Yes, I DID watch the "Friends" finale last night (although I'm not a true fan, I DID have a sense of curiousity about the whole thing). I thought that the finale was OK, but I couldn't help but make mental comparisons to "Wings". A couple of observations:

1. At the end when Rachel came back to Ross and they ended up together, the audience applauded and even cheered a little....but the whole thing seemed rather tame compared to the spontaneous full-blown response that broke loose from the "Wings" studio audience when Helen agreed to marry Joe. THAT crowd went WILD...and it was so genuine! Maybe Joe and Helen hadn't "burned out" their fans with an "on again-off again-on again-off again" romance the way that Ross and Rachel had over the years.

2. In watching other series' finales, I realize what a true "class act" WINGS was. WINGS ended with a lot of dignity and class. There were some surprises in the finale, but nothing "way out wild".....Crystal didn't wake up as K.C. Cunningham from "Happy Days" and realize that the whole 8 years of "Wings" had been just a dream! The WINGS finale managed to be a little sad, but it also ended with a sense of optimism and on a generally pleasant note.

While WINGS had obviously slipped in overall quality over the last couple of seasons, the finale seemed to get it's act together and give the viewers the heart, character integrity and writing quality that made fans fall in love with the show in the first place.

I think that WINGS should be noted as having one of the BEST series finales of ANY sitcom!

I think the Wings finale is OK. It did tie up some lose ends. What I really didn't like though is I thought Lowell and maybe even Alex should have come back and something positive should have happened to Antonio for a change. I hate how they turned him into such a whiny, pathetic loser at times near the end. That's another reason why I can hardly watch a lot of the episodes from the final two seasons. They really ruined Antonio, IMHO.

I also don't like how NBC didn't bother to do a clip show with Wings like they did with Seinfeld, Friends, and (next week) Frasier. Even though Wings may not have been the mega-hit that those three shows are, it still lasted for 8 seasons and I think they deserved a better send-off. I think Frasier deserves a little more attention than it's getting too. I'll watch Wings over Seinfeld or Friends any day of the week.

pilotguy, I agree!!
I watched the "Friends" finale too, even though I haven't been a regular watcher of "Friends" since about season 4.... but at one time, It was my favorite show, and I realized that I've basicaly grown up with "Friends"... i started watching it when it started when I was in 7th grade :eek: and that show has been on through half of my middle school years, all of my high school years, and 4 of my college years! So of course, I had to watch the finale, even though I was annoyed at how much hype it's been getting..

and I was doung the same thing- comparing it to the Wings finale! And I agree... even though "Friends" ended on a happy note- Ross and Rachel finally getting back together for good, Monica and Chandler moving to a new house and having two new babies... etc... it's still sad in a way because everything's changing between the 6 friends...
but with Wings it was like, Joe and Helen were going to Vienna for a year while Brian ran Sandpiper, and then they'd be back, and everything would go on just as it always had...

I do think Wings had one of the best finales that I've seen.... and I just realized that I haven't seen many shows with actual finales... most of the shows that I've ever watched get cancelled before they have a legitimate ending!

Originally posted by pilotguy


I think that WINGS should be noted as having one of the BEST series finales of ANY sitcom!

TOTALLY agree Pilotguy!:)

I think the final Wings episode was very well written and left fans with a level of satisfaction....not just with the resolution of things for the characters, but just staying true to the quality of the show.

I watched the Friends final and thought it was pretty awful. Seinfeld, M*A*S*H, Cheers were all much higher profile shows, but they just didn't hit the mark with the series finales.

I wasn't happy with the way NBC treated Wings at the end, with every little appreciation or recognition. But at least they didn't treat it like Drew Carrey on ABC. I hardly ever watched that show but it is kind of sad when a show is on the air for 7 or 8 years, and the final episodes won't be run until sometime in the summer.

i finally got to watch the Last ever episode of Wings last night "Final Approach" and loved it.

An excellent ending scene where helen & joe say goodbye to everyone.:)

Originally posted by losthighway
I watched the Friends final and thought it was pretty awful. Seinfeld, M*A*S*H, Cheers were all much higher profile shows, but they just didn't hit the mark with the series finales.



I've always thought that "Cheers" had one of the WORST finales of ANY TV show!

They brought back Shelley Long, who had publically washed her hands of the series after her departure, and centered virtually the entire finale around Sam and Diane! The other characters (especially Rebecca) were really given the "fast shuffle" in wrapping up THEIR storylines.....

