Great Crystal interview from the final ep.... - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

McFly121 · 03-01-2005, 04:09 AM

Doing my usual digging, I found this. Some interesting choice comments about Married Helen vs. Single Helen....

At an inauspicious moment in Crystal Bernard's life, "Wings"
fortuitously touched down.

In 1990, the 23-year-old actress had just finished the sitcom "It's
a Living," and was recovering at home from carbon monoxide poisoning,
which she'd gotten on the set of a new television movie.

"I walked downstairs, and there was a script at my door, and it was
`Wings,'"
Bernard recalls. "I thought it was the smartest script to date. I did
not want to do another 30-minute format, but I knew that this was a
special, special show."

Tonight, eight sometimes turbulent seasons later, "Wings" is
heading into the sunset with a special hour-long episode -- "Wings: Final
Flight" -- that finds the Hackett brothers chasing a treasure hidden by
their late father.

The possibility of a windfall has Brian Hackett (Steven Weber)
entertaining fantasies of a carefree life in the Caribbean, while
brother Joe (Tim Daly) wonders how he'll keep aloft his dream -- and
continue to run the Sandpiper Aircommuter line out of Nantucket.

Things get even more complicated after Joe's wife, Bernard's Helen
Chappel Hackett, returns to her cello-playing, and finally gets a crack
at pursuing her musical dreams (as Bernard is, in fact, doing in real
life).

"I gave a lot of suggestions over the years, but having Helen make
it was never one of them," Bernard says. "I think our best shows are
about losers. What's funny about our lives, yours and mine, are the
mistakes we make.

"`Cheers,' which is one of my favorite shows, was a show about a
bunch of losers, and I say that in the best of ways," Bernard says. "I
always loved that Helen was not the homecoming queen and that what she'd
end up finding out is how much Joe and Brian loved her. That love would
always be the winner, instead of success."

On a recent day, nearly two months after "Wings" had filmed its
final episode, Bernard fondly reminisced about her beloved sitcom --
which debuted April 19, 1990, a creation of David Angell, Peter Casey,
and David Lee, the award-winning team behind "Frasier" -- and her Helen.

"I always encouraged the writers to write for Helen like they did
the first four years, when she was independent and fun," says Bernard,
whose character started out as an unmarried childhood friend of the
bachelor brothers.

"I never liked the `wifey' stuff, unless it was smart and funny.
For so many years, Helen was a guy's girl. She would lie, cheat, and
steal to get tickets to the baseball team. Then, towards the end, she
became a nagging wife, the voice of reason, the one to say, `You can't
do that,' and that wasn't enjoyable to play."

Clearly, though, Bernard's happy memories far outweigh any gripes.
She remembers the first script reading, when David Schramm, who plays
busybody Roy Biggins, said to her and Rebecca Schull (nosy Fay Evelyn
Cochran), "Girls, we just stepped in a big tube of butter."

"And we did," Bernard says.

Not that "Wings" had an easy time of it.

"In the beginning, we felt like the stepchild, because we were
never really acknowledged," Bernard recalls. "We were always `the show
before "Cheers'"
in the early years, then we were in `the show in the Thursday-night
lineup that benefited from its time slot.' The network always told us we
could be replaced.

"We had to do a lot of talking amongst the cast to build our
confidence. We didn't get a lot of validation from the network until we
were moved to Tuesday night. And then, after that, we were moved to
Wednesday for this last year, and we didn't do so well."

Although everyone knew that this would be the final season for
"Wings," the grand finale -- filmed March 18, before an audience filed
with friends and family of the cast and crew -- was still sad, Bernard
says.

"Our contracts were out and we had known the show was very
expensive to make, and we were ready for the show to end," she says.
"You don't want to go down with a show, until all the integrity
leaves," she said. "However, when the last episode came around, we
cried. And at the wrap party we had the next day, I couldn't believe how
eager I was to look in every person's eyes and tell them what they meant
to me."

Bernard's departure from Paramount's Stage 19 (where she also made
the final season of "Happy Days") has enabled the Houston native to
concentrate on her country-music career.

In November, Bernard, a singer-songwriter who had pursued music as a
hobby since the age of 8, released her debut album, "The Girl Next
Door." She is now doing a 60-concert tour across the United States.

