Is This the Beginning of the End for The Odd Couple?

Well, after a hiatus for the NCAA Basketball tournament, The Odd Couple did not have a triumphant return to the CBS Thursday night line-up. Despite its lead-in from the hit comedy, The Big Bang Theory, the Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon vehicle, has hit a major speed-bump. As TV Media Insights succinctly put it, “While no one expects any show to hold the “Big Bang” lead-in, slippage of this magnitude is too severe. Five-week household overnight track for “The Odd Couple”: 8.1/13 – 7.1/11 – 7.6/12 – 6.6/11 – 5.8/10.” (http://www.tvmediainsights.com/tv-ratings/cbs-tops-thursday-recent-entry-odd-couple-slipping/). Therefore, without some major adjustments, The Odd Couple may find itself off of the CBS fall schedule. The drop in audience does not surprise me, because on a night with such unique comedies on CBS, The Odd Couple, interrupts the Thursday night CBS comedy flow. Compared to The Big Bang Theory and Mom, The Odd Couple appears to be derivative, very formulaic and more importantly, mediocre. Nostalgia is big on TV now, we see that with revivals of shows, such as Hawaii Five-O and Girl Meets World and even Hot In Cleveland taps into this, through its cast, featuring four sitcom veterans. However, this version of The Odd Couple, is lacking the magic spark that gives viewers that warm fuzzy feeling that they first had when watching the original 1970s version, coupled with that feeling of satisfaction of watching something modern and contemporary. I would not be surprised if The Odd Couple is missing from the CBS 2015-2016 schedule.