I can't believe that Kirstie Alley (who worked her TAIL off in that series and did an excellent job) wasn't hurt, offended and ANGRY by the shabby treatment that her character received in the finale....It was NOT fair!:mad:

Something else that's great about the "WINGS" finale:

While most people concentrate on the "Joe and Helen Leaving For Vienna" storyline, the finale also shed new light on the Brian-Casey relationship.....

The finale had the two of them realizing that they truly LIKED each other, and that their relationship was NOT just "all about sex". They had a special friendship and they enjoyed being around each other. While Casey probably knew this all along, it was obvious that Brian was just realizing it....and after that touching scene, the viewer realized that it's just POSSIBLE that Brian and Casey WOULD end up together as a REAL couple (not just sex partners).

That scene was another positive aspect of the finale, and was a very nice way to have the characters say "goodbye" to us.

I don't think I've ever seen the "Cheers" finale, but it sounds pretty crappy. lol.


and peter- that's great that you finally got to see the Wings finale! I've only seen it once so far, and now after this topic, I want to watch it again! now! ...but i'm at work. so i can't. pooo.

Originally posted by pilotguy
I've always thought that "Cheers" had one of the WORST finales of ANY TV show!

They brought back Shelley Long, who had publically washed her hands of the series after her departure, and centered virtually the entire finale around Sam and Diane! The other characters (especially Rebecca) were really given the "fast shuffle" in wrapping up THEIR storylines.....

I can't believe that Kirstie Alley (who worked her TAIL off in that series and did an excellent job) wasn't hurt, offended and ANGRY by the shabby treatment that her character received in the finale....It was NOT fair!:mad:

I didn't like the Cheers finale either for that reason. While I do love Cheers, Diane Chambers is my absolute least favorite sitcom character EVER! :barf:

A thing I've observed is that Cheers fans who prefer the Diane years prefer Frasier to Wings while Cheers fans who prefer the Rebecca years prefer Wings to Frasier. It's certainly true with me.

Originally posted by Sideshow Kristen
A thing I've observed is that Cheers fans who prefer the Diane years prefer Frasier to Wings while Cheers fans who prefer the Rebecca years prefer Wings to Frasier. It's certainly true with me.

I never thought of that before, but it DOES make sense!

People who like the snobbish, pseudo-intellectual character of Diane Chambers would probably also enjoy the Crane brothers, who share many of the same qualities.....

However, Rebecca is more of a tough "kick-ass" character whose life is never quite going the way that she'd like it to...and THOSE qualities are shared by Helen Chappel, as well as other "Wings" characters at one time or another....

Another thought: The "Frasier" characters who would probably appeal to "Wings" fans MOST are Roz Doyle and Martin Crane (both tough characters who don't take much garbage from anybody).

Originally posted by Sideshow Kristen


A thing I've observed is that Cheers fans who prefer the Diane years prefer Frasier to Wings while Cheers fans who prefer the Rebecca years prefer Wings to Frasier. It's certainly true with me.

hey, that's interesting! It's true in my case too! lol. I agree with pilotguy on the reasons why that probably is.
and you're also right, pilotguy, in that the only characters on "Frasier" that I like are Roz and Martin. lol

Originally posted by Sideshow Kristen
I didn't like the Cheers finale either for that reason. While I do love Cheers, Diane Chambers is my absolute least favorite sitcom character EVER! :barf:

A thing I've observed is that Cheers fans who prefer the Diane years prefer Frasier to Wings while Cheers fans who prefer the Rebecca years prefer Wings to Frasier. It's certainly true with me.

Not me, I hated Rebecca she was too whiny, needy, clingy, man hungry, etc. etc. etc. :D

Also to me Kelsey Grammer hasn't been funny since he was on Cheers :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Sideshow Kristen
I didn't like the Cheers finale either for that reason. While I do love Cheers, Diane Chambers is my absolute least favorite sitcom character EVER! :barf:

A thing I've observed is that Cheers fans who prefer the Diane years prefer Frasier to Wings while Cheers fans who prefer the Rebecca years prefer Wings to Frasier. It's certainly true with me.
I never thought of that but its true with me. I like Rebecca more than Diane and Wings over Frasier. As a matter of fact I rarely watch Frasier.

