695 replies to this topic

[Josette]

Since I've been watching Wings on Nick at Nite, where it has started again from the beginning, I thought I would bump this topic.

Watching the early episodes, Brian really gets on my nerves. I guess I relate better to Joe. Brian wasn't as annoying later, but Joe is for me.

I saw Megan Mullally guesting and she had a different voice than when she plays Karen on Will and Grace, but it was still odd.

I like the episode where they recover the time capsule and read what they thought their futures would be. It was so sweet when we found out Helen's true dream.

no one ever believed Joe. Even now, I don't like to watch those episodes b/c it makes me mad. Wow

I agree. I always hate when a character isn't believed. I guess because that's frustrating in real life. I thought they should have had an episode where everyone finally found out that Sandy was a loon.

edited for no good reason

Edited by Josette, May 22, 2004 @ 7:32 AM.

[daidouji]

I love Brian's first appearance, when he's "complimenting" Roy on the way he runs Aeromass. Okay, I'm going to be a dork and find the scene so I can quote the whole thing.

I mean, I've heard of some creative cost-cutting measures before, but getting rid of the life jackets--it's inspired!  Sure, tell them they're under the seats, but nobody ever checks, so why have 'em?  Oh, and getting a pilot fresh out of flight school must have saved you some serious coin, huh?  Nice kid, too.  Had a couple of drinks with him before the flight.  It's too bad about that eye operation, though.  But like he said, how often do you have to look left, anyway?

A life? What's that?

[Harlow80]

Loved the ep where Faye, Antonio and Roy are trying to win this trivia contest on the radio... Faye was the "brains" but she had gone out to get her knitting equipment.
Of course, Antonio gets on the air:

"Who was the father of impressionism?"
Roy (smug, of course) "Rich Little"
"Rich Little?!? What an idiot!"


Love Antonio's line, "Theres 6 hours of my life I'll never get back"

Add me to the Tony Shaloub love.

Tim Daly is going to be on the Sopranos on Sunday... he is still as hot as ever

[daidouji]

Ooh, Phantom of the Oprah!

"Why do I like gals
Who were previously my pals?"

I don't get HBO and have never seen the Sopranos, but now I'm a little bit glad I'll be visiting my parents this weekend, because they do. And, yes, I'm still upset that The Fugitive didn't make it to a second season.

[BewareThePhog]

I miss Wings. It needs respect

Wings doesn't get a lot of respect. It wasn't innovative, and it didn't push the boundaries of social mores. It was just straightforward, simple, and funny. It's "comfort food" TV. And sometimes, at the end of a long work day, that's more than enough.

Do I think that Wings compares to Sports Night or Seinfeld? Nope. But Wings rates higher than a lot of other shows that have been on over the years.

[texplant]

Could some of the Wings devotees answer a question for me? I saw a couple of episodes about a friend of Helen's who is in love with Joe, she pretends they are married and having a baby and she re-creates prom night in the basement. Those episodes are some of the funniest things on TV. Anyway my question is since no one believes Joe when it tells them that she is insane does she ever get caught in the act by anyone?
I hope this question makes sense.

[Josette]

texplant--Those were the Sandy Cooper episodes mentioned above. No, nobody ever found out that Joe was telling the truth. As I said, that bothered me.

Edited by Josette, Apr 20, 2004 @ 11:49 PM.

[thosehands]

Wow, I wish I'd found this site earlier—it looks like the traffic is considerably leaner than it was last April, but it's a place to gush about Wings, and that's always good.

I have a question that I've been wondering about since the last N@N rotation of this ep a few weeks (months?) ago:

In "The Gift: Part I" (the one where Joe and Brian spend fifteen thousand dollars for Helen's new cello), as Joe and Brian are getting ready to give the cello to Helen, Brian brings in a fake cello that he "accidentally" falls on and crushes in order to play a prank on Joe. My question is this: did Steven Weber hit Tim Daly with the cello while he was doing this? It looks like as SW trips and starts to fall on the cello, SW tags TD either in the face or the chest. After Brian brings in the real cello, he asks Joe where he wants to put it, and Joe hesitates a bit, and then SW says, "Are you all right?" and TD says "Yeah," and then just moves on with the normal dialogue. The exchange seemed out of place, so I've always thought SW was just checking if TD was okay. I could be wrong about this, but I've found it kind of cute.

