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The Hackett brothers takes off for another year of
flights -- and laughs -- with the penultimate season of
Wings -- all 26 episodes that is coming to DVD on September
9. ***
From the same people responsible for the Emmy-winning
Cheers and Frasier, the series follows strait-laced Joe
(Tim Daly, Private Practice) and carefree Brian Hackett
(Steven Weber), two brothers that runs Sandpiper Air out
of a small airport terminal in Nantucket. Also at the terminal
is childhood friend and Joe's wife Helen (Crystal Bernard),
who runs the lunch counter; four-time widow Sandpiper ticket
counter Fay (Rebecca Schull); immigrant cabbie Antonio (Tony
Shalhoub, Monk); rival Aeromass employer Roy Biggins (David
Schramm), and Helen's sister Casey (Amy Yasbeck). Earlier
into the season, mechanic Lowell Mathers (Thomas Haden Church,
Sidewalks, Spider-Man 3) leaves Nantucket, as he enters
the Witness Protection Program. ***
This season starts with a two-parter, with Joe and
Helen are finally married and going to Jamaica on their
honeymoon, and Brian and Casey heating things up -- literally,
as Helen's house was burned to the ground. Now, Joe and
Helen must find another house to move, while at the same
time learn to co-exist with Brian and Casey, as both couples
are now live together in the same house. Still, it hasn't
been a dull moment for them, as the brothers meet their
long-lost grandfather (or did they?), Casey finally coming
face to face with the husband who abandoned her (the late
John Ritter, Yasbeck's real-life husband), and Joe's stalker
Sandy (Valerie Mahaffey) resurfaces once more to get her
man.***
While the foursome adjust to co-exist, Roy starts to
reconnect with his gay son R.J. (Abraham Benrubi, ER, Men
In Trees), who's been estranged from him for years; Antonio
becomes the town pariah when he unintentionally caused the
Boston Bruins to lose, and Fay falls in love once more with
a man named George.***
While not having the same impact as Cheers and Fraiser
had, Wings gained a following enough to last eight seasons
on NBC from 1990 to 1997, and can be seen occasionally in
syndication on USA Network.***
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