Mr. & Mrs. Joe Hackett - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

pilotguy · 06-13-2003, 04:49 AM

I know that I'll probably get people jumping down my throat for this, but I for one am GLAD that "Wings" gave us a generous helping of Joe and Helen as a married couple. (I saw some of the "married" episodes during the opening marathon).

Sure, having Joe and Helen as a married couple destroyed the sexual tension and limited the series' possibilites, but from what I've observed with the series as a whole by that time (various changes to OTHER characters...some of which are quite unattractive, the absence of Lowell, etc.) the series was in "wind down" mode anyway.

Being able to see the Hacketts' married life somehow makes the whole thing seem more real....and it's nice to be able to see how they functioned and interacted as husband and wife.....

After all, sure it's nice to see Snow White or Cinderella being carted off by the Prince...but wouldn't you have liked to have been able see what their "Happily Ever After" life was like?

wingshock · 06-13-2003, 09:29 AM

I totally agree, Pilotguy.

HaskellGirl · 06-13-2003, 10:47 AM

I definately enjoyed seeing a couple of seasons of Helen and Joe married.

Krista2882 · 06-13-2003, 12:15 PM

oh yeah! I definately agree with you!

Adamantium · 06-13-2003, 04:18 PM

Yeah. Alot of shows use Weddings as final episodes for shows. Makes it seem like Marriage is the end. But it's not (Not that I would know). And I liked seeing them married. The episodes aren't their best then, but I don't blame that on their marriage.

Even the absence of Lowell could have been done better. It's like they didn't even try to replace him. Much like when Radar left M*A*S*H.

Freakzilla · 06-14-2003, 07:45 AM

They did attempt to replace Lowell. The episode after dealt with Joe and Brian hiring a new mechanic. The mechanic they hired was Budd Bronsky. Unfortunately, Budd wasn't funny, so he was dropped after a few episodes.

The producers should have brought in a character that was different from Lowell but similar in some ways. Like with Woody replacing Coach on Cheers. Maybe if they had done a reverse of the Coach/Woody thing, bringing in an older, slightly dim Air Force guy, that might've worked.

pilotguy · 06-14-2003, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Freakzilla

The producers should have brought in a character that was different from Lowell but similar in some ways. Like with Woody replacing Coach on Cheers. Maybe if they had done a reverse of the Coach/Woody thing, bringing in an older, slightly dim Air Force guy, that might've worked.

The problem with replacing Lowell is that he was such a COMPLEX character! He really wasn't just a simple "dumb guy"....at times he showed intelligent moments of great knowledge about little-known facts.

Also, his moods were so volatile and unpredictable....at times he was a smiling, happy-go-lucky guy, but when he got mad, he REALLY got MAD...and he usually STAYED that way for quite a while! There was also a slightly demented side to Lowell (how about when he sent that mysterious package to Antonio after Antonio lost Lowell's orange cap? We never DID find out what Lowell packed in there, but we KNEW that it wasn't pleasant!).

No, Lowell was definitely a multi-layered character of many thoughts and moods who was almost IMPOSSIBLE to TRULY replace!

losthighway · 06-14-2003, 12:52 PM

Most of the time, it really is hard to replace one piece of an ensemble cast. I know it was done fairly successfully with Cheers (Diane to Rebecca) and (Coach to Woody) as well as a few other shows, but generally it is difficult to do. Usually you are never able to capture that original chemistry.

But the Lowell replacement was still one of those moments where I just don't know what Casey, Lee and Angell were thinking. They attempted to replace Lowell with a character that was basically the same type of character. I can only guess that they felt that was what Cheers did with Coach and Woody, but at least there was a tremendous age difference between Coach and Woody which gave way for different plot line possibilities.

Something different such as a good looking female mechanic that might have caused jealousy for Helen and a new love interest for Brian. Or if that was too much of a rip off of the Alex character, then it could have been an old "Drill Sergeant" kind of guy that always intimidated everyone, or a good looking male mechanic that would have tempted Casey and caused jealousy for Joe and Brian......I don't know what, just something different. Something to make the character unique to the situation and to bring out new possibilities in the show.

HaskellGirl · 06-14-2003, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pilotguy
The problem with replacing Lowell is that he was such a COMPLEX character! He really wasn't just a simple "dumb guy"....at times he showed intelligent moments of great knowledge about little-known facts.

