Wings - General Discussion

[SanLynn]

I loved Casey even if only because she was a HUGE upgrade (in my opinion) on Alex. I hate season 5 (was it S5?) with a passion because of the way I feel Alex messed up the dynamic by pitting Joe and Brian against each other over her to start off with leading to some of the most painful tv episodes ever about the Brian/Alex relationship. I don't even watch most of those episodes on principal. LOL

So it goes without saying Alex was my Jump the Shark moment.... And then when they lost Lowell that was Shark ate the show moment. That was my death knell. I could still enjoy some episodes but Lowell to me was the heart of the show and I struggled to enjoy it after that

Edited April 22, 2017 by SanLynn

[VCRTracking]

The problem with "no-nonsense" characters like Alex is that sitcoms are BUILT on nonsense! Looking back Alex looked and reminds me a lot of "early season 1" Britta" on Community. It was when Britta was too much on her "high horse" and superior to the other characters and was just not funny. She was the least liked by the show's viewers at the time. Second season she became funnier when she was more of a screw up and the writing noted in-universe how off-putting and annoying she is and there were always jokes about how characters tell her she's "the worst".

Alex was the same way, but even more a completely humorless drag but the show never became self aware of that. 

I don't mind her episodes though. What I never could like were the annual episodes with psycho Sandy Cooper. I just don't like it when nobody believes a character(The day the adults finally believed Big Bird's friend Snuffy was my favorite episode of Sesame Street). It annoyed the hell out of me that they would never believe what a nutjob Sandy is for whatever reason, especially when a straight laced guy like Joe tells them. 

I will say the actress Valerie Maheffey was great as Sandy in them. I always liked her appearances on Cheers and Seinfeld and as "Eve" on Northern Exposure. I read David Hyde Pierce when he first was on Frasier and they wrote about Niles' unseen wife Maris he pictured Valerie who played his wife on the short-lived Norman Lear show The Powers That Be. I know the producers of Frasier  thought, like Vera on Cheers it would be better never to show Maris and let the audience's imagine her but I always wished they had cast Maheffey since they were the same producers of Wings.

Edited April 21, 2017 by VCRTracking

[honeydo7]

There was an episode of Wings this week, on our classic TV station, made up of clips showing the evolution of Joe & Helen's relationship.  One very funny clip showed Helen angrily spraying Joe with fire extinguisher foam, while he covered her in oil from another sprayer. They kept coming closer & closer together, continuing to spray each other, until they were both completely covered in foam & oil & then Joe asked her to drop the extinguisher, while he dropped the oil sprayer, she did, but then Helen walked over to that oil sprayer picked it up & let him have it!  A real lol moment! This old lady stays up way past her bedtime to watch Wings, reruns just to see hunky Tim Daley!

[VCRTracking]

It's been 20 years and I still think "Davis" is a dumb sounding first name. Maybe it's the way Crystal Bernard said it in her Southern accet or that she said it so many times but it just sounds so stupid. Either name your kid "David" or don't.

[Adelonius]

Man lets all keep talking more about Wings!  This show is truly magic

[chitowngirl]

One of my favorites is on tonight. The second episode is the one where they all have blind dates and have a contest as to who had the worst date.

[Lava VaVoom]

I simply cannot fathom how Helen, who grew up on Nantucket with the Hackett brothers, has such a heavy Southern accent, whereas Casey did not.  I wish Crystal Bernard had gone on to other things after this show. 

[Bort]

1 minute ago, Lava VaVoom said:

I simply cannot fathom how Helen, who grew up on Nantucket with the Hackett brothers, has such a heavy Southern accent, whereas Casey did not.  I wish Crystal Bernard had gone on to other things after this show. 

Someone on the show (Roy? Fay? I forget who) asked that and Casey said she never had that much of an accent in the first place, to which Joe and Brian begged to differ. So apparently Casey used to, but at some point in her adulthood, got rid of it.

[Maverick]

In one of the earliest episodes Helen mentions that her family moved to Nantucket from Texas when she was 10. Since Casey was the younger sister she probably had an easier time losing the accent once they moved. 

[Bort]

Casey was the older sister. Amy Yasbeck is younger than Crystal Bernard, though. 

