1049 Park Avenue: An Odd Couple Podcast

Scott Marshall returns for part two of our interview with him to celebrate his father’s legacy. In this second installment we discuss Laverne and Shirley, Mork & Mindy, Angie, Joanie Love Chachi, The New Odd Couple, the 2010s Odd Couple reboot, failed pilots and hit on Garry’s movie career too especially Nothing in Common / Jackie Gleason. We also cover Scott’s acting work on the sitcoms and...

In this episode we are joined by Scott Marshall, Garry Marshall’s son, who provides us an inside, charming and humorous look at his father’s legendary career and his exposure to all of it growing up. This is only part one of our interview as there is so much to cover. We discuss:Garry’s upbringing in the Bronx and his familyHis college days at Northwestern UniversityWriting for Jack Paar and Joey...

This week we welcome Lowell Ganz back for part two of our interview. In these two hours we cover:The trouble with The Odyssey CoupleThe furniture in Take My Furniture PleaseThe stories behind the appearances of Hugh Hefner, Bobby Riggs and Rob ReinerWhy there was a series finale when most 5-season shows don’t get that chanceWhat the plans were if there was a S6Lowell’s move to Happy DaysHow he...

In this episode we are honored to be joined by Lowell Ganz who, with his partner at the time Mark Rothman, wrote more episodes of The Odd Couple than anyone else - 12. They were also on the writing staff for S3-S5 so they have a hand in all episodes for those seasons.In this first of a two-part interview we discuss Mr. Ganz's background and the incredible story of how he got his first job in...

In this episode we review an original "pre-production" script for S5E13 The Bigger They Are. Among the topics covered are 1) how John Byner's casting, which was clearly not known at the time of this draft, changed several key elements of the script, 2) the difference in motivations for Felix and Oscar in the script vs. the finished episode, 3) what distinguishes catsup vs. ketchup [will make...

This week we are joined by one of television's best comedy writers Dave Mandel (SNL, Seinfeld, Veep) to discuss an unproduced episode of The Odd Couple for which we have obtained an official script from 1973. It is a Thanksgiving episode and would have been for the 4th season to air in November 1973. We start by discussing Dave's history with The Odd Couple and how it influenced his TV writing.We...

In this episode we welcome Adam Klugman to talk about his father’s legendary career in depth – for more than two hours. Among the many topics we cover are: Jack’s childhood in Philadelphia and a shocking story about his mother; how he discovered acting; his early working days in theater and live television; The Twilight Zone; performing in The Odd Couple the play; of course playing Oscar on the...

In this episode we analyze the differences in “final” scripts vs the filmed episode for Win One For Felix and Oscar In Love. The script for Win One For Felix is called Little League Football and is lacking four pages so we spend less time on this one. Also, it is not dramatically different than the filmed episode but it is missing the emotional motivations behind Felix’s actions as we discuss.The...

We welcome back Marty Nadler to discuss his TV writing career after The Odd Couple including his work on Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Chico & The Man, The Last Resort (not a well-known show), and Perfect Strangers. Marty shares some get great inside stories about such topics as 1) ABC wanting to rename Happy Days "Fonzie's Happy Days", 2) the toxic environment of Laverne & Shirley, 3)...

In this episode we interview TV writer Marty Nadler who worked for Garry Marshall for 40 years. As one of his first jobs Marty punched up scripts and wrote jokes for S5 of The Odd Couple. Marty discusses the process of how Odd Couple scripts were written; a few specific classic bits he remembers witnessing; interacting with some of the show’s famous guest stars and other insider knowledge from...