Wings - General Discussion

[Clawdette]

I love seeing Brooke Adams' appearances in Monk. She was great in the airplane episode.  Keeping things all in the family. 

[fishcakes]

This one never gets old.

Roy: You know what I do when I have trouble with a woman?
Antonio: Deflate her?

[fishcakes]

I just read a book about Wings, There Once Was a Show From Nantucket, which was published a couple of years ago. It was self-published and it shows. You can tell it wasn't fact-checked or edited at all, and the same stories are repeated in multiple places throughout the book. Also, the author didn't get copyright clearances on many of the official NBC photos, so he hilariously thinks saying they're published "in the spirit of publicity" covers it.

The author works as an extra in movies and TV, and he was able to talk to some of the major cast members (Steven Weber, Rebecca Schull, and also Carolyn "HI, I'M MARY PAT LEE!" Aaron) and a lot of the day players who appeared in only an episode or two. The day players' memories are another example of how repetitive it is because if they don't have an interesting anecdote, they just say how nice and welcoming the main cast was, and the author includes it every time. Only one day player (the one who played "Felix, the wonderful wonderful contractor") made a jerky comment about how the writers made too much money. And even the ones with something else to say are not exactly riveting. For example, one actor who had one line in the "Murder She Roast" episode and who later appeared on Bob Newhart's sitcom, Bob (the show I forgot existed until Antenna TV did a marathon), contributed this:

Quote

A tiny bit of trivia — I ended up wearing the same glasses on Bob that I wore [on Wings]. They were my personal glasses at the time, after all.

I mean, it's not the most interesting story I've ever heard.

There are a couple of good anecdotes, but only a couple. One of them is from the episode where Lowell and Antonio were going to run the Polar Bear Competition:

Quote

A few scenes required several retakes and thus the studio audience that night was beginning to get a bit restless so Thomas Haden Church and Tony Shalhoub lightened the mood and entered Helen’s kitchen area, undressed completely and then ran around the stage covered only in pots and pans

That story is notable only because there is a photo.

Probably going to be the background image on my laptop for awhile, tbh.

I'm not sorry I read it because I do love the show and the author is clearly also enthusiastic about it in a boring sort of way, but it's not really worth the cover price.

Edited August 14 by fishcakes

[chessiegal]

I watched and enjoyed Wings when it originally aired. I'm retired, but in the before times, I was normally out and about during the day, not watching tv. The pandemic introduced me to some new shows in syndication, including Monk. I adore Tony Shalhoub. That picture doesn't surprise me. Thanks!

[Dimity]

I never saw this show in first run and it's been a bumpy ride for me so far watching in reruns.  There are some things I like very much - and I absolutely love the Faye character - but I am in the third season now and am definitely finding some episodes a little hard to watch to be honest!  Not sure if this is a byproduct of watching too many episodes back to back but there is an undercurrent of sadness to this show that I wasn't expecting.

Edited October 11 by Dimity