[VCRTracking]

Just found this old vid of Steve Levitan, co-creator of Modern Family talking about being in the Wings writers room when he was a young up-and-comer:

[Blakeston]

My favorite episode is the one where Joe and Brian try to get revenge on their high school football coach. The misunderstanding after he dies is great. 

"Not only did we hear about what happened to the coach, we're the ones who are responsible!"

"No, no, we didn't kill him! We just broke into his house and dressed him like a woman!" "Oh thank god...wait, what?"

Lately when I watch it, I keep being reminded of Taxi as much as Cheers. It's about the weird array of people who work at a transportation site. Lowell is like Latke, the clueless but sweet mechanic with bizarre customs and family members. Roy is like Louie, the obnoxious wannabe-big-shot who makes the most money, and antagonizes everyone. And Helen is Elaine, the struggling artist who's slumming it in an unlikely blue collar job.

[scarynikki12]

I'm on a Wings rewatch and I'm working my way through season 5.  I can't put my finger on why Helen's relationship with Davis doesn't work for me (the storyline I mean) but it doesn't.  I get that it was supposed to set up Joe and Helen getting back together and engaged, and they certainly showed us that Helen barely spent time with Davis (and fought nonstop when she did see him) so as to keep viewers from rooting for them, but it just doesn't work for me in practice. 

Also, the episode where Davis is on his way to see Helen and she only has four hours notice hits a lot of my anti-trope buttons.  Helen stressing over dinner, getting green hair, poison oak, a friend showing up unannounced, etc., drove me crazy and I was only watching it.  I get that it's sitcom shenanigans but she'd have saved herself a lot of grief and stress if she'd just taken a shower and ordered a pizza/cooked something simple. 

At least season six has the Big Sandwich episode which I love way more than I should.

[SmithW6079]

On 4/21/2017 at 4:31 PM, VCRTracking said:

I will say the actress Valerie Maheffey was great as Sandy in them. I always liked her appearances on Cheers and Seinfeld and as "Eve" on Northern Exposure. I read David Hyde Pierce when he first was on Frasier and they wrote about Niles' unseen wife Maris he pictured Valerie who played his wife on the short-lived Norman Lear show The Powers That Be. I know the producers of Frasier  thought, like Vera on Cheers it would be better never to show Maris and let the audience's imagine her but I always wished they had cast Maheffey since they were the same producers of Wings.

This is from two years ago, but I agree. I always pictured Valerie Maheffey as Maris, because she and David Hyde Pierce were so great as husband and wife on The Powers That Be.

[libgirl2]

On 8/4/2017 at 3:01 PM, Maverick said:

In one of the earliest episodes Helen mentions that her family moved to Nantucket from Texas when she was 10. Since Casey was the younger sister she probably had an easier time losing the accent once they moved. 

I thought it had more to do with Casey losing it on purpose to sound more high class. 

[chitowngirl]

Casey is the older sister.

[Nicole21181]

I love wings. I was looking for the box set all over after my parents died to help try to get my mind off losing them in none the less December both 2016 just 21 days apart my dad December 2nd and my mom December 23rd.  Well Christmas last year my best friend found and got it for me so now I got the box set. My favorite episode is 1 of 4 tennis bum cause of how he fakes his injury to make Faye think she won, murder she roast cause of Brian freaking out thinking Faye is a killer, life could be a dream trying to pick a favorite dream scene is hard but I love Brian's James Bond, and boys just wanna have fun  when Brian is changing in the office and Casey walks in she says don't you ever dress then he says don't you ever knock then comes out and does his little dance to annoy her and Lowell walks in and says I was expect to see a woman take her clothes off but hey I'm liberal I'm game and gives Brian a buck lol. I really hated all episodes with Alex she didn't fit in at all. She couldn't even mind her own business. When Roy said something to Faye Alex said how can you let him talk to you like that and Faye said I learned to tune him out and Alex said well I can't I'm going to say something.  And you know her character was bad when Lowell didn't talk to her that much. And she not only didn't fit in she had trust issues Brian over and over again baby I'm sorry I love you. They made his character into a whimp while with her. Then on Mary Pat Lee Alex said Brian left her but Brian said Alex left him in middle of the night. I agree she did cause she gave Lowell a note to give Brian and she left.Do you agree or disagree? Btw if there's any true Steven Weber fans in here on Facebook I have a group for Steven it's called true fans of Steven Weber feel free to join.