Also, his moods were so volatile and unpredictable....at times he was a smiling, happy-go-lucky guy, but when he got mad, he REALLY got MAD...and he usually STAYED that way for quite a while! There was also a slightly demented side to Lowell (how about when he sent that mysterious package to Antonio after Antonio lost Lowell's orange cap? We never DID find out what Lowell packed in there, but we KNEW that it wasn't pleasant!).

No, Lowell was definitely a multi-layered character of many thoughts and moods who was almost IMPOSSIBLE to TRULY replace!

Well, all the characters on Wings were multi-layered. I think they could have replaced Lowell with someone funnier than Bud if they tried, but I guess they figured that with Casey on board, they had enough characters. And I have noticed that Antonio seems to inherit some of Lowell's unpredictable behavior later in the series. There was even an episode where Antonio got mad at Casey and Brian and began sending them packages in the mail too!!

06-13-2003, 04:49 AM	#1
pilotguy Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 09, 2003 Posts: 1,305	Mr. & Mrs. Joe Hackett I know that I'll probably get people jumping down my throat for this, but I for one am GLAD that "Wings" gave us a generous helping of Joe and Helen as a married couple. (I saw some of the "married" episodes during the opening marathon). Sure, having Joe and Helen as a married couple destroyed the sexual tension and limited the series' possibilites, but from what I've observed with the series as a whole by that time (various changes to OTHER characters...some of which are quite unattractive, the absence of Lowell, etc.) the series was in "wind down" mode anyway. Being able to see the Hacketts' married life somehow makes the whole thing seem more real....and it's nice to be able to see how they functioned and interacted as husband and wife..... After all, sure it's nice to see Snow White or Cinderella being carted off by the Prince...but wouldn't you have liked to have been able see what their "Happily Ever After" life was like?

06-13-2003, 09:29 AM	#2
wingshock Way, Truth, Life <>< Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 30, 2003 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 308	I totally agree, Pilotguy.

06-13-2003, 10:47 AM	#3
HaskellGirl Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jul 15, 2002 Posts: 590	I definately enjoyed seeing a couple of seasons of Helen and Joe married.

06-13-2003, 12:15 PM	#4
Krista2882 Member Senior Member Join Date: Apr 10, 2003 Location: CT Posts: 1,370	oh yeah! I definately agree with you!

06-13-2003, 04:18 PM	#5
Adamantium TVAdam No More Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 11, 2002 Location: Springfield, Ohio Posts: 7,836	Yeah. Alot of shows use Weddings as final episodes for shows. Makes it seem like Marriage is the end. But it's not (Not that I would know). And I liked seeing them married. The episodes aren't their best then, but I don't blame that on their marriage. Even the absence of Lowell could have been done better. It's like they didn't even try to replace him. Much like when Radar left MAS*H.

06-14-2003, 07:45 AM	#6
Freakzilla Member Forum Regular Join Date: May 23, 2000 Location: Portage, Michigan, United States Posts: 556	They did attempt to replace Lowell. The episode after dealt with Joe and Brian hiring a new mechanic. The mechanic they hired was Budd Bronsky. Unfortunately, Budd wasn't funny, so he was dropped after a few episodes. The producers should have brought in a character that was different from Lowell but similar in some ways. Like with Woody replacing Coach on Cheers. Maybe if they had done a reverse of the Coach/Woody thing, bringing in an older, slightly dim Air Force guy, that might've worked.

06-14-2003, 12:52 PM	#8
losthighway Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 14, 2003 Posts: 370	Most of the time, it really is hard to replace one piece of an ensemble cast. I know it was done fairly successfully with Cheers (Diane to Rebecca) and (Coach to Woody) as well as a few other shows, but generally it is difficult to do. Usually you are never able to capture that original chemistry. But the Lowell replacement was still one of those moments where I just don't know what Casey, Lee and Angell were thinking. They attempted to replace Lowell with a character that was basically the same type of character. I can only guess that they felt that was what Cheers did with Coach and Woody, but at least there was a tremendous age difference between Coach and Woody which gave way for different plot line possibilities. Something different such as a good looking female mechanic that might have caused jealousy for Helen and a new love interest for Brian. Or if that was too much of a rip off of the Alex character, then it could have been an old "Drill Sergeant" kind of guy that always intimidated everyone, or a good looking male mechanic that would have tempted Casey and caused jealousy for Joe and Brian......I don't know what, just something different. Something to make the character unique to the situation and to bring out new possibilities in the show.