"I've been doing these concerts, with 10,000 people in these
auditoriums, and so many people say, `God, you're [Wings] our favorite
show,'"
Bernard says. "It's nice to get that feedback, because on a sound
stage, all we ever see, is a piece of paper saying, `this is how many
people are watching.'"

Bernard says she's been offered a slew of other television series.

"I'm holding out, because I've been doing this for 13 years, and I
wanted to roll the dice and see what I can do in film," Bernard says. "I
think the next [series] I'm gonna do will be more my own show. And I
want to have the same enthusiasm for that one as I had for `Wings.'"

Illustrations/Photos: 2 PHOTOS 1 - COLOR PHOTO - "Wings" cast members take their
leave after eight seasons on NBC. 2 - Joe Hackett (Tim Daly) finds a suitcase
and a key that leads to surprises for everyone.

Meade · 03-06-2005, 01:36 AM

Good article. For some reason I thought she was 28 when she started Wings.

Brian Hackett · 03-06-2005, 11:26 AM

I think that's a misprint. I also thought she was 28 when she started Wings.

barwars · 03-06-2005, 01:08 PM

Good article, and great perspective on the character.
I agree completely that losers make the funniest characters. And when happiness is achieved, it isn't quite as funny any more. (this is why "will they/won't they" sitcoms couples should never be happily together until the series comes to a close, and even then it doesn't seem right most of the time)

McFly121 · 03-06-2005, 05:34 PM

Yeah, Wings is---in recent memory anyway---the only show I can remember that married it's two main characters. Most workplace comedies never did it. Of course, Frasier finally sent Niles and Daphne down the aisle, and a stretch would be the Three's Company spin-off of moving Jack in with his girlfriend. I think it's safe to say both shows lost punch in doing so.

And in checking at the IMDB they have Crystal born in 1961, so I guess she was about 28, 29 when she started Wings.

Wings#1ShowPeriod · 03-10-2005, 02:38 AM

I just hope, we have the privlege of seeing Crystal Bernard in another series sometime or anytime soon. She is a fantastic actress, she can defiently headline a series.. because she is just that great...