[Blakeston]

I actually thought Farrah Forke did a great job playing Alex, and I think it's a shame her career didn't take off. I liked Alex for the most part. (I realize I'm in the minority there.) I only had two problems with her character. 

1) the writers went overboard trying to show us how awesome she was - with Joe and Brian both treating her like Aphrodite herself, and the constant reminders of what a super-competent pilot she was, and the way she came out on top of just about every interaction she had with other characters. The writers kind of turned her into a Poochie.

2) the way she acted in her final appearance, where she tricked Brian into appearing on that talk show where he was bullied by the host and audience. Brian's "this is going too fast for me, maybe we should see other people" move was weaselly, but her reaction was over the top. He had snapped out of it, and realized the errors of his ways, very quickly. From her response, you'd think she had walked in on him having a threesome with her best friend and her mother.

[Dr.OO7]

That episode where Joe chases Helen to New York is one of the most moving scenes from TV.

Putting aside the usual "man ignores woman telling him no and continues pursuing her until she gives in" , that bit where he tells her "That's OUR marriage! Those are OUR kids!" is beautiful.

[TwoBitUsherette]

Very sad news, David Schramm has passed away. Apparently he was in New York, but no further details were given.

Anyone have any favorite Roy moments or episodes? Personally I've always loved the episode where he pretends to be hypnotized in order to get the gang to dig a plot in his backyard to fit his new hot tub.

 

[Annber03]

I mentioned it in the "In Memoriam" thread, but I love the episode where he's teaching Antonio how to dance for some cruise dance contest. 

Roy and Antonio had an entertaining back and forth in general. I remember one episode where Roy, Faye, and Antonio were all hanging out at the airport one night, trying to call in for some radio contest, and finally Roy gets all fed up and says something like, "What am I doing hanging around here with you two losers? A stud like me could be out on the town with any number of hot women on my arm!"

And Antonio looks at him and goes, "...let's just count the number of things that are wrong with that statement." 

I also liked the episode where Roy's mom came to visit and he had Helen pose as his girlfriend. 

[Blakeston]

David Schramm died of a heart attack, according to the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/david-schramm-noted-stage-actor-who-played-loutish-airline-owner-on-sitcom-wings-dies-at-73/2020/03/31/31353166-7357-11ea-a9bd-9f8b593300d0_story.html

My favorite Roy storyline was when he kept humiliating himself trying to sing the national anthem.

[VCRTracking]

RIP. I love that they never tried to show a decent side of Roy. 

Recently saw an interview at Television Archives with Wings co creator David Lee about when he was showrunner on Cheers they created the character of Rebecca Howe to replace Diane. At first they made her this tough, all business type but it soon became clear that wasn't working. The writers ended up trying to find ways to get her to her office faster so they didn't have to write her!  It was only after they came up with the idea she was a "marshmallow" underneath that exterior she had comic potential. It hit me when they went on Wings that they tried to create that original Sam and Rebecca dynamic with Brian and Alex except they kept her serious and disapproving. They completely forgot why Rebecca didn't work originally!

Edited June 16, 2020 by VCRTracking

[ljenkins782]

On 6/16/2020 at 2:02 AM, VCRTracking said:

RIP. I love that they never tried to show a decent side of Roy. 

Recently saw an interview at Television Archives with Wings co creator David Lee about when he was showrunner on Cheers they created the character of Rebecca Howe to replace Diane. At first they made her this tough, all business type but it soon became clear that wasn't working. The writers ended up trying to find ways to get her to her office faster so they didn't have to write her!  It was only after they came up with the idea she was a "marshmallow" underneath that exterior she had comic potential. It hit me when they went on Wings that they tried to create that original Sam and Rebecca dynamic with Brian and Alex except they kept her serious and disapproving. They completely forgot why Rebecca didn't work originally!