I agree with pilotguy... Wings really did go off the air with class. There weren't a lot of far-out plots or unrealistic stunts.
Remember Giligan's Island or Hogan's Hero's? They didn't have any finale's about getting rescued. (at least, none that I remember) . I really hope that another channel re-runs Wings at normal viewing hours. There are still many laughs to be found in each episode.

jim

OK, some of you know what a big fan of Friends I am, and I just now watched the finale today(sorry, I've been out of town again). As much as I like the show, I did think the finale was pretty anti-climactic and predictable. I mean, c'mon, Ross & Rachel getting back together? Who didn't see that coming? I just glad it's over because then maybe I won't have to hear over & over again about how much you hate the show. OK, I know you don't like it. Can we move on? I know everybody is entitled to their opinion but I've sat quietly and read you bashing a show that I liked. You don't see me bashing anything you like. That's the reason I quit going on the TVLand message board because people would bash the shows I liked. OK, I said it and I'm not going to say anything else. I don't want to alienate everybody. That's if I haven't already. BTW, Wings still rules, of course. That's my way of buttering you up again.

Originally posted by phoebe7165
OK, some of you know what a big fan of Friends I am, and I just now watched the finale today(sorry, I've been out of town again). As much as I like the show, I did think the finale was pretty anti-climactic and predictable. I mean, c'mon, Ross & Rachel getting back together? Who didn't see that coming? I just glad it's over because then maybe I won't have to hear over & over again about how much you hate the show. OK, I know you don't like it. Can we move on? I know everybody is entitled to their opinion but I've sat quietly and read you bashing a show that I liked. You don't see me bashing anything you like. That's the reason I quit going on the TVLand message board because people would bash the shows I liked. OK, I said it and I'm not going to say anything else. I don't want to alienate everybody. That's if I haven't already. BTW, Wings still rules, of course. That's my way of buttering you up again.

Phoebe, just so you don't get the wrong idea, if you read my original post in this thread again, you'll see that I didn't hate the "Friends" finale...I thought that it was just "OK", but I didn't hate it....

As I've said before (after I REALLY bashed "Friends"), the problem was with ME....I've always resented "Friends" for the "royal red carpet" that's constantly been rolled out for that series and it's stars....treatment which was NEVER give to "Wings"....

Box set after box set of "Friends" DVDs are rapidly released before you can blink an eye, the stars were pampered by the network with every one of their demands being met, the series finale was constantly hyped and promoted, etc....I admit, it's silly and childish of me to resent "Friends" like that simply because it's received the attention and pampering that "Wings" never did, and I sincerely apologize if I upset or offended you.

Originally posted by pilotguy
Phoebe, just so you don't get the wrong idea, if you read my original post in this thread again, you'll see that I didn't hate the "Friends" finale...I thought that it was just "OK", but I didn't hate it....

As I've said before (after I REALLY bashed "Friends"), the problem was with ME....I've always resented "Friends" for the "royal red carpet" that's constantly been rolled out for that series and it's stars....treatment which was NEVER give to "Wings"....

Box set after box set of "Friends" DVDs are rapidly released before you can blink an eye, the stars were pampered by the network with every one of their demands being met, the series finale was constantly hyped and promoted, etc....I admit, it's silly and childish of me to resent "Friends" like that simply because it's received the attention and pampering that "Wings" never did, and I sincerely apologize if I upset or offended you.

Thank you, Pilotguy, for setting this straight. I did not mean to go off and I don't want to piss anybody off. I think it was all the months of hearing about how everybody hates it and me not saying anything. I do agree with you about the 'red carpet treatment' and getting a million dollars a episode, per cast member. There are other shows out there that are just as good & popular and I don't see too many other actors making that kind of money. I hear the highest rated show for the past 3 years has been CSI, but I've never heard anything about William Petersen or Marg Helgenberg making that kind of money. I guess if you're one of the 'young & beautiful' people(although I think William is a hottie), you can get your way. I just think alot of these actors & actresses are so spoiled--holding out for more money. They should be lucky for making the money they're making right now. I would love to be making $70,000 a week!!

I also agree that Wings gets shafted in so many ways. I mean, geez, I'm surprised that N@N even decided to show it!! I figure they would think it wasn't worth their time. I'm glad they thought otherwise, even if it is at 3AM.

same here, i am glad they are airing it at all , otherwise i would have never even seen this show especially as it doesnt even air in my country.:(

hey phoebe- I hope you didn't think I was bashing "Friends". I mean, I don't hate the show, but I have my problems with it, but I try not to bash it here because I know that you like it. When I commented on the finale, I just kind of posted my opinions. I hope you didn't think I was bashing the show. :(

i like friends occasionally, but i have definately gotten sick to death of it.

