It was on this date back in 1997 that the television series Wings took its last flight. Wings ran for eight seasons on NBC, part of that Must See TV era with Cheers, Seinfeld, and Fraiser.
The series was set in a fictional airport in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where brothers Joe and Brian Hackett (starring Tim Daly and Steven Webber) operate Sandpiper Air. There's Crystal Bernard as Helen Chappel-Hackett, Thomas Haden Church as Lowell Mather, David Schramm as Roy Biggins, Rebecca Schull as Fay Cochran, Tony Shalhoub as Antonio Scarpacci along with Farrah Forke as Alex Lambert, and Amy Yasbeck as Casey Chappel.
It was such an excellent, friendly family comedy that was so clever and hilarious. There were some perfect moments. I've always enjoyed the Joe and Helen moments. I loved the end of season three when the gang was heading toward Helen's debut of playing for the Boston Symphony, and they came with issues with the plane and had to make an emergency landing. And come season four, Joe loses his plane and has to close his business for a while. Also, Helen and Joe's wedding was excellent. And I couldn't forget about Tony Shalhoub's character, Antonio, who does steal some of the best moments on the show.
I do recommend you watch this series. The series finale, which aired on this date, ended nicely and full circle, in my opinion. I could see now that 20 years later, the Hackett boys were still together with two and five planes. Joe and Helen have two children, and everyone else is happy to be around one another.