Very sorry to hear of David Schramm's passing. I agree that it was a bold and funny choice to make him such an unrepentant character. There was one moment very early on (the fishing trip/Trivial Pursuit* episode) where he briefly lets his guard down with Joe about no one wanting him around, he mostly wore his asshole behavior with no apologies.

*The "Ann-Margret as every answer in Trivial Pursuit" theme in that episode cracks me up to no end. I had a similar theory on Trivial Pursuit back in the day, any clue that used the word "crooner" was ALWAYS Frank Sinatra and there was another descriptor was always Oscar Wilde, but I can't remember what it was anymore.

Some of my favorite Roy moments are small things, like when some guys dressed as the 3 wise men approach his counter, the way David Schramm turned around and half snorted/half muttered "what the hell are you..." is hilarious. And pretty much his behavior in the entire episode where Brian drags them all to a timeshare golf resort in Florida is peak Roy.

That's an interesting point about the Alex character. She was my least favorite character of the series, closely followed by that terrible actor that they tried to replace the Lowell character with. 

Farrah Forke was an incredibly wooden actress to begin with, but she was given stupid dialogue on top of it. And somehow, her crappy acting dragged down the other actors, Tim Daly and Steven Webber were consistently good, but the storylines involving Alex somehow lowered the comedic bar across the board. 

The only episode in the Alex era that I really like is the one with Helen, Alex, and Antonio having a "girl's night" but most of that is just Helen and Antonio being funny on their own, the third person could have been anyone and I still would have liked it.

Quote

 

That episode where Joe chases Helen to New York is one of the most moving scenes from TV.

Putting aside the usual "man ignores woman telling him no and continues pursuing her until she gives in" , that bit where he tells her "That's OUR marriage! Those are OUR kids!" is beautiful.

 

Yeah, I'm not usually a fan of the way overused "destroy someone's happy relationship because you believe you're THE ONE" trope or the above mentioned "man ignoring a woman's no's" bit, but this was exceptionally well done. First, it wasn't some loser chasing after someone who'd never had any interest in him and forcing her to consider him, they'd been in a serious relationship before and Helen's relationship with Davis wasn't 100% solid (I wonder if he hadn't been so incredibly rich, if he would have been that appealing), and Tim Daly's acting really elevated the scene.

He really sold the despair at realizing that Helen was truly going to be gone forever and the elevator scene is so beautiful. 

[Bort]

I dragged out my complete series DVDs for a rewatch. Cruised through the first three seasons rather easily. Season 4 got a bit bumpy because that’s the introductory season of — sigh, Alex. But she’s not in every episode so it wasn’t so bad. Now I’m stuck slogging through season 5. Sooooo many Brian/Alex relationship episodes, I want to slit my wrist with a triscuit. There are some gems, though, like the first Sandy Cooper episode and the one with Roy’s ex-wife that has the really hilarious subplot of Helen’s crab boy.

[Katy M]

On 7/13/2020 at 4:55 PM, ljenkins782 said:

there was another descriptor was always Oscar Wilde, but I can't remember what it was anymore.

witty? Irish? Playwright?  All 3 put together?  And, yeah, that whole thing was hilarious.  I don't blame Roy for completely losing it when he switches partners and Fay says the answer is Ann-Margret (which it is), but he answers something else.  I'd probably have gone berserk, too.

[libgirl2]

Woo hoo! We have a new (for us) free streaming service, Pluto, and they have an all Wings channel! I indulged yesterday! 

[Annber03]

Hooray :)! Enjoy! We have the complete series on DVD, but even so, I should sit down and watch that channel sometime, too. Just kinda see what the site itself is like and whatnot. 

I also like watching the reruns on Antenna TV. On the one hand, I wish they were on at an earlier time of day, but on the other hand, there is something nice about watching that show in the middle of the night if I'm up late for some reason or another. It's relaxing. 

[ljenkins782]

1 hour ago, Annber03 said:

Hooray :)! Enjoy! We have the complete series on DVD, but even so, I should sit down and watch that channel sometime, too. Just kinda see what the site itself is like and whatnot. 

I also like watching the reruns on Antenna TV. On the one hand, I wish they were on at an earlier time of day, but on the other hand, there is something nice about watching that show in the middle of the night if I'm up late for some reason or another. It's relaxing. 

