Thursday, May 08, 2014

Back to the '90s



Love this No. 7 train that's been given a Subway Series makeover to look like Monk's Cafe Restaurant, from the most acclaimed sitcom of the 1990s, "Seinfeld." Thanks to Netflix, I've actually been thinking a lot about classic '90s television lately. "Roseanne" will always be my favorite, but I've come to realize that when it comes to the NBC classics -- "Cheers," "Frasier," "Friends" and "Seinfeld" -- I actually like "Wings" better than all of them. 



"Wings" never got its due at the time -- much like "The Bob Newhart Show" lived in the shadows of "Mary Tyler Moore" and others -- but as I rewatch it now, the writing is consistently smart, laugh-out-loud funny and never seems dated, while the dual always-ending-in-a-coincidence plots on "Seinfeld" seem a little obvious and contrived to me now. The Hackett brothers are a fraternal spin on "The Odd Couple," but Steven Weber's Brian is deceptively good, and Thomas Haden Church's take on the absent-minded "Kramer" type is "Saturday Night Live" to Michael Richards' "Fridays." Helen, Fay, Roy and Antonio are also reliably excellent -- and I swear I'm not just letting the way Tim Daly fills out his chinos cloud my judgment! Netflix is inexplicably missing a few episodes, but be on the lookout for Joe getting the old lady at the video store fired on Christmas, Brian being convinced that Fay is a serial killer and Lowell having to move in with the Hackett brothers when his houseboat is accidentally sunk. "Wings" is a first-class sitcom.



3 comments:

James Greenlee said...

It's stills hard to believe that Tim and Tyne Daly are siblings. She must feel like the Randy Quaid in that relationship.

Bart said...

"Wings" was a very under-rated sitcom, IMO - I hate that the reruns were never properly syndicated and ended up on cable networks.

All 8 seasons are out on DVD, Kenneth. My library carries all of them, so check out your local branch to see if they have it.

Unknown said...

Ken - nothing like Tim's ass on this show. i think thats why i watched… but you're right, laugh out loud humor.