Wings

wings is not one of my favorite sit-coms. it IS my favorite sit-com. it is not only unique in that it's not set in a worn out new york or los angeles, but on the small island of nantucket, which orders up much more creativity and imagination from its writers, but it's also one of the best ensemble casts ever put together. few shows have beckoned me to fall in love with and care about the plight of such endearing characters. and it was such a disappointment when thomas hayden church left the show. he had truly honed a lovably unique and funny character on the show. the flaws and strengths of all the characters are so aptly attended to. wings is intelligent and witty with superb writing and superb conveying and interpretation of that writing in its fine actors. it is the only show that makes me feel like i'm with family when i join it... that makes me want to be a part of that family, joe, helen, brian, lowell, casey, antonio, alex, roy and faye. it's heartening to know that many others would like to see this fantastic piece of work come to DVD. so please...give our spirits WINGS!

One of my absolute favorite sitcoms of all time. A cleverly written and extremely well acted show revolving around 8 people's lives and their jobs which are based at the airport. The cast is terrific and I won't bore you with each character's nuances other than to say all the roles were very well cast. The comedy is ironic, sarcastic, sardonic, slapstick, politically incorrect, and sexist. And those are but a handful of reasons I loved this show. Now that the show has gone to DVD I would recommend it highly whether you were a fan or would like to see smart comedy. If you weren't a fan you'll see many familiar faces and it was, after all, the show that launched the career of Tony Shalhoub (MONK). Hope you love it the way I did!

This show had me from the start when Steve Weber in the first episode complimented the owner of the rival flight company for getting rid of the life jackets to save money and hiring a novice pilot right out of flight school. Just when I think I've caught my breath, a voluptous brunette walks past and he blurts out, "Major Hooters," only to save himself from her wrath by introducing himself as his alter-ego, "Major Bob Hooters." This was the kind of writing and creativity that made this under-appreciated series a hit for almost ten years as NBC floated it all over it's schedule. Yet, the fans continued to follow it. The other thing that made this show was sexpot Crystal Bernard, a survivor from the last season of Happy Days. The show had an incredible ensemble of talent including Bernard, Weber, Tim Daly, David Scramm, Rebecca Schull and Thomas Haden Church who played the slightly annoying mechanic Lowell Mather. Replaced by the dynamic Tony Shalhoub as the haplessly unlucky Antonio Scarpacci, the series even became a cousin to the equally successful Cheers with crossovers with its best talents. Underrated for its time on TV, this incredibly funny and relentless series lasted an enjoyable seven years until Amy Yasbeck joined the cast as Helen's jinxed sister, Casey, possibly named after Bernard's Happy Days character, K.C. Cunningham. Yasbeck's arrival signified the sign that the series had run out of ideas as Daly and Bernard's characters got married for the marriage jokes and millions of Crystal Bernard fans lost their hearts.

I love Wings ... it was a real sweet piece of sitcom work ... Tony Shaloub was a stitch and the writing was top shelf ... the show managed to get it done without touching a lot of sensitive issues which can be a crutch for many modern sitcoms ... I liked the interplay between the brothers with their very different personalities ... Kaye, the employee, who ran the company ... Lowell, the good-natured knucklehead whose lone talent was the ability to fix airplanes and be a loving friend and family man ... Roy, the ruthless competitor and Helen, the ever self-effacing one who stepped up to the plate when the chips were down time after time ... I also like the adjustments over the years, Helen and Joe go from pals to lovers and marry ... Shaloub was so good as the maitre d' that he had to change careers so it was much easier to write him into the scripts ... he was my favorite character with his passionate Italian solilioquies

I am so glad that USA Network continues to rerun the episodes of this great show. With one exception I found this to be among those shows with a once in a lifetime cast. The only exception was Farah Forke, an absolutely terrible actress, who has dragged down every series that she has been a part of. Her character Alex was contentious, had a constant chip on her shoulder, and constantly felt that she had to show everyone how tough she was. BUT, when the shows' producers saw the light and bounced her they hit a home run with the casting of Amy Yasbeck in the role of Helen's sister. IMHO this show was as well written as any sitcom ever was. I hated to see the character of Lowell leave but I can't blame Thomas Hayden Church for trying to make it as the star of his own series (sadly, the series was a dud). And, while I would never want to associate professionally or socially with Roy, he was played perfectly by David Schramm. The final two part episode did a superb job of wrapping things up. It was a real bittersweet moment for me as I imagined what life would be like for Brian who so abruptly gave up his dream life in the islands to keep Sandpiper going while Joe was in Europe with Helen. Who knows if he really got to fulfill that dream one year later. So many things can change in that time frame. This was a show that people like me could get involved in and it all seemed so real. I hoe that USA continues the reruns for many, many years.