Yeah, I have all 12 seasons of Murder She Wrote on DVD, but I still liked putting on the reruns on Cozi Tv in the afternoons while I'm working (sad they took them off). Sometimes it's just nice to run across an old comforting favorite on the TV. 

Quote

I dragged out my complete series DVDs for a rewatch. Cruised through the first three seasons rather easily. Season 4 got a bit bumpy because that’s the introductory season of — sigh, Alex. But she’s not in every episode so it wasn’t so bad. Now I’m stuck slogging through season 5. Sooooo many Brian/Alex relationship episodes, I want to slit my wrist with a triscuit. There are some gems, though, like the first Sandy Cooper episode and the one with Roy’s ex-wife that has the really hilarious subplot of Helen’s crab boy.

LOL, one of my favorite lines.

Season 5 was such an unfortunate downturn with the saturation of Alex/the Alex and Brian relationship.

I realize it's a small town and they've lived there all their lives, but it's also a thriving vacation spot half the year, and Joe (or rather, Tim Daly) is ridiculously good-looking and Brian is decent-looking with a very easy charm and outgoing personality. And they're both pilots. I find it hard to believe that they would both be so lacking for company of attractive women that Alex and her stick in the mud personality would be such an all-encompassing, blot out the sun obsession. Yes, she's attractive, but talking to her seemed like a chore, especially in the beginning. Watching her was certainly a chore.

[Iseut]

I just started rewatching this show on Hulu. It's always been comfort TV for me...when it used to be on USA Network ALL THE TIME in the late 90s/early 00s, it was on at 11pm and I would make a point of watching it before bed instead of the local news, which was always too depressing. 

Aaanyway, even though I've seen most of the first few seasons several times, I'd mostly forgotten how genuinely funny they were. Just saw when Helen kept interrupting a conversation between Joe and Brian with inane questions, and Brian handed her a napkin and just said to her "Here, make a puppet," and kept talking to Joe. Steven Weber's delivery was hilarious. 

[Annber03]

I did a rewatch too, recently-in my case with the DVDs, since Antenna TV had taken the show off the channel a few months ago (though I think it's going to be added to that Rewind TV network coming out in the fall). I like your description of it as comfort TV-it really is a nice, relaxing show to end the day with :).

41 minutes ago, Iseut said:

when it used to be on USA Network ALL THE TIME in the late 90s/early 00s

That's how my mom got into the show back in the day :D. She'd somehow missed seeing it when it originally aired on NBC, but then USA started showing reruns and she'd catch them in the mornings before going to work and got hooked on the show as a result. The fact that Peter Tork of the Monkees guest starred in an episode didn't hurt, either, as that's one of her favorite bands :D. Plus, she thought Tim Daly was cute :p. 

And then I started catching the reruns with her, and I also got into the show. Helped that it was from the same people who created "Frasier", which is another one of my favorite shows :). 

Quote

Aaanyway, even though I've seen most of the first few seasons several times, I'd mostly forgotten how genuinely funny they were. Just saw when Helen kept interrupting a conversation between Joe and Brian with inane questions, and Brian handed her a napkin and just said to her "Here, make a puppet," and kept talking to Joe. Steven Weber's delivery was hilarious. 

I love Brian's smartass comments :D. In the one where the guys are taking Carlton across the country to see his brother, when their plane has to make an emergency landing somewhere in Oklahoma. I love the way Brian responds when Carlton asks if they've arrived yet: "No, we crashed and died and heaven's really disappointing." Like you said, something about the way Weber says that just cracks me up. 

Lowell had some great one-liners, too. One of my favorites is in the episode where that guy's holding Antonio hostage and demanding a jelly donut, and the others are figuring out what to do until the police arrive. Lowell starts giving out orders, and he tells Roy to go out and try and keep everyone in the terminal calm, and says something like, "Break 'em up into guys and gals and have them sing 'Summer Lovin'' from Grease." Again, it's the delivery. 

I also like how they were able to blend some sweeter and more touching moments amidst the funny stuff, too. There's an episode from one of the early seasons where Joe's all jealous about a birthday gift Brian had given Helen, and I really like how that one ends, with the special gift he does wind up giving her :). 

