Starring Tim Daly, Steven Weber, Crystal Bernard, Thomas Haden Church, Rebecca Schull, Tony Shalhoub
Written By: David Lee, David Angell, Peter Casey
Directed By:
Studio: Paramount
Buy on Amazon.com link

I’ve been waiting for Wings to come out on DVD for a very long time and it’s finally here! It’s not really on syndication anymore (for some odd reason), but it does air every once & awhile on TV Land. It used to air a bunch of times a day on USA Network and I miss those days a lot. It used to air in the afternoon after school, and then when I was in college they’d air it in the morning time. So I get some crappy pop tarts or cereal to eat, and watch as many episodes of Wings as possible. Thankfully Paramount has released the first 2 seasons on DVD for fans of the show to enjoy.

Wings is set on Nantucket, and takes places in a small airport. There are only two airlines at the small commuter airport, Sandpiper Air and the much bigger airline, Aero Mass. The show revolves around Joe Hackett (Tim Daly), who runs Sandpiper Air with the help Fay (Rebecca Schull). Joe is very business-like and doesn’t seem like much fun. One day, Joe’s younger and cooler brother Brian (Steven Weber) comes back to pay him a visit. 5 years earlier, Brian ran off with Joe’s fiance and got married so they haven’t spoken since. Joe reluctantly lets Brian work there since he doesn’t have a job and is also a pilot. They make up because Carole left Brian so he’s all broken hearted like Joe was. Also working at the airport is Helen (Crystal Bernard), the fat girl turned skinny girl who works the lunch counter. She has been friends with Brian & Joe her whole life but since she’s looking good, the brothers start to notice her more. Helen doesn’t budge at first, and stops the many admits from Brian to put the moves on her; but she does eventually go out with Joe instead. Also among the click is Lowell (Thomas Hayden Church), the jack-of-all-trades maintenance guy who’s very strange and extremely unintelligent when it comes to common knowledge things. Then there’s Roy (David Schramm), who owns and runs Aero Mass. No one likes him and with good reason, but for some reason they feel bad for the guy so they include him into their little group. The one person missing from the first two seasons is Antonio (Tony Shaloub), the unlucky cab driver from Italy. He comes onto the show full time in the third season.

These first two seasons aren’t as funnier as the later seasons but i’m very happy this show has finally made it’s way onto DVD. With the pilot episode, you don’t really know what kind of sitcom you’re gonna get. The opening credits might turn people away just because it’s so long and it’s so…pleasant with Franz Schubert playing. If you were tuning in for the first time, you’d think this was some old person sitcom that appears on PBS on the weekends. I can see why they cut it SUPER short later on in the series’ run. But as you watch the episodes, you start to realize that this is one hell of a funny show with hilarious characters in funny situations. You might ask yourself how they can write a TV comedy in an airport? Well to answer that, they did it so well over 8 seasons! This show is from the same people who brought you Cheers & Frasier by the way so you know the comedy writing is top notch. I think the chemistry between all of the characters helped the show a lot. You almost feel like Tim Daly and Steven Weber were really brothers the way they acted together. They reminded me of myself and my twin brother Matt actually. Though I think I act like Brian mostly, since well he has the same name as me (Well my name is BrYan) but I also act like Joe sometimes too. The roles flip flop back in forth I guess, depends when I want to be goofy or act responsible. Anyway, I think Lowell was a good part of the group because he was so stupid and stole the show I thought..until Antonio showed up for the third season. Antonio, played by Tony Shaloub, was hysterical because he was an every day kind of guy with such bad luck. The only time you see Tony Shaloub is the valentine’s day episode and he’s already hilarious in that. I’m not sure if he’s Antonio Scarpacci there or not? But he definitely made people notice how funny he was with just 5 minutes of material and I can see why they brought him on full time on the series. I’ve always like Roy because he’s such a creep but he has a lot of great & memorable lines. His delivery of those lines is perfect too. Just everyone on the show was great and I love the show. Kind of sad to see if off the air but people move on I suppose.

I’m not entirely sure when the first season ended, it might have been like 7 or 8 episodes and then the rest of the set is from the second season. I can’t wait for the third season & beyond because, just like any popular sitcom like Friends & Seinfeld; Wings got funnier as it went along. I thought so anyway, I remember laughing the most when the series was at the end of its run. Each character comes into their own by the third season and then it’s just funny episode after funny episode. Even when sometimes things got serious in some spots, the show was still funny to me. There aren’t too many sitcoms I can laugh at time and time again. I must have seen each episode of Wings at least 5 or 6 times each and still manage to laugh my head off. Granted the first 2 seasons aren’t the funniest episodes out of the batch, there are still ten times funnier than most sitcoms on TV today. The only thing I’m upset over is that there aren’t extras on here. I know Sony, Warner Brothers and other studios like to include SOMETHING for bonus material but lately Paramount hasn’t done anything for older shows like this or MacGyver. I’m sure the cast will be willing to participate in commentary or a retrospective look back at the show. I just would like to see some form of effort involve with extras because fans of the TV series woulds like to watch something on Wings. I know I would and I’m assuming others would too. Well here’s hoping something is included on the Season 3 DVD. I’m just happy the show is on DVD finally! If you are a fan of the series, go out and back this DVD set so Paramount releases more seasons!

Features:
None

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo CC

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: Return to Nantucket Part I & II; Sports & Leisure; a Stand Up Kind of Guy; It’s Not The Though, It’s the Gift; Airport 90; Love Is Like Pulling Teeth
Rating: NR
Running Time: 642 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: