Ey Nsbm article on 1960's TV seri The Odd Couple, starrg Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, foc on whether Randall's Felix Unger character was gay; says seri' fal episo, which will be shown on WPIX, has Unger's wife Gloria takg him back and two remarry; photo (M)
Contents:
- ALL TELEVISN ROOMMAT ARE GAY AND HERE’S A LIST OF THE GAYT
- THE ODD COUPLE (1970): THE GAYT NON-GAY S EVER PRODUCED
- THE FIGHT OVER SAME STREET’S BERT AND ERNIE AS A GAY UPLE, EXPLAED
ALL TELEVISN ROOMMAT ARE GAY AND HERE’S A LIST OF THE GAYT
* were the odd couple gay *
Even the early 70's, Felix Unger mt have stck many viewers as dly gay. Although he spent the show's five-year n longg to w back his wife, Gloria, wh whom he had two teenage children (she had divorced him on the groundbreakg legal basis of ''pts''), the character embodied almost every cliché of the urban gay man: he was natty, neat and trim, obssed wh opera and gourmet food, repelled by sports and booze.
As much as he might have stck some viewers as a stealth gay stereotype, Felix uld also be terpreted simply as a snob a boor's world: hyper-sensive to rejectn, yet endlsly tryg to te those around him the fer thgs. The Odd Couple, fact, began a long, betiful, and tratg tradn televisn history: Toxic Mascule Male Bt Friends Who Are Sometim Roommat Pretend To Dpise Each Other But Bee No One Else Will Be Friends Wh Them They Are Stuck Together And Also Sometim The Show Acknowledg Their Latent Homosexualy (TMMBFWASRPTDEOBBNOEWBFWTTASTAASTSATLH).
Here’s my rankg of gay roommat throughout televisn history. Somehow, I watched every episo of New Girl, and I need to say that this show was a gay hate crime.
THE ODD COUPLE (1970): THE GAYT NON-GAY S EVER PRODUCED
Somehow existg a world where everybody is straight but all their parents are gay, New Girl ntaed some of the most agonizg queerbag I have ever experienced. There was so potential homosexualy a majory male st where they were all roommat, but the creator Liz Meriwether was too much a straight ward to lve to any of that. Sure, if this was the 1970s or 1990s, when gay people were jt a whisper my mother’s ears, stead of the 2010s, where she has a full blown dyke dghter, I uld unrstand .
THE FIGHT OVER SAME STREET’S BERT AND ERNIE AS A GAY UPLE, EXPLAED
The Odd Couple’s executive producer, Garry Marshall, remembers that Midwtern foc groups were turned off by The Odd Couple bee “they thought was about homosexuals. Bis Peep Show, Mac and Dennis are the only uple on this list whose homosexualy has been nfirmed the show.
It’s que obvly a rponse to the no-homo’d roommate relatnships of ss past, like Chandler and Joey Friends.
In the episo Mac and Dennis Break Up, the gay unrton of the relatnship are fally ma explic. In the DVD mentary for the episo — start around the 4:52 mark, above — the creators of the show talk at length about how, “Oh, they’re gay, they’re gay, there’s no nyg that they’re closeted homosexuals. Mac fally me out as gay Season 12 and bought Dennis a Valente’s Day gift a scene that was sred to romantic mic and played pletely straight for reasons that HAUNT ME TO THIS DAY.