[Blakeston]

Sadly, Farrah Forke, who played Alex, has passed away at only 54, after a long battle with cancer.

I always thought she did a good job with a role that the writers unfortunately didn't make very interesting.

[Annber03]

Oh, wow. That's a shame. Way too young. 

[ljenkins782]

4 hours ago, Blakeston said:

Sadly, Farrah Forke, who played Alex, has passed away at only 54, after a long battle with cancer.

I always thought she did a good job with a role that the writers unfortunately didn't make very interesting.

I just saw that, very sad and way too young. I think she retired from acting a long time ago due to health issues, very sad that she was ill for so long.

I feel bad for cracking on her acting so much, I agree with you that the writing for the character was atrocious. The writing in general around that time took a dip, all of the wit and ensemble comedy they'd done so well took a backseat to the truly tiresome Joe/Brian chasing 1 woman storylines.

I randomly watched a few Wings episodes just this morning, including the bachelor/bachelorette party episode. As always, it's the little random throwaway lines that make me laugh the most. Lowell answering the phone with 1-900-BUMMER made me laugh out loud. Some of the Lowell stuff was too far out there for me, but when the writing was good, his delivery sells the hell out of it.

[libgirl2]

12 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

I just saw that, very sad and way too young. I think she retired from acting a long time ago due to health issues, very sad that she was ill for so long.

I feel bad for cracking on her acting so much, I agree with you that the writing for the character was atrocious. The writing in general around that time took a dip, all of the wit and ensemble comedy they'd done so well took a backseat to the truly tiresome Joe/Brian chasing 1 woman storylines.

I randomly watched a few Wings episodes just this morning, including the bachelor/bachelorette party episode. As always, it's the little random throwaway lines that make me laugh the most. Lowell answering the phone with 1-900-BUMMER made me laugh out loud. Some of the Lowell stuff was too far out there for me, but when the writing was good, his delivery sells the hell out of it.

So very sad. 

I agree about Joe and Brian chasing her around, it got tedious. 

[Bort]

It was only one season of Joe and Brian competing for Alex. After that it was an entire season of Domesticated Brian stories, and that was really tedious.

[Door County Cherry]

That is sad.  I thought she was so beautiful but just an unfortunate character.  The show got more fun again when they brought on Amy Yasbeck as Helen's sister. 

[ljenkins782]

14 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

That is sad.  I thought she was so beautiful but just an unfortunate character.  The show got more fun again when they brought on Amy Yasbeck as Helen's sister. 

The sharp turn toward played out tropes and tedious storylines makes me wonder if, like Frasier, the usual writers stepped away for a season or two and then returned. It seems hard to believe that the same people who created characters like Antonio, Roy, Fay, Lowell, could suddenly create a supporting character written to be so dour and humorless, and then underwrite the main characters so badly as well. 

[Bort]

21 minutes ago, ljenkins782 said:

The sharp turn toward played out tropes and tedious storylines makes me wonder if, like Frasier, the usual writers stepped away for a season or two and then returned. It seems hard to believe that the same people who created characters like Antonio, Roy, Fay, Lowell, could suddenly create a supporting character written to be so dour and humorless, and then underwrite the main characters so badly as well. 

I’d say it was the exact thing of writers leaving for Frasier. Because the Alex seasons coincided with Frasier being launched and cultivated. I’m guessing Wings season 6 return to form was getting some better writers in there, or maybe just moving some writers on Frasier back over to Wings.

It wasn’t all bad though. I did enjoy Helen’s long distance relationship plot with Davis Lynch. And the running Sandy Cooper joke started there too.

[Annber03]

I didn't mind Alex, myself - I liked the moments when she'd call Brian out on his nonsense (I remember there was an episode where he was trying to sing a song to her in the terminal to get her back and she shut him down cold), but I agree it would've been nice to give her more to do than just be a big source of competition between the guys/have the whole back and forth with Brian. 

14 hours ago, kariyaki said:

I did enjoy Helen’s long distance relationship plot with Davis Lynch.