Am I the only one to have noticed this, or am I watching my Wings tapes a little too much? Actually, the latter question is rhetorical—I already know I am...

[Judois]

thosehands, I don't know the answer to that one but I'll be sure to watch for it.

I love that I found this thread! The airings of it on Nick at Nite from 3am to 4am are not helping my insomnia! I love this show so much. I know the critics never cared for it but screw'em. This show makes me laugh more than some of the critically favored stuff.

I just saw the episodes where Helen has run her Jeep into Joe's office twice. When she has the epiphany about not having him as her best friend to cry to, I teared up. I knew the scene and it still got to me.

My favorite characters are Brian and Antonio. SW and TS are so damn good with their comic timing. And the writers wrote them some great lines.
I really need to start taping these instead of staying up and watching them in the middle of the night. I need help.

[caltrask55]

Wings is, hands down, one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. I just saw my favorite episode the other night. When Brian thinks Fay is a serial killer. The ending has me rolling. Great stuff.

[HeadCase]

Wings has always been one of those shows that I love solely for the characters and not for writing, directing, blah, blah blah.

One of my favorite things about it is that they explained why Joe was so uptight and Brian was so irresponsible. So often we get the "brothers with contrasting personalities" schtick and it makes no sense that they are so extreme. With these two, the facts that their mother abandoned them at a young age and their father went crazy makes both of their personalities understandable. I found these two much easier to sympathize with than most sitcom characters of their kind.

Besides, I will always love this show for no other reason than it gave us this line: "One minute we were slapping each other with meat and the next minute it got weird."

[IseutLaBrune]

I agree with you about the believability of Joe and Brian's characters, Headcase. I also think that Wings did better than most sitcoms with the "skinny woman who used to be fat" cliche. I doubt that Crystal Bernard has ever been more than a size 4 in her life, but some of her character's habits rang true, like stress-induced overeating, still feeling fat when she was around people who had teased her, feeling timid about dressing "sexy," and feeling insecure about men finding her attractive. As someone with a lifelong weight struggle, I could pretty easily identify with Helen (much more than I can with Monica on Friends).

Wings is like an amalgam of well-written cliches. Definitely TV comfort food.

I'm glad N@N is back to showing the older episodes. I hated Casey, and the show was just utter ass once Lowell left and Helen and Joe got married.

[Judois]

See I liked it when Lowell left. Granted some of his lines were funny ("Joe, I'm writing down a figure") but I got a bit tired of this Woody-like character.

[sarcasmdetected]

I loved Wings: one of the first shows I was really into. You know, when I was ten. (My love for TV started young)

I got all sad remembering that whole "Lowell's Hat - Do Not Remove" thing.

Random memories:

• Faye misunderstanding Antonio's simple request as a 'come-on'. "We've both thought about it, but it just isn't meant to be"
• Oliver North appearing in the teaser, making some terrible joke about being trustworty
• Joe spontaneously asking Helen to go to the Islands with him
• Roy teaching Antonio to dance
• Alex kissing Brian, then admitting there was no "chemistry"

...But I can't remember how the series ended...

Also?

I thought Helen/Joe's love story was done so sweetly. WORD to everyone who said that Wings was underrated, but very very well done.

Finally, before 'Monk,' I was so put off by Anto..er, Tony Shalhoub, without the Italian accent. And I loved THC even into "Ned & Stacy."

BTW - any Angel fans on this board? In the S3 episode "Waiting in the Wings" is the evil Count also the man who played Helen's fiancee, Robin (?).

ETA - Thanks for the speedy responses amusingthesis and headcase!

Edited by sarcasmdetected, Apr 21, 2004 @ 7:22 PM.

[amusingthesis]

Ah, Wings. Those were the days.

