46 Fun Facts About Wings TV Show

On which Massachusetts island is the sitcom Wings set?

Nantucket is the setting, though the show's airport, Tom Nevers Field, is invented: the island's real one is Nantucket Memorial Airport.

What is the name of the one-plane airline run by brothers Joe and Brian Hackett?

Sandpiper Air is the Hacketts' one-plane airline; with a single aircraft, the brothers are always one mechanical failure away from grounding the whole company.

Which network aired all eight seasons of Wings?

Wings aired on NBC for all eight seasons, debuting in April 1990 as a spring tryout and ending in May 1997.

Which Lost star made his TV debut on Wings?

Matthew Fox was 25 when he played Ty Warner, the star pitcher poised to break Joe's high-school strikeout record, which leaves Joe angry and jealous; Party of Five made him a star two years later.

Wings was created by three veterans of which earlier sitcom?

Cheers veterans David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee created Wings and set it in the same fictional world, so regulars from the Boston bar turn up on the island as guests.

Which composer receives an on-screen credit for the Wings theme music in every episode?

Schubert gets the credit because the theme is a shortened rondo from his Piano Sonata in A major; the full opening was dropped midway through season three for a quick title card.

Who plays the fussy, responsible older brother Joe Hackett?

Tim Daly plays Joe Hackett, the compulsively neat straight man; his real-life sister Tyne Daly guest-starred in season three and earned an Emmy nomination for it.

Helen Chappel, who runs the airport lunch counter, dreams of playing which instrument professionally?

Cello is Helen's dream: she auditions for orchestras between sandwich orders, bad luck wrecks every attempt, and only the series finale sends her abroad to study.

Despite living in Massachusetts most of her life, Wings' Helen speaks with an accent from which state?

Texas is where Helen's family lived until she was ten; the drawl survived the move to the island, and Crystal Bernard, who plays her, is a Texan too, born in Garland.

What did all three late husbands of thrice-widowed ticket agent Fay Cochran have in common?

They were all named George, and Fay half-jokes that any George she marries is cursed; she nearly weds a man called Lyle before learning his first name is George too.

What streak dating back to the Roosevelt years does Fay claim on Wings?

She has touched every First Lady since Eleanor Roosevelt patted her head as a little girl, and she tries to sneak aboard Air Force One to keep the streak alive with Barbara Bush.

Lowell Mather, the dim-witted mechanic, was played by which future Oscar nominee?

Thomas Haden Church played Lowell for six seasons, left in 1995 to star in the Fox sitcom Ned and Stacey, and later earned an Oscar nomination for Sideways.

Why does Lowell leave the island in season seven?

Lowell enters the Witness Protection Program after witnessing a crime in the seventh season; his replacement, Budd, quietly vanishes before the season ends.

Wings mechanic Lowell is also on the payroll of which rival airline?

Aeromass is Roy Biggins's bigger airline; Lowell is a free agent on both payrolls, while Roy keeps scheming to buy out the Hacketts or put them out of business.

Tony Shalhoub's cab driver character first appeared on Wings in what job?

The season-two guest spot as a waiter went so well that he joined the cast permanently as a taxi driver in season three.

The airport taxi driver played by Tony Shalhoub is an immigrant from which country?

Italy is home for Shalhoub's cab driver, though the actor himself is a Lebanese-American from Green Bay, Wisconsin; he joined the regular cast in season three.

Whom does Helen marry in season three?

Helen marries Antonio Scarpacci, the airport cab driver, in a sham green-card wedding so immigration cannot deport him; the marriage is in name only.

Brian Hackett was thrown out of which elite program for taking dates into the simulator?

NASA astronaut training ended for Brian when he took dates into the simulator; he then drifted into flying charters on the Caribbean island of Mustique before coming home.

Which Ivy League university did Brian drop out of despite a free ride?

Princeton gave Brian a free ride and he still dropped out; he later ran off to the Caribbean with his brother's fiancée, which is why the two begin the series estranged.

Lowell moves in with the Hackett brothers in season four after Brian wrecks what?

His houseboat: Brian borrows it to impress a date and sinks it, so Lowell moves in with the brothers, who start to wonder about hiding his insurance cheque once they taste his cooking.

Alex Lambert, Brian's love interest in seasons four and five, flies what for a living?

Helicopters are Alex's trade: she flew Army Apaches in Desert Storm before starting a tour business on the island.

Which magazine is Alex Lambert revealed to have once posed for?

Playboy is the magazine Alex once posed for; in 'I've Got a Secret' she is mortified when the story gets out, one more bump in her on-and-off romance with Brian.

Amy Yasbeck joined the cast in season six as Casey, who is what relation to Helen?

Older sister Casey Davenport arrives on the island acting the socialite; in fact her wealthy husband has abandoned her and taken all their money, leaving her penniless.

Budd Bronski, the mechanic who replaced Lowell in season seven, was retired from which service?