It is run constantly over here, sometimes at 6hrs at a time - and this isn't even on cable :confused: :crazy:

it makes it look as though your cosby show hardly ever airs on Nick@Nite :lol:

Phoebe, you can count me in as one that hoped didn't offend!:)

I just didn't like the Friends finale episode. I felt the quality of the show went down the last few years but as I've mentioned in many a post (LOL) it is hard to maintain a consistency for more then 6 or 7 seasons.

I also admit tht I turned on the show slightly just because of the ridiculous over the top exposure the show got with the NBC adversting (best sit-com ever, etc.) and all that nonsense. As Pilotguy pointed out, as a fan of Wings you just get irked that Friends got so much push and fanfare and Wings wasn't even given a a pat on the head to say nice job. Sour grapes no doubt.;)

But obviously I still liked the show, otherwise I wouldn't have kept watching or had an interest in viewing the finale.

I try to keep all things positive on this board as much as possible....Peter and others will occasionally post a question asking if you like this show, or that show, and if I don't like the show I just don't comment. I'm not going to put down a show that somebody else happens to like...what's the point? I happen to be a big fan of Kelsey Grammer and of the show Frasier. I know lots of people on this board didn't like that show. But I figure if I wanted to get in a discussion about it I can go to the Frasier board....after all this is the Wings board.:D

Speaking of Wings...every day that I see ANOTHER show coming out on DVD and not Wings I get depressed. The latest is Taxi, which is another quality show that has some ties to Cheers, and Wings because of the writers and directors involved, but still no Wings. Will the day ever come? (sigh)

Thank you for your responses. I truly don't want to get on anybody's bad side. Wings is the reason I started coming on SO and I think you all are a great bunch of people. This is the longest I've been on any message board, and that's saying something.

I do agree with alot of what you all said about Friends. I did love the show, but I also had some issues, mainly what you all mentioned about the over-exposure, and the quality of the show going downhill the last few seasons compared to the first few seasons. I, too, also thought the finale was just OK. It didn't blow me away, and we had a bit of a discussion on the Friends board about things wrong with the finale and things the writers could've done differently.

The thing that bugged me the most about the over-exposure of the finale was Friends was over-shadowing the finale of Frasier, another show that I also really liked. NBC even had a commercial they showed over & over again about how Frasier was the most honored show, yet NBC decided that the Friends finale deserved more promotion.

OK, well, like I said in a previous post, I'm moving on. It's all over, and I won't say anything else about it.

So, like Losthighway wrote, this is a Wings board, so let's talk some Wings!!!:rock: :mango

I don't want to start an argument here (I hear enough of those at work! :lol: ) but I do want to say that I think there's a huge difference between expressing an opinion and bashing someone. I am not the type of person who would bash or criticize someone just for having a different opinion than me. I've been to quite a few other message boards where I felt like I couldn't say ANYTHING that wouldn't get me attacked. I used to post at a message board where there was a lot of Wings-bashing and bashing of the few of us who did like the show and wanted to talk about it with the same respect that the Friends and Seinfeld fans got. Wouldn't it be so boring if we all liked the same TV shows and type of music and stuff like that? That's why I like it here. People have a wide variety of tastes and generally respect the fact that not everybody agrees with them. I've decided that if someone has a problem with my taste in TV or music, then they will just have to learn to live with it. If someone simply says they don't like one of my favorite shows, then that's no skin off my nose. I'm not going to get into a fight over something as trivial as a TV show or music group. I'll save my argument energy for the customers! :lol:

Originally posted by Sideshow Kristen
A thing I've observed is that Cheers fans who prefer the Diane years prefer Frasier to Wings while Cheers fans who prefer the Rebecca years prefer Wings to Frasier. It's certainly true with me.

This may get complicated, but ohh well....

I prefer Cheers to Frasier.
And I prefer Frasier to Wings.
But I still like Wings.

I loved the character of Frasier on all 3 series, but I thought he was his best in early Frasier.
But still, he's third behind Niles and Martin (the best) on Frasier.

I prefer the character of Diane to the character of Rebecca.
But I prefer the Rebecca YEARS to the Diane YEARS.

Whatever.... all 3 are good series no matter how you look at it, and I cant wait till the day when I own all completely on DVD.
Thats a "when" NOT an "if".