were solved. Learning to punch up a scene is sometimes as important as writing the scene to begin with, and I learned that from Carl Reiner on
The Dick Van Dyke Show
.
I always try to be sensitive to what the actors think of the material because they are the ones who have to say the lines and performing is a difficult job. Tony got upset about the script called “The Subway Story.” He said it was the worst thing he had ever read. I was confused because I’d supervised the script and thought it was funny. So I called up Tony’s agent and asked if there was a problem. He explained that Tony didn’t like the script because it was about a subway robbery and it made New York seem unsafe. New York City had just appointed Tony spokesman for a new publicity campaign to make it desirable for tourists. He worried that our episode presented a conflict. He didn’t think I would have time to change the script. But what he didn’t realize is that the way I work, I always have time to change a script when necessary. So the writers and I rewrote it to make Tony more comfortable and make New York the hero in the story.
In that same episode another problem came up suddenly. Gavin MacLeod (who later played Captain Stubing on
The Love Boat
) had an attack of appendicitis the Thursday night before the Friday shoot. We didn’t have time to cast another actor, so I decided to jump in. I had acted from time to time in the shows on the Desilu lot, including hiring myself as an actor on
Hey Landlord!
I thought it was important to be in the Screen Actors Guild as well as the Writers Guild so I would have another job to fall back on. Plus, I had a New York accent, which was what the character needed. Writer-producer Milt Josefsberg had been out of work for six years after
The Jack Benny Show
, and I didn’t ever want to face a situation like that. With a wife, kids, and a mortgage to pay, I felt pressure to do as many different jobs as possible so I would never be out of work.
Despite the pressure I felt. I was so proud of the work we did on
The Odd Couple
. It was the quintessential New York show before
Seinfeld
. Although we didn’t shoot every day in New York, our show was a tribute to the city we all loved so much and many of us had grown up in. I had been a boy in New York. I had been a strugglingstand-up comedian in New York. I had been a soldier in uniform in New York. And now I was producing a prime-time television series about New York. Jack liked it when we could experiment and shoot New York outdoors. There was an episode called “The New Car” in which Oscar and Felix win a car on a radio contest. Oscar wants to sell the car but Felix won’t let him, so they decide to keep it and deal with New York City’s parking laws. Each morning one of them has to get up and move the car to the other side of the street. So we shot a montage of them moving the car in their pajamas. It was a unique New York episode and very funny as well.
During our five-year run many writers worked on
The Odd Couple
. Jack and Tony were not easy actors to please, and thus it was not an easy show to write for. The head writers sat at the table, and the apprentice writers sat around the outer circle in chairs without desks. I always thought the apprentice writers dreamed of one day being promoted so they could see their names on the credits as writers on
The Odd Couple
. But the truth involved food more than prestige. The head writers got their trays from the commissary and could eat at the table. The apprentice writers had to eat with the trays on their laps. The apprentices dreamed of moving up so they could place their trays on a table. They were motivated to write better so they could eat more comfortably.
One of my favorite writing teams who got their big break on
The Odd Couple
was Lowell Ganz and his partner, Mark Rothman. Lowell was a skinny guy with a brilliant memory. Mark was a tall, outgoing writer who loved gambling. Mark’s father was a
The Dick Van Dyke Show
.
I always try to be sensitive to what the actors think of the material because they are the ones who have to say the lines and performing is a difficult job. Tony got upset about the script called “The Subway Story.” He said it was the worst thing he had ever read. I was confused because I’d supervised the script and thought it was funny. So I called up Tony’s agent and asked if there was a problem. He explained that Tony didn’t like the script because it was about a subway robbery and it made New York seem unsafe. New York City had just appointed Tony spokesman for a new publicity campaign to make it desirable for tourists. He worried that our episode presented a conflict. He didn’t think I would have time to change the script. But what he didn’t realize is that the way I work, I always have time to change a script when necessary. So the writers and I rewrote it to make Tony more comfortable and make New York the hero in the story.
In that same episode another problem came up suddenly. Gavin MacLeod (who later played Captain Stubing on
The Love Boat
) had an attack of appendicitis the Thursday night before the Friday shoot. We didn’t have time to cast another actor, so I decided to jump in. I had acted from time to time in the shows on the Desilu lot, including hiring myself as an actor on
Hey Landlord!
I thought it was important to be in the Screen Actors Guild as well as the Writers Guild so I would have another job to fall back on. Plus, I had a New York accent, which was what the character needed. Writer-producer Milt Josefsberg had been out of work for six years after
The Jack Benny Show
, and I didn’t ever want to face a situation like that. With a wife, kids, and a mortgage to pay, I felt pressure to do as many different jobs as possible so I would never be out of work.
Despite the pressure I felt. I was so proud of the work we did on
The Odd Couple
. It was the quintessential New York show before
Seinfeld
. Although we didn’t shoot every day in New York, our show was a tribute to the city we all loved so much and many of us had grown up in. I had been a boy in New York. I had been a strugglingstand-up comedian in New York. I had been a soldier in uniform in New York. And now I was producing a prime-time television series about New York. Jack liked it when we could experiment and shoot New York outdoors. There was an episode called “The New Car” in which Oscar and Felix win a car on a radio contest. Oscar wants to sell the car but Felix won’t let him, so they decide to keep it and deal with New York City’s parking laws. Each morning one of them has to get up and move the car to the other side of the street. So we shot a montage of them moving the car in their pajamas. It was a unique New York episode and very funny as well.
During our five-year run many writers worked on
The Odd Couple
. Jack and Tony were not easy actors to please, and thus it was not an easy show to write for. The head writers sat at the table, and the apprentice writers sat around the outer circle in chairs without desks. I always thought the apprentice writers dreamed of one day being promoted so they could see their names on the credits as writers on
The Odd Couple
. But the truth involved food more than prestige. The head writers got their trays from the commissary and could eat at the table. The apprentice writers had to eat with the trays on their laps. The apprentices dreamed of moving up so they could place their trays on a table. They were motivated to write better so they could eat more comfortably.
One of my favorite writing teams who got their big break on
The Odd Couple
was Lowell Ganz and his partner, Mark Rothman. Lowell was a skinny guy with a brilliant memory. Mark was a tall, outgoing writer who loved gambling. Mark’s father was a
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