First, a brief history of the series...
Created by executive producers David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee, Wings is a sitcom about two brothers who run Sandpiper Airlines out of Tom Nevers Field in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Joe Hackett (Tim Daly) runs the day to day operations and his brother Brian (Steven Weber) is the pilot. After several seasons, Joe ends up marrying Helen (Crystal Bernard) who runs the lunch counter at the airport. When Helen's sister Casey (Amy Yasbeck) shows up, she winds up romantically involved with Brian. Other characters in the final season include Sandpiper's counter manager, Fay (Rebecca Shull), and taxi driver Antonio Scarpacci (Tony Shaloub).
I will admit that I was not the biggest Wings fan during its original run, but I did watch it; in fact, I watched almost every episode in the eight-season run. However, it was one of those shows I'd put on just because there was nothing else on that I really wanted to watch. I never saw it in the same league as Frasier or Cheers even though it had some of the same writers and producers as those shows. Wings was never as decorated as those shows either — it was nominated for two Emmy Awards but never won.
I was nervous as to how I would react to seeing the show 12 years after it went off the air, but found myself pleasantly surprised. I had forgotten how good the actors were. The scripts were not always the greatest or the most interesting, but the acting was first rate from everyone involved. The characters are likable, there are none that make you cringe when they show up on screen. The humor was still fresh after more than a decade. Since it was never a topical show there were no jokes that would go over the heads of someone watching it for the first time.
Article comments
1 - cailin gallagher
Right on target with this review. Solid acting all around for "Wings". As a New Englander, I loved the location on the series.