03-01-2005, 04:09 AM	#1
McFly121 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 18, 2004 Location: calif Posts: 812	Great Crystal interview from the final ep.... Doing my usual digging, I found this. Some interesting choice comments about Married Helen vs. Single Helen.... At an inauspicious moment in Crystal Bernard's life, "Wings" fortuitously touched down. In 1990, the 23-year-old actress had just finished the sitcom "It's a Living," and was recovering at home from carbon monoxide poisoning, which she'd gotten on the set of a new television movie. "I walked downstairs, and there was a script at my door, and it was `Wings,'" Bernard recalls. "I thought it was the smartest script to date. I did not want to do another 30-minute format, but I knew that this was a special, special show." Tonight, eight sometimes turbulent seasons later, "Wings" is heading into the sunset with a special hour-long episode -- "Wings: Final Flight" -- that finds the Hackett brothers chasing a treasure hidden by their late father. The possibility of a windfall has Brian Hackett (Steven Weber) entertaining fantasies of a carefree life in the Caribbean, while brother Joe (Tim Daly) wonders how he'll keep aloft his dream -- and continue to run the Sandpiper Aircommuter line out of Nantucket. Things get even more complicated after Joe's wife, Bernard's Helen Chappel Hackett, returns to her cello-playing, and finally gets a crack at pursuing her musical dreams (as Bernard is, in fact, doing in real life). "I gave a lot of suggestions over the years, but having Helen make it was never one of them," Bernard says. "I think our best shows are about losers. What's funny about our lives, yours and mine, are the mistakes we make. "`Cheers,' which is one of my favorite shows, was a show about a bunch of losers, and I say that in the best of ways," Bernard says. "I always loved that Helen was not the homecoming queen and that what she'd end up finding out is how much Joe and Brian loved her. That love would always be the winner, instead of success." On a recent day, nearly two months after "Wings" had filmed its final episode, Bernard fondly reminisced about her beloved sitcom -- which debuted April 19, 1990, a creation of David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee, the award-winning team behind "Frasier" -- and her Helen. "I always encouraged the writers to write for Helen like they did the first four years, when she was independent and fun," says Bernard, whose character started out as an unmarried childhood friend of the bachelor brothers. "I never liked the `wifey' stuff, unless it was smart and funny. For so many years, Helen was a guy's girl. She would lie, cheat, and steal to get tickets to the baseball team. Then, towards the end, she became a nagging wife, the voice of reason, the one to say, `You can't do that,' and that wasn't enjoyable to play." Clearly, though, Bernard's happy memories far outweigh any gripes. She remembers the first script reading, when David Schramm, who plays busybody Roy Biggins, said to her and Rebecca Schull (nosy Fay Evelyn Cochran), "Girls, we just stepped in a big tube of butter." "And we did," Bernard says. Not that "Wings" had an easy time of it. "In the beginning, we felt like the stepchild, because we were never really acknowledged," Bernard recalls. "We were always `the show before "Cheers'" in the early years, then we were in `the show in the Thursday-night lineup that benefited from its time slot.' The network always told us we could be replaced. "We had to do a lot of talking amongst the cast to build our confidence. We didn't get a lot of validation from the network until we were moved to Tuesday night. And then, after that, we were moved to Wednesday for this last year, and we didn't do so well." Although everyone knew that this would be the final season for "Wings," the grand finale -- filmed March 18, before an audience filed with friends and family of the cast and crew -- was still sad, Bernard says. "Our contracts were out and we had known the show was very expensive to make, and we were ready for the show to end," she says. "You don't want to go down with a show, until all the integrity leaves," she said. "However, when the last episode came around, we cried. And at the wrap party we had the next day, I couldn't believe how eager I was to look in every person's eyes and tell them what they meant to me." Bernard's departure from Paramount's Stage 19 (where she also made the final season of "Happy Days") has enabled the Houston native to concentrate on her country-music career. In November, Bernard, a singer-songwriter who had pursued music as a hobby since the age of 8, released her debut album, "The Girl Next Door." She is now doing a 60-concert tour across the United States. "I've been doing these concerts, with 10,000 people in these auditoriums, and so many people say, `God, you're [Wings] our favorite show,'" Bernard says. "It's nice to get that feedback, because on a sound stage, all we ever see, is a piece of paper saying, `this is how many people are watching.'" Bernard says she's been offered a slew of other television series. "I'm holding out, because I've been doing this for 13 years, and I wanted to roll the dice and see what I can do in film," Bernard says. "I think the next [series] I'm gonna do will be more my own show. And I want to have the same enthusiasm for that one as I had for `Wings.'" Illustrations/Photos: 2 PHOTOS 1 - COLOR PHOTO - "Wings" cast members take their leave after eight seasons on NBC. 2 - Joe Hackett (Tim Daly) finds a suitcase and a key that leads to surprises for everyone.
	__________________ "That was Bob's donut!"

03-06-2005, 01:36 AM	#2
Meade Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 02, 2002 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 279	Good article. For some reason I thought she was 28 when she started Wings.

03-06-2005, 11:26 AM	#3
Brian Hackett Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Feb 16, 2005 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 83	I think that's a misprint. I also thought she was 28 when she started Wings.

03-06-2005, 01:08 PM	#4
barwars .. Forum Star Join Date: May 04, 2002 Posts: 13,273	Good article, and great perspective on the character. I agree completely that losers make the funniest characters. And when happiness is achieved, it isn't quite as funny any more. (this is why "will they/won't they" sitcoms couples should never be happily together until the series comes to a close, and even then it doesn't seem right most of the time)

03-06-2005, 05:34 PM	#5
McFly121 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 18, 2004 Location: calif Posts: 812	Yeah, Wings is---in recent memory anyway---the only show I can remember that married it's two main characters. Most workplace comedies never did it. Of course, Frasier finally sent Niles and Daphne down the aisle, and a stretch would be the Three's Company spin-off of moving Jack in with his girlfriend. I think it's safe to say both shows lost punch in doing so. And in checking at the IMDB they have Crystal born in 1961, so I guess she was about 28, 29 when she started Wings.

03-10-2005, 02:38 AM	#6
Wings#1ShowPeriod Boo Lois, Yay Beer. Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 03, 2005 Location: Inside the Big Brother House Posts: 797	I just hope, we have the privlege of seeing Crystal Bernard in another series sometime or anytime soon. She is a fantastic actress, she can defiently headline a series.. because she is just that great...