I liked that storyline, too. I like the episode where she finds that sexy lingerie in his suitcase and makes a big to do about it.

On 3/2/2022 at 6:29 PM, ljenkins782 said:

I randomly watched a few Wings episodes just this morning, including the bachelor/bachelorette party episode. As always, it's the little random throwaway lines that make me laugh the most. Lowell answering the phone with 1-900-BUMMER made me laugh out loud. Some of the Lowell stuff was too far out there for me, but when the writing was good, his delivery sells the hell out of it.

I love the episode where that guy's holding Antonio hostage, and by extension, everyone else in the terminal, around Christmastime, and the rest of the gang are trying to figure out what to do to placate the guy so he'll back off. Lowell takes over at one point and is barking out orders to everyone, and he suggests to Roy that he distract the people waiting in the terminal by splitting them up into guys and girls and having them sing "Summer Lovin'" from Grease. Something about the way he says that, just tossing that suggestion out there, cracks me up. 

[Rai]

So, the publishing world was rocked last year by the death of Dick Robinson, the president of Scholastic (home of Clifford the Big Red Dog and Harry Potter). He ended up leaving the company shares to an employee, not his kids. This was a scandal, especially since there were implications of romance between Robinson and his (actually very worthy) successor. However, his kids were described thusly in the Wall Street Journal:

Quote

Reece Robinson, who has done documentary work, said he tried to be involved with Scholastic but hasn’t worked there full time. “I saw myself as an adviser,” he said. “I didn’t want to sacrifice my early 20s to work at a corporation.”

His brother Ben said he operates a sawmill and workshop that produces lumber, flooring and furniture from trees in Martha’s Vineyard and lives off the land, noting in an email, “I fish the fish and cull the deer.” He also describes himself as a writer and “the poet laureate who hasn’t told his story yet.

And I gotta tell y'all, when I read "I fish the fish and cull the deer," I felt that this was a man who might appreciate the Big Sandwich.

[stonehaven]

Ken Levine wrote a lovely tribute to Farrah Forke:

http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2022/03/weekend-post-farrah-forke.html

[Annber03]

That's a really sweet story :). Aw. 

[JAYJAY1979]

I think Alex was supposed to be the normal everyday character to contrast with the quirkiness of the cast.  Problem was the character didn't have any layers beyond being the 'girlfriend'.  

My favorite Helen episode was her attempts to get ready for a date with Davis.  Her hair turns green, her meal is a disaster, and all the case comes to bug her.  And I think it ends when Davis shows up at the door with Helen looking a hot mess.

[Annber03]

37 minutes ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

.My favorite Helen episode was her attempts to get ready for a date with Davis.  Her hair turns green, her meal is a disaster, and all the case comes to bug her.  And I think it ends when Davis shows up at the door with Helen looking a hot mess.

That one's hilarious. I love how Lowell keeps coming out of the kitchen increasingly annoyed and all, "Not ready!" with each new ring of the doorbell. 

[Bort]

“It’s Davis! Stall him!” x10

[fishcakes]

On 3/3/2022 at 10:08 PM, Annber03 said:

Lowell takes over at one point and is barking out orders to everyone, and he suggests to Roy that he distract the people waiting in the terminal by splitting them up into guys and girls and having them sing "Summer Lovin'" from Grease. Something about the way he says that, just tossing that suggestion out there, cracks me up. 

The Lowell line that makes me laugh every time is when Joe was dating the 19-year-old and Lowell said, "Joe Hackett at a Pearl Jam concert? Ha! Ha ha! Pearl Bailey, maybe."

Edited September 14, 2022 by fishcakes

[SoTheresThat]

On 9/14/2022 at 9:48 AM, fishcakes said:

The Lowell line that makes me laugh every time is when Joe was dating the 19-year-old and Lowell said, "Joe Hackett at a Pearl Jam concert? Ha! Ha ha! Pearl Bailey, maybe."

This episode lives on my DVR.  One of Lowell's best lines.  And he had a lot of good ones.

[fishcakes]

Not real, but ... should be real. Why can't we have nice things?

 

[chessiegal]

I watched Mr. Monk and the Airplane today. Lots of wink winks to Wings in that episode.