Marines veteran Budd Bronski is haunted by a crash involving a plane he had worked on, though the military cleared him; he vanishes late in the season and is never mentioned again.

Which pair from the Boston bar sitcom visits the island in 'The Story of Joe'?

Cliff and Norm, played by John Ratzenberger and George Wendt, fly in for a fishing trip and go home without having fished at all.

Which season-three Wings episode brings Dr. Crane and his wife Lilith to the island?

'Planes, Trains, & Visiting Cranes' brought Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth to the island; Grammer earned an Emmy nomination for the guest appearance.

Wings' three creators went on to create which later hit sitcom?

Frasier, created by David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee, moved Dr. Crane from the Boston bar to Seattle in 1993 and outlasted Wings, running eleven seasons.

Wings co-creator David Angell died on September 11 aboard which plane, the first to strike the World Trade Center?

American Airlines Flight 11 was taking David Angell and his wife Lynn home to California after a stay on Cape Cod; both are named on the September 11 Memorial's North Pool.

What kind of aircraft served as the Hackett brothers' plane on Wings?

Cessna 402C is the twin-engine type seen in the flying shots: not a studio prop but a working commuter plane that a real airline owned and flew.

The real airplane used on Wings was eventually sold to which regional airline?

Cape Air, the Hyannis-based commuter airline serving the Cape and islands, acquired the Wings plane and kept it flying real passengers for decades after the show ended.

In 'I Love Brian', Brian tries to impress Alex by claiming to know which country star?

Clint Black plays himself: Brian claims to know him to impress Alex, then has to bluff his way into the singer's post-concert hotel party.

What is the title of the Wings pilot, in which Joe and Brian Hackett reunite over their late father's will?

'Legacy' sends the estranged brothers on a scavenger hunt their father devised, ending at a suitcase that holds only joke snakes and a childhood photo of the two of them.

Where do Joe and Helen move at the end of the Wings finale?

The finale sends Helen to Vienna to pursue her music, and Joe chooses to go with her, leaving Brian to run the airline.

In 'Here It Is: The Big Wedding', what does Joe try to fish out of a toilet?

The ring: Helen's wedding ring goes down the toilet on the wedding day and Joe's hand gets stuck going after it, one more mishap before the two finally marry.

What is Roy's teenage son R.J., who takes music lessons from Helen, hiding from his father?

He is gay, and R.J. tells Helen first; when he comes out to Roy, his father challenges him to one-on-one basketball over it and keeps losing.

In 'Sons and Lovers', why is Roy's birthday unusual?

It falls on leap day, so Roy celebrates only once every four years as if he were a quarter of his age, and this party is held at a children's restaurant.

Which Hollywood legend played Helen's mother in 'If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother'?

Debbie Reynolds, the Singin' in the Rain star, played Helen's mother, a cook so lavish that Brian and Lowell compete over who can eat more of her food.

Which sitcom star played Casey's bankrupt ex-husband Stuart in the Wings episode 'Love Overboard'?

John Ritter, the Three's Company star, guest-starred as Stuart Davenport opposite his real-life partner Amy Yasbeck, whom he married three years later.

Besides running an airline, what civic position does Roy Biggins hold on the island?

City Council member Roy chases political credit as shamelessly as profit: he is arrested trying to get aboard Air Force One for a photo with President Bush.

Before Wings, Tim Daly's first leading film role came in which Barry Levinson movie?

Diner, Barry Levinson's 1982 debut feature, gave Daly his first film role as Billy, one of the Baltimore friends alongside Kevin Bacon and Mickey Rourke.

After Wings, Tony Shalhoub won three Emmys playing which TV detective?

Adrian Monk won Tony Shalhoub the lead comedy actor Emmy in 2003, 2005 and 2006; in one episode a Wings co-star turns up playing himself, to the delight of Monk's assistant.

Steven Weber took the lead in a 1997 ABC miniseries based on which Stephen King novel?

Steven Weber played Jack Torrance in the 1997 ABC miniseries The Shining, a King-scripted adaptation shot at the Stanley Hotel that inspired the novel.

Before Wings, Crystal Bernard spent the 1982-83 season on which classic sitcom?

Crystal Bernard played K.C. Cunningham, Howard's niece, on Happy Days in 1982-83; she later recorded pop albums and a 1995 duet with Peter Cetera.

What was the name of Joe's fiancée, whom Brian ran off with before Wings began?

Carol was Joe's fiancée until Brian ran off with her, the betrayal that kept the brothers apart for years until the pilot brought Brian back to the island.

The Wings opening sequence begins with a shot of which real island landmark?

The opening pans from Brant Point Lighthouse, the squat white light at the entrance to the island's harbour, as the plane comes in to land.

What did Lowell hand to Joe and Brian as a keepsake when he left the island?

His hat: Lowell hands over his trademark ball cap as he leaves, and the brothers nail it up in the hangar to remember him by.