It starts tomorrow with Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon. Perry is supposed to be Oscar, which makes no sense. Someone really blew it, cast Perry as Felix and Matt LeBlanc as Oscar and you’ve got a major hit for the next 10 years or more.
Anyway, maybe it won’t be that bad. I’ll watch a couple of episodes to find out.
I never watched Friends, so I can’t comment on either Matt’s potential for either role (I do think Tom Lennon, Dangle from Reno 911, is a great choice for a Felix). What I can say is the makers of the show would never want to cast two actors who played iconic characters in the same show together in a totally different show. Comparisons to their previous work would overshadow anything about the new series. It’s hard enough for even one TV actor to move past a hugely successful role into anything new. Aside from Jennifer Aniston becoming an A-list movie star, I can’t really think of too much any of the former *Friends *have done.
I expect this one to tank pretty quickly, like most of Perry’s post-Friends series have done. Has he had one that lasted more than half a season?
Of course. There was the triumphant “Go On,” which lasted one season.
Now aren’t you ashamed of yourself for doubting Matthew Perry’s drawing power? 
Lisa Kudrow has been pretty successful, achieving critical acclaim and pretty good viewership for both The Comeback and Web Therapy.
CBS did a remake of the Odd Couple. It was called Two and a half Men. I didn’t really care for it though. Too sexually gross and mean.
I liked Matthew Perry in his other short lived series but Thomas Lennon is the one that I always find funny.
The Comeback does have vocal fans and good critical reviews, but it got terrible ratings.
Similarly, Courtney Cox’s show Cougar Town, has very vocal fans but fairly poor ratings. But apparently it’s made it to 100 episodes, so that’s a fairly decent success.
Kudrow was brilliant in The Opposite of Sex.
And really wish I there was a way to record the person who probably was the best Felix of all: Art Carney, who originated the role on Broadway.
When ever anyone asked Tony Randall, “Who was the best Felix, you or Jack Lemmon,” he always answered “Art Carney.”
The episodes I saw of that I thought were pretty good. Enough for me to watch more than one.
Carney is mostly known for the Honeymooners but he was a very versatile actor. I would have liked to see him in the role on Broadway. I think Walter Matthau originated the role on Broadway, and much of what we see in the character Oscar is actually Matthau himself. Jack Klugman also played Oscar on Broadway, and his acting style was very similar to Matthau’s.
The problem I see with this production is that Matthew Perry only seems to be able to play one character, and it’s not Oscar.
Just posted in the Sequential Threads thread:
Now you’ve got me trying to think of a counterexample, but I’m not coming up with anything, at least if you restrict it to TV: it’s not that uncommon in movies for a pair of actors who worked well together to be brought back to costar again in another unrelated movie.
I’ve never watched Friends but I have seen Perry in Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which lasted one full season. Perry was perfectly good in that, but he wasn’t exactly doing comedy.
Good actors can play against type. I think Perry may be able to play it but will the audience accept it?
I also agree that Thomas Lennon is funny so maybe it will work.
Unfortunately, Thursday nights on CBS seems to be the home for awful comedies so it may have to take something incredible for me to switch it on.
I can think of one instance, at the risk of bringing up a name with unpleasant associations right now: Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad played husband and wife in both “The Cosby Show,” and the unrelated “Cosby.” I think I recall that Cosby requested her for the later show specifically because he knew they could work well together.
Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan were together on Maude and Golden Girls.
I never watched *Friends *- was Perry’s character in The Whole Nine Yards a redux of that?
Not really.
Perry in friends was him trying to be funny because he had a character who tried to be funny.
Whole Nine Yards Perry was him being the straight character (with quirts obviously) while his world crumbled around him. It was essentially his character in Go On too.
All of which I love cuz I’m a Perry enthusiast.
Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance in *I Love Lucy *and The Lucy Show?
The Big Bang Theory seems to have done a good job with David Galecki and Sara Gilbert.
I recognize a lot of my favourite actors from OZ on Law and Order… I always think it’s nice that they got out of jail and became successful in law enforcement.
As to Matthew Perry playing Oscar in the Odd Couple. Not so sure about that one.