My favorite Wings memory has to be when Helen drove her jeep into Joe's office - twice. Behind that are a whole slew of good moments, including when Roy played all of them, and then the gang tricked him into thinking Jack Nicholson wanted to buy a property of his.

Like I said, good stuff. The end of the series was very sweet. Joe and Brian recieved a $250,000 inheritance from their dead father, and of course argued about how to spend it. Joe wanted to expland Sandpiper while Brian wanted to move to the Caribbean. Unrelated to the money stuff, Helen is invited to study in...Vienna? I think? Anyway, she's invited to study cello in some far off old world city. Joe decides to go with her, and Brian decides to stay and take care of Sandpiper.

[HeadCase]

I loved the ending because it's one of the few examples ever on television of a husband giving up his career in order to support his wife in pursuing hers.

I hated Casey

I liked Casey. Although I was disappointed that they went with the obvious choice of pairing her with Brian. I always hoped to see her finally succumb to Antonio.

[thosehands]

I liked Lowell, probably because he usually remained a supporting character—I think he tended to become annoying when the show tried to feature him too much (the wax museum ep comes to mind). But he had some gems:

Brian: "Hey, do you remember that winter we got our sleds?"
Helen: "Oh yeah, we spent all day going up and down Suicide Hill."
Lowell: "Yeah, I'll never forget that day. You know, they just can't take childhood memories like those away from you."
Helen: "Lowell, you weren't there, we didn't even know you then."
Lowell: "Guess they can take childhood memories like those away from you."

I always thought Lowell had the lines with more abstract, funky humor. My only complaint is that I thought THC tended to oversell the punchlines a bit. But this is in comparison to SW, who I thought had impeccable timing and delivery.

Actually, the person I started to get annoyed with later on was Fay. Rebecca Shull was great, but for some reason, when she would get excited and start speaking in her higher registers (did that happen more frequently later in the series run, or was it just my imagination?), it kind of got on my nerves.

[kariyaki]

I liked Casey.

Oh, me too. I hated Alex. Annoyed the crap out of me and she had no spark with Brian at ALL. Dullsville.

I didn't even mind the obviousness of pairing Casey with Brian because they had such great chemistry and it's not like they were ever a serious couple--just fuckbuddies. I loved how she ended that relationship, by observing Brian chortling at the Three Stooges and was all, "I'm not sleeping with you anymore."

[thosehands]

I liked Casey.

What saved Casey for me in later episodes were AY's physical comedy moments. I like the scene where Brian has given Casey his cold before her big date, but she's in denial and gets ready to go out anyway. The way she adjusts her dress (with the thermals underneath) is great. It looked like SW had trouble keeping a straight face.

[Judois]

Casey was great. She was so pretty but basically insecure and a bit of a loser.
Tonight's first episode was Lowell finding out Bunny has been cheating on him. To paraphrase:
Lowell: I even called her the "U" word
Brian: You called her unfaithfull?
Lowell: No, unsatiable
Brian: That's insatiable. You called her the "I" word.
Lowell: No, that would be indescreet.
Joe: Can we move on now?

Hee!

[thosehands]

I liked the exchange later on in the episode too...

Bunny: "What good are these gifts that God—and Dr. Parks—have given me if I don't use them?...You know, I've always had this fantasy..."
Brian: "What—pilots?"
Bunny: "No, but that's a good one."
Joe: "Brothers?"
Bunny: "Well, sure, brothers. But that's not it either. Coworkers."
Joe: "Coworkers?"
Bunny: "Yeah, I've always wanted to make it with a couple of coworkers."
Brian: "Well, uh, Bunny, I'm sorry, that's just not going to happen...is it, Joe?"

I'm not a big fan of the second ep with Roy running for town council, but tomorrow night's ep with Tyne Daly is one of the best. Talk about great writing:

Antonio: "Driving an automobile like this is like making love to a ravishingly beautiful woman."
Brian: "Hm, why is that?"
Antonio: "I've never done either."

David Lloyd is a genius.

Edited by thosehands, Apr 22, 2004 @ 3:48 AM.

