#492 Wings

Some of you may have caught on that a lot of my blog titles are song titles or relate to music in some way.  Music plays a huge role in my life and I like to challenge myself to make it relatable to just about anything. 

If you thought that this particular blog title has to do with Paul McCartney’s band from the 70s, you’re wrong.  The title also has nothing to do with birds, eagles, or fairies.  This blog is about my favorite sit-com of all time. 

Wings ran for eight seasons from 1990-1997.  The most well-known cast members are Tim Daly (Joe Hackett), Steven Weber (Brian Hackett), Crystal Bernard (Helen Chappel), Thomas Haden Church (Lowell Mather) and Tony Shalhoub (Antonio Scarpacci).  The show was about the Hackett brothers and their small airline, Sandpiper Air, on Nantucket Island.  Helen ran the lunch counter at Tom Nevers Field.  Lowell was the mechanic.  Antonio the cab driver.  And let’s not forget Roy Biggins (David Schramm), who ran rival airline Aeromass, and Fay Cochran (Rebecca Schull), Sandpiper’s lone employee besides the Hacketts.  Other characters are Alex Lambert (Farrah Forke), Brian’s girlfriend for part of the series, and Casey Chappel (Amy Yasbeck), Helen’s sister, who appeared on the last three seasons.  (Brian Haley replaced Thomas Haden Church as Budd the mechanic on season seven, but the poor guy didn’t get much air time.  And he was no Lowell.) 

Why do I love this show so much?  It has the perfect mix of witty repartee, silly comedy, a thread of sexual tension, and a lot of heart.  The characters are outstanding and play off of each other perfectly. 

The Hackett brothers are great looking and direct opposites.  Nice-guy Joe is responsibly trying to run the airline and has to deal with Brian returning to the island (after running off with Joe’s fiancée).  Brian is bent on having as much fun and the least responsibility possible. 

Helen is somewhat neurotic but yet totally relatable as the chronically single woman trying to find her place in the world.  Will she die a lonely, old woman with her cello?  Will she end up with Joe?  Or business man Davis Lynch? 

Roy is the evil nemesis but still lovable at his core.  He never fails to bring the perfect zinger at the perfect time. 

Fay is just so out there; you can’t help but love her.  And when you think she can’t be any more bizarre, she is the voice of reason.  She survived several husbands and her full name is Fay Evelyn Schlob Dumbly DeVay Cochran. 

Antonio appears in season two and becomes a regular in seasons three through eight, adding another layer of amusement, almost matching Lowell.  Almost.

What can I say about Lowell?  Lowell is a simple man who works for both Aeromass and Sandpiper.  He has a unique outlook on life and the world.  He doesn’t always get the jokes he is the butt of.  Lowell left the series in season seven, entering the Witness Protection Program.  A sad day at Tom Nevers Field and on the island. 

I watched Wings during it’s original running years, and also loved watching it again in syndication.  During the mid-to-late 1990s the USA Network ran it twice a day.  Two back-to-back, half-hour episodes in the morning, and two more in the evening.  I loved the show so much I wanted to keep them for my future entertainment and began recording them on a VCR.  I kept a written record of the episodes I had already recorded, so whenever there was a repeat, I would delete the extra.  I ended up with 10 VHS cassettes. 

I threw out my paper list of episodes,
but did write them on each VHS tape.  

When I moved into my current house, I stored these tapes in my basement.  They sat there, untouched, for 20 years.  I had a VCR up until a couple years ago, but never watched the episodes.  I guess there were too many other things to watch.  A couple years ago, a friend gifted me the complete Wings series box DVD set.  I’m sure much better quality than my VHS collection.  Still, I didn’t make time to watch it. 

After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and I had worked at home for a few days, I lamented the lack of background TV shows during the afternoon.  The usual, “So many options but nothing on.”  Then I had a eureka moment – I could watch the entire Wings series!  Which I did every afternoon from mid-March to early May.  I was right back in it – laughing at the right moments and finishing their lines. 

During a time of uncertainty, I looked forward to my daily dose of hilarity while getting my work done.  I guess you could say that Wings carried me up and away from the worldly troubles for a few hours a day. 

Thank you for flying Sandpiper.