, I would have pegged Perry more as a Felix than an Oscar type.

. . .

Maybe he's trying to pull off what Walter Matthau couldn't. Here's Matthau in part of an old interview:

Later, he said, when they were preparing to film The Odd Couple, "I told Simon, 'I don't want to play Oscar, I want to play Felix because Oscar is too easy. He gets all the laughs. Felix is a hard part; that's the part I want to play.' And Simon tells me, 'Walter, do me a favor. Act on your own time.' "

I give it four weeks.

From the article:

For Perry, doing The Odd Couple has been a dream 34 years in the making. “Ever since seeing the movie The Odd Couple when I was 10 years old, it has been a dream for me to play Oscar Madison,”

Uh oh.

When I see that, I usually see disaster -- a lifelong vanity project that blows up like a cartoon cigar. The most recent example would be Johnny Depp's "reinterpretation" of Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows, but I can think of several movies and tv shows that might fall under that heading.

SpacemanSpiff wrote:From the article:

For Perry, doing The Odd Couple has been a dream 34 years in the making. “Ever since seeing the movie The Odd Couple when I was 10 years old, it has been a dream for me to play Oscar Madison,”

Uh oh.

When I see that, I usually see disaster -- a lifelong vanity project that blows up like a cartoon cigar. The most recent example would be Johnny Depp's "reinterpretation" of Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows, but I can think of several movies and tv shows that might fall under that heading.

Dark Shadows made $237M worldwide so it can't be called a bomb.

Bob Juch wrote:

SpacemanSpiff wrote:From the article:

For Perry, doing The Odd Couple has been a dream 34 years in the making. “Ever since seeing the movie The Odd Couple when I was 10 years old, it has been a dream for me to play Oscar Madison,”

Uh oh.

When I see that, I usually see disaster -- a lifelong vanity project that blows up like a cartoon cigar. The most recent example would be Johnny Depp's "reinterpretation" of Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows, but I can think of several movies and tv shows that might fall under that heading.

Dark Shadows made $237M worldwide so it can't be called a bomb.

And I think while Depp no doubt had some considerable influence on the interpretation of the film one can not discount the impact of Tim Burton in the tone and style of the film.

tanstaafl2 wrote:

Bob Juch wrote:

SpacemanSpiff wrote:From the article:


Uh oh.

When I see that, I usually see disaster -- a lifelong vanity project that blows up like a cartoon cigar. The most recent example would be Johnny Depp's "reinterpretation" of Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows, but I can think of several movies and tv shows that might fall under that heading.

Dark Shadows made $237M worldwide so it can't be called a bomb.

And I think while Depp no doubt had some considerable influence on the interpretation of the film one can not discount the impact of Tim Burton in the tone and style of the film.

Plus, I think it's an insult that one would even compare Johnny Depp to Matthew Perry. It's like comparing Henry Clay to Rand Paul.