[Judois]

Oh God! I love that Tyne Daly ep! I might have to tape that one for posterity.

I forgot to mention how funny it was when Laura Innes ended up being on er a few years after playing Bunny. Talk about different characters.

[IseutLaBrune]

Laura Innes was hilarious as Bunny. It took me a good couple years to get used to her as Dr. Weaver, Bunny's polar opposite, on ER.

I think Lowell did a great job with the requisite "office weird guy" (TM NewsRadio). I liked his more surreal moments, like when he ate mushrooms in Roy's backyard. So many funny lines:

"You think you're confused? Check out the look on that giant frog."

"I don't think people with antlers have the right to criticize."

"Could somebody help me out over here? I just dropped all my fingers."

Hee! I also loved when he was talking about cosmic potholes in the universe, started to walk away, then took a huge step around an imaginary hole. Hilarious.

[ReelIrish]

Hooray for Wings love! I was always a big fan of the episodes with Carlton appearances. The way Antonio and he interacted was hilarious - particularly when Carlton comes back and tells everyone he is dying. I hate myself for not being able to remember any of the annoying questions he asked everyone. The only ones I can recall had something to do with getting bit by a monkey(?) and carpeting the Earth? Someone tell me I didn't make that up!

The best Carlton line ever though...(and STILL quoted all the time at my house).
"EMPTY! EMPTY!...oh...(to Antonio) You must be new here. When I say 'empty', that means that my glass....is empty."

[BewareThePhog]

It's great to see the Wings thread heating up....

Besides, I will always love this show for no other reason than it gave us this line: "One minute we were slapping each other with meat and the next minute it got weird."

Great line, even greater delivery by Tim Daly. I totally agree with people who have praised the casting for this show. Tim Daly and Steven Weber played off each other beautifully, Crystal Bernard was excellent, and the others in the cast were superb. One thing that the writers generally did do well was keep the show in balance, giving supporting characters brief moments to shine but not having them take over the show.

Hooray for Wings love! I was always a big fan of the episodes with Carlton appearances.

One of those episodes set up one of my favorite exchanges, when Gilbert Gottfried as Carlton's nephew Louis is chatting up Helen and Alex at the bar.

Louis (lasciviously): When I look at you two lovely ladies, two words come to mind....Louis...sandwich....
Alex: (with utter disdain): I've been to boot camp...I can hurt you.
Louis: I'm a salesman! No you can't!

I agree that Alex could be annoying at times, although she did have a few good moments. Another came when she's over at Helen's having pizza, wine, and ice cream (in the episode where it's later revealed that she'd been in Playboy). She and Helen are talking about serving sizes listed on the size of the ice cream. It's something like this:

Alex (disappointed that the ice cream is gone): Can you believe this? Serving size: 2 ounces.
Helen: There's more than that stuck to the lid!
Alex (scrambling to find the lid): Oh, right! The LID!

[valny]

Does anyone know if there are any good Wings websites out there, if any at all? Also, they never released any DVD's yet did they?

Edited by valny, Apr 22, 2004 @ 10:15 PM.

[kariyaki]

I think that Playboy episode was the only time I liked Alex. Her, Helen and Antonio having a "girl's night" was hysterical, especially Antonio wearing that avocato face mask.

As for Wings websites, just google "Wings", maybe add the letters "TV" after it. You'll find tons.

Edited by kariyaki, Apr 23, 2004 @ 1:55 AM.

[thosehands]

I agree that Alex could be annoying at times, although she did have a few good moments.

I agree. She was shaky early on, but she picked up some decent comedic momentum. Although I agree with kariyaki that the Brian/Alex relationship was totally uninspired, and pretty hastily killed off. Didn't FF have health problems during the show?

One more thing about the Tyne Daly ep: the "opener" scene—does anyone know the proper sitcom vernacular for those?—is one of my favorites ("Hey, who says you need a pilot's license? Hell, they took my driver's license away from me and I still drive!").

Anybody else have favorite openers?

Edited by thosehands, Apr 23, 2004 @ 2:32 AM.