Wings

A "Cheers" spin-off that started off mediocre (buried in a Friday, 9 o clock time slot) but soon found its wheels to become a truly sharp, perfectly written sitcom. If you catch the reruns on USA you might get lucky and see the show in the middle of its run. Then when you see the early, not so hot episodes you wont be so hard on it. Basically the premise was two brothers, reunited after years of bickering, decide to run an airline together. Tim Daly and Steven Weber were Joe and Brian Hackett, one straight laced, the other an outgoing goofball. Their daily life consisted of gabbing with their longtime friend Helen who worked at the lunch counter, played by the gorgeous Crystal Bernard, plus fending off insults and competition from David Schramms Roy Biggins, owner of the airline one counter away. Others featured were Thomas Haden Church's dummy mechanic Lowell, and sweet-tempered Fay, the brothers ticket agent. After the first season Tony Shalhoub was added as cabby Antonio, and in season 4 the lovely Farrah Forke was brought on for a couple of years as Brians love interest. Most of the time Joe found himself on again off again with Helen, with the rest of the cast dating a myriad of visiting characters. Must see episodes include "Joe Blows," when Daly deals with an unbearable amount of the casts problems, the one where Helen tries to get ready for a date as each of the cast keeps dropping by, and definitely the one where Brian and Joe lose the body of a bitchy rich lady's father. The final episode has some of the gang coming into money, but like its sister show "Cheers" does not give its characters big send-offs. But that last show is still decently written and provides fans with a decent payoff. So if you have the chance, hop on board "Wings," one of the more underrated sitcoms ever. (Biggest sign of that: not one Emmy that I know of to anyone involved with the show. Hissssss.)

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

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!

It's a shame that I have to stay up until 3am to watch wings on Nick at Nite. It's a real funny and sometimes feel good show. With all the bad news in the world today we need more wonderful shows like Wings. I really hope the the show will soon be avalible on dvd. I always look for it when im at Best Buy or walmart. One of the best episodes was when Carlton pretended to break his leg at Helens house and had to stay over. I laughed my butt off when he held up a drinking glass and shook it front of Fay and yelled out "EMPTY". Lowel was also one of the characters that really made the show a success. If my spelling is off please forgive me, it's late and im beat. I hope someone can tell me if they ever hear of the show coming onto dvd. Jim

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!