“The Odd Couple” kicked off its sophomore season in early April — late in the TV season, at a time when most prime-time shows are starting to wind down.
The tardy start triggered some Felix Unger-type angst in “Odd Couple” co-star Thomas Lennon, who plays the neurotic neatnik 🐼opposite Matthew Perry’s slovenly sports radio host Oscar Madison on CBS💜’ reboot of the iconic stage play/movie/series.
“Last year we were actually the highest-rated new comedy and I was honestly a little surprised we came back so late this year. I was nervous ab♌out it,” says Lennon. “It’s a really late time to start, b🌟ut last year we started [the season] when March Madness [NCAA basketball] was on CBS. We went away for three weeks and it really hurt our momentum.
“This year, we♔ started right after March Madness and weirdly, from a programming point of view, it’s worked well,” he says. “I was skeptical at first but we’re holding our own against everything else.”
Since its April 7 season premiere, “The Odd Couple” is averaging 8.1 million viewers, and its viewing audience has grown exponentially. Thursday night’s episode — in which Oscar is asked to throw out🥂 the first pitch at a Mets game (hijinx ensue, natch) — also features the show’s first on-camera appearance by sitcom legend Garry Marshall, who plays Oscar’s equally grouchy father, Walter.
(Marshall, the show’s executive consulta🐠nt, produced the original “Odd Coup꧅le” TV series, “Happy Days, “Laverne and Shirley” and “Mork & Mindy,” among others.)
And while this version of “The Odd Couple” has hewn close✅ly to the tried-and-true template, the May 9 episode will feature something never at♋tempted in any of the show’s past incarnations: A Felix Unger nude scene.
Really.
“The writers surprised me with that,” says Lennon, who had a few nude-ish scenes on his previous series, Comedy Central’s “Reno 911!” (and the big-screen movie, “Reno 911!: ꦓMiami”). The Felix nude scene — as “nude” as you can get on network TV — is part of this season’s ongoing arc featuring Felix’s new romance with girlfriend Emily (Lindsay Sloane).
“This was the most stressful scene 🌟and it was pretty intense,” says Lennon. “I knew about it for many weeks in advance, which I found to be a great motivator. And I had to do this nude scene in front of a live audience.” In the scene, Emily is Skyping with her mother, “and I come frolicking in holding just a top hat to cover myself,” says Lennon. “Felix is basically pretending to be a magician for [Emily].
“I went home after we filmed that scene andꦜ thought of the line, ‘If you think she’s upset, imagine how the rabbit ꧑in there feels.’ The writers thought it was worth shooting the whole scene again the next day, to get that joke in.”