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)
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IS TONY GAY '13 REASONS WHY'? HERE'S HOW THE TV SHOW ADDS LGBTQ CHARACTERS.
Characters' motivatns were altered, the timele was stretched and the ncln was left more open-end to allow for a potential send of the most notable differenc, however, was how much queerer the show beme, wh the addn of several explicly gay characters who eher weren't the source material or whose sexualy was changed. It's played for lghs episo eight, when Clay is surprised to learn Tony is gay. He's not the most observant guy, to say the major gay characters are eher not primarily fed by their sexualy — like Tony's boyiends, Ryan and Brad — or their stori are hardly nsired humoro.
Cononted over her actns the fifth episo, Courtney tells Clay she uldn't e out, spe havg two gay dads herself. 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.