The Odd Couple: Retro remake unsettlingly old hat

Thomas Lennon and Matthew Perry step into The Odd Couple roles previously played by Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.

The Odd Couple (Fridays, 7.30pm, Prime) is a remake of the 1970s television sitcom which was an adaptation of 1968 film which was an adaptation of the Neil Simon play which opened on Broadway in 1965. To remake it again now seems beyond odd and if this update plays loving homage to the original telly series, how many people will remember it so lovingly that they'll get it?

I can no longer remember whether I remember the original - let alone whether it was any good -- or whether I'm hopelessly confused by this new one which feels older than bell-bottoms. (Oh. Are they back too?) And there was an earlier update, in 2002, so you can see why anyone would be easily confused.

Anyway, the premise is that two old buddies move in together after their wives give them the old heave-ho. Felix is the uptight, tidy one; Oscar is the slob. Matthew Perry plays Oscar, who was originally a sportswriter and is now a sportscaster who lives in messy bachelor pad with a wall of TVs all tuned to sports channels and one of those electronic ticker things that delivers sports results, day and night. He attempts to meet girls in his apartment building by "accidentally" posting his mail in their letterboxes. He's a bit thick. His idea of multi-tasking is peeing in the shower.

The opening scene showed Oscar's apartment which was a tip. It was also so obviously staged (yes, yes, it's telly and of course it's staged but all that junk looked to have been placed just so, which of course it was) as to be laughable. Or was it playing homage to the play? Thankfully you know when you are supposed to be laughing because there is a laugh track. This comes as something as a shock. How retro is a laugh track? Very retro. How annoying is a laugh track? As annoying as ever, which is very annoying.

I don't know if an "aw" track is retro or an innovation - it goes "aw" to let you know when there is a rare moment of pathos - but it is certainly awful. That is a truly terrible joke but it is no worse than the jokes on this The Odd Couple which are so old they should be wearing bell-bottoms.

Tony Randall and Jack Klugman starred in the original comedy series The Odd Couple.

Felix does yoga; Oscar goes for a run. "Well, a beer run." When Felix bans cigar smoking on game night, which is when Oscar has the boys around, Oscar tells one of the boys that they can go without cigars for one night: They'll live longer. "You've met my wife," says one of the boys. "Why would I want to live longer?" Felix serves the boys a vegan meal. They wanted pizza. Felix announces the arrival of the gazpacho with a little flourish. He takes over the sports ticker with messages for Oscar: Pick up your socks. Take your vitamins. He was, only once, invited to poker night with the boys. He cleaned the cards, while they were still playing. He cleans, he cooks, he picks up socks, he does yoga. The joke, of course, is that he must be gay.

"He's not gay." "Are you sure? He seems a little gay." "He seems incredibly gay, but he's not."

This is all so amazingly, yet sure-footedly, old hat that I'm still not certain that the joke is that the updated version is not an updated version at all but a parody of ... some other version. If it is, it's too clever for me.

I spent most of the episode pondering another imponderable: Were they wearing bell-bottoms on the ark?

- TimeOut