First impressions of the new sitcom The Odd Couple

After being kicked out of their houses by their wives, two friends try to share an apartment, but their ideas of housekeeping and lifestyles are as different as night and day.

Based on the play of the same title, The Odd Couple popularized on the big screen by Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon is now rebooted with Matthew Perry as Oscar the divorced man living a bachelor life and Thomas Lennon as Felix the soon to be divorced high maintenance man.

This is a classic setup of comedy and it might even be a very tired one. Especially in the Pilot’s first scenes it feels out of timing and boldly acted. But it gets better as the episode advances. Being a huge fan of sitcoms and especially Friends and How I Met Your Mother, I was waiting with high hopes and a positive apprehension.

After the first two episodes, I’m still torn between continuing to see if it gets better or if like many sitcoms that were one season deals like Partners, which had some potential but was cancelled due to low scores, it will stall in common comedy places. Sure, I’m sold on Matthew Perry who brought many Friends elements and his particular delivery to his new show. But, his recent projects have had more miss than hits. With the behind the scenes of the famous 1990’s sitcom we kind of understand that he was responsible for some of Chandler’s lines. He is now older but still capable of comedy and in my opinion steals most of the scenes he is in.
His counterpart, Thomas Lennon who had a role in Friends as Joey’s hand twin in the episode in Las Vegas, a German character in How I Met Your Mother, and one of the detectives in Brooklyn Nine Nine, he is doing the job right and seems to have the right thing to be the right Felix.

As it is for now, I see The Odd Couple as a great Two and A Half Men. The show is still written very bold and the little sentimental endings are a bit forced and break the mood of episodes. This is something that can be easily corrected and I think the chemistry between Perry and Lennon can be good. I guess I’ll keep on watching and get back to you with the evolution of my appreciation of this new sitcom as it evolves.

What do you think of The Odd Couple? Hit or miss? Will you continue watching?