28 Years Ago This Week

[stevearino]

April 19, 1990: "Wings" began taking flight every Thursday night at 9 P.M. ET on the NBC Television Network.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, here's the Inside Information: "Wings" originally aired on NBC from April 19, 1990 - May 21, 1997, spanning 7 seasons of 172 half-hour episodes.

A spin-off of the '80s sitcom "Cheers," "Wings" was a '90s sitcom that starred Tim Daly (real-life younger brother of Tyne Daly, formerly of "Cagney & Lacey") and Steve Weber as, respectively, brothers Joe and Brian Hackett, who at the start of the 1990 pilot were reunited after a 6-year long estrangement that began when Joe's fiance, Carol, left him for Brian--only for Brian's marriage to Carol end when Carol left HIM for another guy; their reunion was at the request of their late father, Donald, who just prior to the Pilot died in a Mental Institution.

Joe and Brian teamed up to run their own plane operations known as Sandpiper Air in Nantucket, Massachusetts, via the fictional Tom Nevers Field, where other Airport terminal denizens included Joe and Brian's childhood friend, Helen Chappel (Crystal Bernard), who eventually married Joe; Faye Cochran (Rebecca Schull), a former stewardess who ran the ticket counter for Sandpiper Air; and Roy Biggins (David Schramm), the owner of AeroMass, a rival air service.

Here's how "Wings" qualifies as a "Cheers" spin-off: according to an Associated Press article promoting his then-new FOX sitcom "Ned and Stacey," actor Thomas Haden Church (per this article at http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/199...cter-farewell), who from 1990-1995 portrayed Lowell Mather on "Wings" for the series' first 5 seasons, appeared on an episode of "Cheers" as Gordie Brown, a slow-witted Hockey Player who informed Carla (Rhea Perlman) of the news her then-husband, Eddie LeBec (Jay Thomas), had been killed in a freak Ice Hockey accident.

"The character was based directly upon a guy I played in Cheers," said Church, referring to his "Wings" character of Lowell Mather, the airport mechanic whose character spun off from "Cheers" to "Wings." Church continued, "I went in for a three-day job and it turned into a six-year commitment."

As noted above, Gordie Brown was re-tooled (and subsequently re-named) Lowell Mather for "Wings."

Besides spinning off from "Cheers," several characters from its parent show crossed over onto "Wings," among them John Ratzenberger and George Wendt as their respective "Cheers" characters Norm and Cliff (in the first-season episode "The Story of Joe," an episode also guest-starring the late character actor Charlie Hallahan as Ted Cobb, a reporter for the fictional American Flyer Magazine interviewing Joe Hackett for a 3-page article that turned out to be killed by episode's end; the subplot for this episode had Cliff and Norm attempt to go on a fishing trip in Nantucket, only to not actually catch any fish, but rather find fish at Captain Andy's, a local restaurant); Kelsey Grammer as his "Cheers" character Frasier Crane (before "Frasier" spun off into his OWN '90s sitcom for 11 years starting in 1993); and Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe, in an episode also guest-starring Clint Black as himself.

Besides Clint Black, many other guest stars appeared on "Wings" throughout the show's 7-year run--among them Edwin Newman (in the episode "Ladies Who Lunch"), Ollie North, and Tyne Daly (whose real-life brother, Tim, played Joe Hackett on "Wings").

In 1993, "Wings" began airing in reruns on the USA Cable Network from September 16, 1993 - June 16, 2000 and sporadically afterwards through 2011; Nick at Nite also aired "Wings" from March 31, 2003 - May 23, 2005 (with TV Land subsequently airing reruns through late 2006); as of 2011, you at home can watch "Wings" reruns on Antenna TV weeknights at 9:30 P.M. and weekends at 5:30 P.M. on Antenna TV.

On a personal note, yours truly, Steve Arino, is proud owner of the Complete Series Library of "Wings," mostly from CBS's Official Website but also an episode as originally aired on NBC.

The original NBC broadcast I have of "Wings" does include, I should point out, original commercials as well as mid-show NBC bumpers, courtesy of Chicago's NBC station WMAQ-TV.