The creator of "Ned & Stacey" did commentary for the pilot episode. In it, there's a line where Ned (Thomas Haden Church) tells Stacey that he's Wingless. The audience laughed so long that they had to cut most of the laugh out of the episode. It wasn't intended to be a "Wings" reference, but the audience took it that way (myself included).

Funny, I'm getting Thomas Haden Church's career backwards on DVD. First I saw him on Wings, then Ned & Stacey, and then Sideways. Yet, I bought Sideways first, then Ned & Stacey and hopefully Wings next year.

Everyone said (in the featurette) that Thomas liked to improvise with his character (Ned). That he had a unique sense of humor. I wonder if he did the same with Lowell. Because early on in the show, I didn't find Lowell that funny. But by the end of season two all the way to his finale, Lowell was (to me) the funniest, most unique character on the show.

Thats why Thomas left Wings. I dug up an old interview from when he first left, and what he hated most was that the Wings producers didn't allow him to improv. He wanted out of Wings in '93 actually, but his contract wasn't up. Then he wanted out in season six, but asked too close to Helen and Joe's wedding, so they wrote him out at the beginning of season seven. Fox had pitched him Ned and Stacey with his contract finally up and when they approved his wanting of improv, they were all for it, so he took it.

I'm glad he didn't leave in 1993. Because I found him the funniest in season 6. I can understand them not wanting his leaving and Joe & Helen's wedding to be together. Yet it seems like everyone lumps those two events together anyways.